She reportedly made a surface crossing from her base on Guam Island in the Western Pacific, where she was stationed after the incident.
According to photos posted on social media of the submarine's arrival in San Diego, her bow, where the sonar is located, has been destroyed.
After a temporary stay in San Diego, the sub is expected to go to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard near Bremerton, Washington, for repairs. The sub is assigned to Kitsap Naval Base in Bremerton.
The U.S. Navy claimed that the nuclear-powered attack submarine collided with an underwater mountain in the South China Sea on Oct. 2 because of mistakes made by its chief sonar officer.
The investigation resulted in the removal of the sub's commander and XO from their positions along with the chief sonar officer "due to loss of trust," the Navy said. As U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Carl Thomas pointed out, "sound judgment, prudent decision-making and adherence to required procedures in navigational planning could have prevented the incident."
The U.S. Navy has yet to disclose details of the submarine collision and the nature of the damage sustained. "The investigation revealed that the USS Connecticut collided with an uncharted seamount while conducting operations in international waters in the Indo-Pacific region," the U.S. Navy reported.
The USS Connecticut reportedly had its ballast tanks punctured in the front of the submarine as a result of the collision and lost its forward sonar section.
The damaged submarine called at its base in Guam on Oct. 8. However, there is no dry dock to repair the submarine.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong news website iNews reported that the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine USS Connecticut likely collided with an unknown Chinese underwater object, possibly a stationary sonar station on the bottom. He said after the incident, a satellite recorded the submarine in a surface position on Oct. 3 about 77 km from Yongxing Island, part of the Paracel Archipelago in the South China Sea, which has been under Chinese control since 1974. A Chinese submarine base and military airfield are located there.
The submarine USS Connecticut is believed to have approached the island to conduct reconnaissance, iNews noted. Submarines of this type, in addition to conducting combat operations, are also designed to perform reconnaissance functions. It was pointed out, however, that a collision with the underwater terrain was unlikely to occur. The US Navy, which constantly operates in the South China Sea, knows it well. Most likely, the submarine collided with a Chinese artificial underwater object recently created near Yongxing Island to counter the approaching enemy forces, the publication believes. The sea depth in the area of the island is only about 300 meters.
According to the US Navy, 11 of 130 crew members were injured in the collision, which occurred in international waters in the waters of the South China Sea. They received non-life-threatening injuries. As the US Navy pointed out, after the incident, "the submarine was in a safe, stable condition" and its nuclear installation was not damaged.
The 7,500-ton USS Connecticut is a Seawolf class 4 multipurpose nuclear submarine. It is armed with up to 50 Harpoon and Tomahawk missiles fired from torpedo tubes. In addition to combat missions it has a reconnaissance mission. There are only three such submarines in the US Navy. All are assigned to the Kitsap-Bremerton Pacific submarine base in Washington state. The cost of each reaches $8.5 billion in current prices.
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