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A Japanese Fishing Vessel Sunken By A Us Submarine

February12,2001

As the search continues for nine people missing at sea after a US submarine struck and sank a Japanese fishing boat, relatives of those missing have arrived in Hawaii to be nearer the rescue operation.

The captain of the Japanese fishing vessel has accused the submarine crew of standing by and watching as the rescue mission was taking place. US officials have promised to do everything possible to find out how the accident happened.

The relatives of the missing seamen arrived in Hawaii desperate for news of the search and rescue operation. But more than two days after the boat went down, hopes that any more survivors will be found are beginning to fade. Shock at the freak nature of the accident is beginning to turn to anger. The captain of the fishing boat said the Americans could have done more to help.

Hisao Ohishi, Captain of Ehime Maru: The submarine passed us by as if it was leaving but then it turned around. Then we saw several people appeared at the hatch. Then they lowered a ladder for us, but not a single one of my crew was saved by the submarine. It was just like they stood by and watched.

American officials say the submarine crew could do little because the heavy swell prevented them from opening the hatches. United States Navy and Coast Guard vessels have been searching an ever widening area around the accident site. They?ve been backed up by helicopters and aircraft, but no survivors have been found since the immediate aftermath of the accident.

The nuclear attack submarine had been practicing an emergency surfacing maneuver like this one when it struck the fishing boat. It appears to have burst to the surface without adequately checking if anything was in the way. The fishing boat went down within minutes of being struck. Top United States officials have tried to minimize any damage to close military ties with Japan.

Colin Powell: Well we hope there won’t be a negative effect on our relationship with Japan as a result of the accident. It was a tragic accident we have expressed our apologies at every level from the President through me to the Secretary of Defense through our military commanders. We’re doing everything we can to assist the families. We are going to pay all of the expenses to move them to Honolulu and give them all the information we possibly can.

The commander of the submarine has already been replaced. Japanese officials are now demanding a full investigation to determine how basic safety procedures could have been ignored.

Charles Scanlon, BBC News, Tokyo

February13,2001

   The Navy said today that its ships have been involved in six major collisions in the last twelve months and five months ago the entire fleet was ordered to stand  down for a day because the Chief of Naval Operations was worried about lapses in navigation and seamanship. The Navy investigation of Friday’s collision off Hawaii between a submarine and a Japanese fishing boat is certainly on their minds. Nine of the Japanese have not been found.

Family members of those still missing today took a charter boat out to the scene of the accident, nine miles off shore. On Friday the USS Greenville was practicing an emergency blow, a spectacular rush to the surface. A submarine is supposed to come to periscope depth first, survey the area for any boats. It would then dive to about 300 feet before quickly coming back to the surface at a sharp angle.

Vice Adm. J Guy Reynolds (Ret): If you were not able to determine what the traffic was on the surface, it would be my view that you wouldn’t conduct an emergency blow.

Commander Scott Waddle, the captain of the Greenville, must now answer tough questions: How far did he raise the periscope? If it was four to five feet above the wave tops, as called for in this type of maneuver, he should have been able to see the fishing boat. How long did it take the submarine to dive and return to the surface? The period where it is essentially blind. Normally it takes ten minutes. Why did sonar operators not hear the Japanese boat?

Vice Adm. Reynolds (Ret): Yes you do have sonar, but it’s not like looking out your car window.

Did the fifteen civilian guests who were on board for this one-day cruise distract the crew or captain? The control room in a submarine is already crowded without tourists.

Finally, Japanese officials are bitterly critical of the submarine captain for not putting sailors on deck to help with the rescue. The Navy argues that with waves washing across the deck of the submarine it would have been dangerous not only for sailors but for survivors who could have been smashed against the side.

February14,2001

But first, Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is under pressure to resign over the way he responded to the sinking of a Japanese trawler by a United States nuclear submarine off Hawaii last Friday.

Officials within his coalition have criticized his decision to finish a game of golf when he heard of the accident. This the latest in a series of gaffs that have damaged his popularity. Nine of those on board the trawler are still missing. They must now be presumed dead.

The Navy said the USS Greenville was on a brief training exercise off Hawaii when it collided with the Japanese fishing trawler. Officials have since acknowledged that 15 civilians were on board the submarine and they now say two of them were sitting at control stations when the accident occurred. The civilians are said to have been under close supervision and of ficials insist it had nothing to do with the collision. The submarine was practicing an emergency surfacing maneuver similar to this one when it struck the Japanese fishing boat, sinking it within minutes. Nine crew members, including four high school boys, are still missing presumed dead. A 4)Pentagon spokesman responded to criticism from the Japanese crew that little was done to help the survivors.

Admiral Craig Quigley, Pentagon Spokesman: A submarine in the seas that we’re talking about that were present at the time of the accident, which is about four to six feet, is a lousy platform to recover people from the water or bring rafts alongside. As you all understand the hull of a Los Angeles class submarine is basically round and it’s a cylindrical and looking from an end on view it is round and so you have very poor sea-keeping abilities on the surface of a Los Angeles class submarine.

The surviving boys who had been on a training expedition for deep-sea fishing have returned to Japan. The accident has traumatized this small fishing community in the southwest of the country. The revelation that civilians were at the controls of the submarine is likely to fuel their anger.

Much of the criticism in Japan so far has been directed at the Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who’s accused of responding too slowly to the disaster. He’s facing calls to resign for remaining on a golf course outside Tokyo for an hour and a half after being informed of the collision.

Charles Scanlon, BBC News, Tokyo. 

难点注释：

accuse  v.指控

aftermath n.后果

bizarre a.古怪的

condolence  n. 吊唁

fade v. 消失

fatigue n.  疲劳

freak n.    反常的现象

hatch n. （潜艇）舱口

hull n. （潜艇）艇身

lapse n. 差错，失误

maneuver    n. 操纵

periscope n. 潜望镜

pluck v. 救起，

probe n.    调查

raft n. 救生筏

rescue v.营救

scan v. 细看，审视

seamanship n. 航海技术

survivor    n. 幸存者

trawler n.  拖网渔船

charter boat 包船

court marshal 军事法庭

direct at 对准某一目标

emergency surfacing 紧急上浮

has nothing to do with 与……无关

on board 在船上

point fingers 指责他人

rule out 排除

sharp angle 锐角

stand by 做好准备，袖手旁观

The US Coast Guard：美国海岸警卫队。美国武装部队的一个分支，它是美国在领海保护生命财产、执行海事法的一支主要力量，并进行反走私行动，保护港口、船只和在海难发生后进行营救行动。在和平时期，海岸警卫队是美国交通部的一个部门，在战时，它会成为美国海军的一个组成部分。其口号是“时刻准备着”。

Rhode Island：罗得岛州，位于美国东北部，是美国五十个州面积最小的一个州，面积约三千一百平方公里。

The National Transportation Safety Board:  美国国家运输安全委员会。成立于一九六七年，是美国联邦政府的一个独立机构，其职责是对交通运输方面的事故进行调查，建立事故资料库，并进行运输安全方面的专项研究和就提高运输安全性提出意见，旨在防止意外的发生。

Pentagon: 五角大楼，美国国防部的代名词，因其所在的大楼平面呈五角表而得名。

Oahu:  瓦胡岛，夏威夷群岛的重要岛屿，也是檀香山所在的岛屿。

USS Missouri：美国“密苏里”号战舰。在一九四五年九月二日，日本在停泊在东京湾的美国“密苏里”号战舰上向同盟国签署了日本投降书。

参考译文：

2001年2月12日

在一艘美国潜艇撞沉一艘日本渔船后，寻找九名失踪者的行动仍在进行，失踪者的家属已经到达夏威夷以便能更靠近正在进行的营救行动。

沉没的日本渔船船长指责美国潜艇船员在营救行动进行期间袖手旁观。而美国官方则承诺尽一切可能对事故发生的原因进行调查。

失踪船员的亲属已到达夏威夷，着急地等待着有关搜寻和营救的消息，但在渔船沉没两天后，继续找到生还者的希望正渐渐逝去。由这次异乎寻常的事故带来的震惊正转化为愤怒，日本渔船的船长说美国人本来可以为当时的营救工作伸出援助之手。

大西尚生（爱媛号船长）：那艘潜艇从我们旁边经过，好象要离开的样子，但它又转回来。然后我们看到几个人出现在潜艇的舱口，接着又放下了绳梯，但我们当中没有一人是他们救起来的。他们好象只是想袖手旁观。

美国官员说潜艇上的人员无法帮上忙，因为当时海面上的风浪很大，舱口无法打开。美国海军和海岸警卫队的船只正在出事地点周围一个更大的范围进行搜索，另外参加搜索行动的还有直升飞机和飞机，但在事故发生后就再也没有找到生还者。

在与日本渔船相撞时，核潜艇正在进行一次紧急上浮演习，现在看来，潜艇没有认真察看周围的海面就急忙突然浮出海面。日本渔船在受到撞击后在几分钟内就迅速下沉。美国方面的高级官员正忙于把此事对美日之间向来密切的军事合作关系造成的损害减轻到最小。

柯林·鲍威尔：我们希望这次事故不会对我们与日本之间的关系造成负面的影响。这是一次悲剧，不管是哪一个层次，从美国总统到我，再从国防部长到我们军队的各级司令官们，都表达了我们的歉意。我们会尽一切努力来帮助船上人员的家属，我们会负责他们来檀香山的一切费用，并尽可能地向他们通报我们所知的情况。

出事潜艇的船长已换了人，日本官员要求美方对于事故发生时安全程序被忽略的情况作全面彻底的调查。

英国广播公司记者查尔斯·斯坎伦来自东京的报道

2001年2月13日

美国海军今天说海军的船只在过去的一年里曾卷入了六次重大的相撞事件，在五个月前，美国海军作战部长由于担心导航和航海技术方面的失误而命令整个舰队停航待命一天，海军当然没有忘记星期五在夏威夷发生的潜艇与日本渔船相撞事件，在事件中，有九名日本人至今仍然失踪。

失踪人员乘坐一只租船到离岸九英里的出事地点。在星期五，美国“格林维尔”号潜艇正在进行一次紧急上浮演练，这通常是一个壮观的场面。在这种演习中，潜艇首先应上升到潜望镜的高度，察看一下潜艇周围的海面，然后下潜到海面三百英尺下，再迅速地以一个较大的倾角升到海面。

J·盖伊·雷诺兹（退休中将):我认为，如果你无法确定海面船只来往的情况，你就不应该进行紧急上浮。

美国“格林维尔”号的司各脱·沃德尔船长现在必须就一系列无法敷衍的问题作出回答：潜望镜升了多高？如果潜望镜在这一类演习中按规定升到海浪四、五英尺以上的话，他就可以看到那艘日本渔船。当时潜艇从下潜，然后再升到海面用了多少时间？这段时间通常需要十分钟，而且一般是盲点。为什么声纳探测器监测人员没有发现日本渔船？

雷诺兹中将：当然，潜艇有声纳探测器，但那并不像你驾车时通过车玻璃往外看那样清晰。

当时在潜艇上作一日游的十五个平民有没有转移了船员或艇长的注意力？潜艇的控制室在没有游客时就已经很拥挤了。

最后，日本官方对于事发后潜艇艇长没有派艇员参与营救工作十分不满。而美国海军辩称当时海浪冲刮着潜艇的甲板，营救工作不仅会让潜艇人员身陷险境，而且生还者也会有被海浪推撞拍击艇身而受伤害的危险。

2001年2月14日

首先，日本首相森喜朗因为他在上星期五听到日本渔船被一艘美国潜艇撞沉时的反应正面临辞职的压力。

在森喜朗的执政联盟中，已有官员批评他在听到事故发生的消息后仍然继续打他的高尔夫球。这是最近他面对的一系列有损于他的支持率的事件之一。沉没的日本渔船上的九名船员现在仍然没有踪影，人们都认为他们死了。

美国海军说美国“格林维尔”号当时正在夏威夷对开的海面进行一次短暂的演习，官方已承认当时潜艇上有十五个平民，而且有两个平民在事故发生时正坐在潜艇的控制台。据说当时平民的一举一动都在严格的监控之下，官方坚持说事故的发生与他们在场的事实没有任何关系。潜艇是在进行一次紧急上浮演习时与一艘日本渔船相撞并使其迅速下沉的，渔船上包括四名学生在内的九名人员仍然失踪，并被假设已经遇难。美国五角大楼发言人对日本方面关于落水人员没有得到应有帮助的批评作了回应，

克雷格·奎格利上将（五角大楼发言人）：当时海浪有四到六英尺高，在水面上的潜艇部分并不是一个营救落水人员的好地方，也不适合把救生筏拖到艇边。你们也都知道，洛杉矶级潜艇的船身基本上是圆的，呈圆筒状，如果从船尾的角度看它是圆的，因此，一艘洛杉矶级潜艇的艇面并不适合进行营救活动。

那些来进行深海捕鱼实习的男孩子们已返回日本。这次事故使得这个日本东南部小小渔村的人们心理受到了重创，事发当时有平民在潜艇控制台的消息很可能在当地人心中火上浇油。

迄今，在日本，大部分批评的矛头都指向了首相森喜朗，人们指责他对事故发生的反应太慢。他由于在获悉潜艇与渔船相撞之事后仍在东京城外的一个高尔夫球场逗留了一个半小时而被要求辞职。

英国广播公司的查尔斯·斯坎伦来自东京的报道。