Which U.S. Navy submarine struck an undersea mountain near Guam in 2005, killing one sailor?

USS San Francisco struck an undersea mountain near Guam in 2005, killing one sailor.

The Los Angeles-class attack submarine collided with a seamount on 8 January 2005 while travelling submerged at high speed south of Guam. The impact severely damaged the bow and injured 98 crew members. Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Joseph Allen Ashley died from his injuries.

Despite the damage, San Francisco surfaced and reached Guam under its own power. The submarine later underwent extensive repairs at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, receiving a replacement bow from the decommissioned USS Honolulu. The repair transformed an otherwise catastrophic loss into a major engineering project.

The accident was attributed to navigational and charting failures. It is sometimes confused with USS Greeneville’s 2001 collision with the Japanese fishing-training vessel Ehime Maru, which occurred near Hawaii and involved a different submarine.