Commander of submarine that ran aground reassigned

Washington The Navy has reassigned the commander of an attack submarine that ran aground Jan. 8 in the western Pacific Ocean, officials said Thursday.

Cmdr. Kevin Mooney, who commanded the USS San Francisco, was reassigned to a unit in Guam pending the completion of the investigation into the crash, a statement from the U.S. 7th Fleet said. Vice Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, the fleet’s commander, ordered Mooney’s removal from command.

The nuclear-powered San Francisco was on its way to Australia when it struck an undersea mass of rock that was not on the ship’s charts. Machinist Mate 2nd Class Joseph Allen Ashley, 24, of Akron, Ohio, died of injuries suffered during the crash, and 23 other members of the crew were injured. The submarine was conducting underwater operations about 350 miles south of Guam.

The submarine has a crew of 137. The vessel sustained severe damage, but the vessel’s nuclear reactor was unaffected.

The San Francisco made its way back to its home port in Guam under its own power. Its outer hull was damaged, but its inner hull remained intact.

Cmdr. Andrew Hale, deputy commander of the Guam-based Submarine Squadron 15, will assume the duties as commanding officer of San Francisco.

The 7th Fleet’s statement did not assign blame for the crash.

Suspect who slipped station returns

Orlando, Fla. A murder suspect who was inadvertently allowed to leave police headquarters more than a week ago turned himself in Friday, authorities said.

Taveress Webster, 18, was arrested Jan. 13 in a fatal shooting during a home invasion last July, then interviewed by homicide investigators. But a “breakdown in communication” allowed Webster to leave the building after the interview.

“We do a good, very good job on our investigations. We are diligent with them. This was a mistake that slipped through the cracks,” Orlando police spokesman Brian Gilliam said.

Webster is charged with first-degree murder, home invasion robbery, grand theft and dealing in stolen property.

Longhorn salute shocks Norwegians

Oslo, Norway President Bush’s “Hook ‘em, ‘horns” salute got lost in translation in Norway, where shocked people interpreted his hand gesture during his inauguration as a salute to Satan.

That’s what it means in the Nordics when you throw up the right hand with the index and pinky fingers raised, a gesture popular among heavy metal groups and their fans in the region and elsewhere.

“Shock greeting from Bush daughter,” a headline in the Norwegian Internet newspaper Nettavisen said above a photograph of Bush’s daughter Jenna, smiling and showing the sign.

For Texans, the gesture is a sign of love for the University of Texas Longhorns, whose fans are known to shout out “Hook ‘em, ‘horns!” at sporting events.

Bush, a former Texas governor, and his family made the sign to greet the Longhorn marching band as it passed during the inaugural parade through Washington during Thursday’s festivities, explained Verdens Gang, Norway’s largest newspaper.