Navy sub damaged after snagging tow line in Hood Canal

BANGOR – A Trident submarine was damaged after snagging a tow line in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Coast Guard is investigating, Navy officials said.

The USS Nevada was submerged when it caught and severed a 500-foot line between the tugboat Phyllis Dunlap and one of two barges being towed from Honolulu to Seattle with a load of empty containers late Tuesday or early Wednesday, Navy Lt. H.K. Sweeney said.

A second tugboat was sent to retrieve the barge, Coast Guard Petty Officer Paul Roszkowski said.

Members of the sub's crew felt the impact, and damage was found in a fiberglass part of the sail after the vessel returned to its base on Hood Canal, Sweeney said. The sail is a structure on top of the sub once known as the conning tower.

Tow lines commonly dip below the surface of the water, Roszkowski said.

"They use the weight of the tow line to help them tow," he said. "You don't want the tow line taut."