Reading over the weekend about the US nuclear sub that ran aground, whilst submerged, I had a strange thought.

I wonder if the massive undersea quake in Sumatra was big enough to alter all sorts of underwater geography. Looking at the map, it looks like Guam is not really in the 'tsunami path', but who knows? I would suspect whatever happened under the earthquake zone (mudslides?) changed the underwater structure pretty significantly.

From what I understand, subs don't have the equipment that easily source out these changes, and therefore, rely heavily on existing maps and other coordinating information (GPS, etc.). So if a underwater hill now became a mountain, it could certainly screw up that whole navigating plan.

The day I met Todd, he had the opportunity to board a sub during training exercises and was over the moon with excitement. He told me all these little details of what it was like inside and how hard it was to manouver when you're not slight. He's got very broad shoulders and he found in many places he had to walk almost sideways to get through the hallways. It makes me feel all claustrophic just thinking about it. I'm not good with the whole underwater thing at the best of times, but the idea of being in an enclosed space as well, makes my phobic-brain start to have convulsions.

In any case, my condolences to the seaman's family and I hope the other 23 injured sailors have a speedy recovery.