VOA双语新闻 Damaged US Nuclear Sub Returns to Guam（在线收听）

A U.S. Navy nuclear-powered attack submarine, under heavy escort, has arrived back at its home port of Guam after a fatal accident at sea.

美国旧金山号核动力攻击潜艇在发生致命事故以后，在严密的护航之下返回在关岛的基地。

With military helicopters hovering above and a flotilla of escort ships alongside, the USS San Francisco returned to Guam on Monday. An enlisted man working in a machinery room died and 23 other sailors were injured when the vessel collided with some underwater object on Saturday.

星期一，美国海军旧金山号核潜艇在空中盘旋的直升机和一支水面舰队的护航下回到关岛。星期六，旧金山号同水下不明物体相撞，造成在机器室工作的一名水手死亡，其他23人受伤。

The Navy says it does not know what the attack submarine hit while it was submerged in the eastern Marianas Basin, some 560 kilometers south of Guam. But Pacific Fleet spokesman Lt. David Benham says it was not likely another submarine.

美国海军说，目前还不清楚这艘攻击潜艇在关岛以南560公里处的马里亚纳海盆东部潜航时撞到了什么物体。但是美国太平洋舰队发言人贝纳姆上尉说，这个物体不太可能是另一艘潜艇。

"We have no data to suggest that there were any other vessels of any kind, submarine or otherwise, operating in the area at that time," said Mr. Benham. "Every indication is that it struck a geological feature."

他说：“没有数据显示当时水下有任何其它船只和潜艇。所有资料表明，旧金山号撞到了水下的某种自然物质。”

The submarine, which was en route to a port call in Australia, surfaced in the Pacific Ocean after the accident and returned to Guam on its own power.

旧金山号当时正在前往一个澳大利亚港口的途中。事故发生后，这艘潜艇浮出太平洋，然后依靠自身动力回到关岛。

Military aircraft, a Navy submarine tender and a Coast Guard cutter were dispatched from Guam to transfer medical personnel onto the San Francisco to treat the injured and to escort the damaged vessel back to port. A spokesman says the injuries included broken bones and lacerations.

美国军方分别从关岛派出一架军用飞机、一艘潜艇补给舰和一艘海岸警卫队的巡逻艇向旧金山号输送医疗人员治疗潜艇上的伤员，并护送受创的旧金山号返回港口。军方一位发言人说，潜艇上人员的伤势主要是骨折和皮肤肌肉拉伤。

The Navy says the submarine's nuclear reactor was not damaged, there was no leak of radioactivity and the vessel's hull is intact.

美国海军说，旧金山号的核反应堆没有损伤，没有放射性物质泄漏，潜艇舰体也完好无损。

Some Naval officers on Guam speculated Monday that the submarine ran into an undersea geological feature that had been shifted by the December 26 earthquake off Indonesia that triggered the lethal Asian tsunami. Lt. Benham says that theory is a long shot.

在关岛的一些美国海军官员星期一猜测旧金山号可能撞上了12月26号引发致命亚洲海啸的印尼外海海底地震冲出来的海底天然物体。但是贝纳姆上尉认为这种说法可能性不大。

"The distance between the earthquake in the Indian Ocean and the location where submarine struck whatever it is that it struck is about the distance across Australia," he said. "It's a tremendous amount of distance so there's no indication that the two events are at all related."

他说：“印度洋地震的地点和潜艇在水下撞上某种物体的地点之间有相当于横贯澳大利亚这么远的距离。两者之间相距甚远，因此没有迹象显示这两个事件之间有任何联系。”

The last major incident involving a U.S. Navy submarine occurred in 2001, when the USS Greenville rammed a fishing vessel as it surfaced off Hawaii, killing nine Japanese. The commander was later forced to retire.

美国海军潜艇上一次发生重大事故是在2001年，当时格林维尔号核潜艇在夏威夷海域上浮时撞上一艘日本渔船，造成9名日本人死亡。核潜艇的艇长后来被迫退役。