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Thursday, February 15, 2001

Following is the transcript of an interview with John Hall and Todd and Dianda Thoman on NBC's Today Show

MATT LAUER, ANCHOR

LAUER: Now to an exclusive interview with three of the civilians who were aboard the USS Greeneville when that accident occurred. Todd and Dianda Thoman and John Hall. Good morning to all of you.

John, let me start with you. How was this trip arranged? How long ago had it been planned?

HALL: Well, Matt, this trip, its origins go back to March of 2000. We, through an association with some individuals and a group, we started talking about the possibility of this and it came to pass around October, I believe.

LAUER: Todd, 16 civilians on board. I believed a lot of these people were couples. You knew 14 of the 16 on board. How long were you aboard the USS Greeneville before the accident occurred?

TODD: We got on board the Greeneville about 8:00 a.m., Hawaii time, and I believe the accident happened around 1:30 to 1:45 Friday afternoon.

LAUER: And where exactly were you, Todd, when the surfacing drill began?

TODD: I was actually up on the deck with our other party, as well.

LAUER: So you were in a position where you could see what was happening at the helm. Is that correct?

TODD: Yes, sir.

LAUER: All right. John, the reports are that two civilians were at the control panels during the surfacing drill. You were one of those civilians, weren't you?

HALL: That's correct.

LAUER: Where were you?

HALL: I was to the left in the control room, to the left, and I was asked by the captain if I would like the opportunity to pull the levers that start the procedure that's called the blow deck. There are two levers. And I said, "Sure, I'd love to do that."

LAUER: Where was the nearest crew member to you, John?

HALL: Right next to me, elbow-to-elbow. I mean, what's important to know here is, you don't do anything on this vessel without someone either showing you how to do it, telling you how to do it, or escorting you around.

LAUER: So before the actual drill began, John, had they gone through this a number of times with you to show you exactly what you would be asked to do?

HALL: Yes, sir. And I was a little nervous about it, so I kept asking them to do it and they were very gracious and they showed us over and over and over.

LAUER: Dianda, I don't want people to think I'm ignoring you but you've asked not to speak. You're there to support your husband and your friend there.

Todd, there were obviously certain procedures that the crew was supposed to go through before the drill began. They were supposed to check the surface of the ocean for other vessels. They could do that with passive or active sonar but also with a periscope. From where you were seated or standing, did you see anyone use the periscope to check the surface?

TODD: Most definitely. The periscope was used. This was the last procedure of the day and we were going back into Pearl Harbor. And we came up to periscope depth and another member of the crew took the periscope up and made two complete rotations at 360 degrees. The skipper, Commander Waddle, then said, "I need to take a look," and he took the periscope...

LAUER: Let me interrupt you, though. After the crew member did the 360 degree sweeps, did that crew member say all was clear?

TODD: All was clear. There were actually--there are flat screen monitors on board the Greeneville and they were very visible, and those who were watching the flat screens saw nothing. And at that point, Commander Waddle then said, "I need to take a look," and he took the periscope, went around one, if not two more times; and, again, on the flat screens, we saw no vessel. And at that point, he said, "OK," and he brought the periscope down and we proceeded with the maneuver.

LAUER: So how long would you say it was from the last check with the periscope until the actual surfacing drill began?

TODD: How long exactly, I don't know. I mean, we weren't aware that we needed to be timing the maneuver. It happened very quickly. The ship--the sub went down to approximately 400 feet and then came up very quickly. It wasn't a matter of--you know, there wasn't a lot of time involved at all.

LAUER: All right. John, so when the ship goes down--the submarine goes down to 400 feet, I guess you were then asked to flip the levers. Is that right?

HALL: Well, Matt, they have procedures. It's important to understand that everything they do involves a procedure. I recall the captain, after he had done his periscope, I recall him calling out to--or a lot of crewmen calling out to him that they had gone through their procedure and the procedures were ok. I think if you want an estimated time, we probably--from the time they took the periscope and we went down to 400 feet, it wasn't more than 10 minutes.

LAUER: Once the procedure then begins, the air is put into the ballast tanks and the submarine begins to rise rapidly, tell me what happens as it reaches the surface, John.

HALL: Well, this was my first procedure, so I don't--I'll tell you my impression. When you go through the different procedures and pulling these two levers, as I did, that's not the first procedure. It's about the third. But once you pull the levers--I pulled them down, I counted for 10 seconds, out loud, and then put the levers back in place. The seaman that was standing next to me put his hands over my hands and made sure the levers were in and locked and he said, "Sit down." Immediately you sit down and the submarine began to rise and it came very quickly.

LAUER: When you reached the surface, what did you feel and what did you hear?

HALL: The submarine--you could feel the submarine come--you can't feel it come out of the water, but you can feel it start to--you must have been out of the water and you can feel it start--just like an airplane when it lands and the nose comes down, you can feel it start to come down. Just as it was starting to come down and you could feel the sensation of it coming down, there was a very loud noise and the entire submarine shuttered.

LAUER: What did the captain say at that point?

HALL: I remember his words pretty vivid. He said, "Jesus, what the hell was that?"

LAUER: What did you do after that? Were you asked to leave the deck or the control room area?

HALL: Well, what actually happened after that, is immediately the captain got on the periscope and it seemed like a second or two and he said, "We have hit..."--and he named the name of the ship. He must have been able to see the stern of the ship and see the name--and he named the ship. And then he said, "Would my guests go directly to the crew mess?" And we were--everybody at that point was in shock and was moving forward quickly. A seaman led us down there and we--and it's one deck down to the crew mess and pretty well under the control room where we were--we went to the crew mess immediately. Didn't take very long to get there.

LAUER: There was another flat screen television monitor in the crew mess, I understand, and Todd, you could see what was happening through the periscope, is that right?

TODD: That is correct.

LAUER: What'd you see?

TODD: We saw the vessel taking on water. It was evident and that's what we saw. And we weren't on this--we weren't in the mess deck very long at all, a matter of seconds. And in a very orderly fashion, the sailors on board that ship were preparing that room and bringing up emergency equipment to prepare that room for whatever they might be incurring outside. And we were immediately then asked to proceed downstairs, another level down, to the missile room, where we stayed for an extended length of time.

LAUER: Did you realize how serious the accident was at that time, Todd?

TODD: I think we did. Once we saw the ship taking on water and the crew bringing things out, we knew it was going to be a devastating effect.

LAUER: There has been some criticism of the crew and the captain of the Greeneville for not aiding in the rescue quickly enough. What did you see in that regard, John?

HALL: That's not valid criticism, I must tell you. This is a tragedy and everybody was pretty upset, as you can imagine. This is the last thing anybody expected. The--I remember vividly the captain coming on--after we got to the mess deck and then we were escorted to the torpedo room--I remember the captain coming over and giving instructions to the crew that they needed to relax a little bit, that he felt that the adrenaline was pumping in everybody and they were trained for this and they needed to slow down and do everything proper.

There were people--there was a diver standing at the bottom of the hatch. When we were in the torpedo room, where they had quite a bit of emergency equipment stored, we helped them unlatch some gaffes that were tied up. There was a rope ladder. There were lots of ropes that were just relayed out of the torpedo room to the sailors and it's important to know that the way they're set up on a submarine is in the officer's ward room, that sets up as an operating table and the mess, where we were, which is why we had to leave, is set up as an emergency station.

LAUER: All right. Let me ask you a couple of quick questions. Todd, I'll start with you. The question everybody wants to know, in any way do you think that you, as the civilians on board this submarine, distracted the crew during this procedure, this training drill, and may have contributed to the accident?

TODD: Matt, I adamantly deny that I think that is the actual case. This is a vessel that the minute we walked on board the USS Greeneville, this was a business and it was nothing but professional and not one thing got done on that submarine that the commanding officer was not made aware of and in total control of. We went nowhere on this vessel without an escort. Everyone was always accompanied by a member of the crew. Nothing out of the ordinary took place. Not at all.

LAUER: And, John, real quickly, is there any way you can explain how several sweeps of a periscope could fail to show a 191-foot trawler directly above the ship?

HALL: The answer is no. I don't--we don't know what happened here. I don't--there is an ongoing investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board, the Navy, and, you know, it's not known exactly what happened. This shouldn't have happened. It's a tragedy and it shouldn't have happened. I mean, there were nine lives lost.

LAUER: Did anyone at the Navy tell any of you what you should or shouldn't say regarding this story, Todd?

TODD: Absolutely not. I remember vividly the one thing that stands out in my mind about the commanding officer, Scott Waddle, is he said, ``I don't know what this is going to bring,'' he said, ``but don't embellish, don't fabricate, tell the truth and only the truth, what you saw and what you heard.'' And that's exactly what we've done.

LAUER: Why haven't you spoken before this? And why are you speaking out now, Todd?

TODD: Well, there really wasn't a need to speak out initially. This is a search and rescue mission as of today. There are nine people that are reported missing and that is the reason that we stayed at sea for some 25 hours after participating in that and when we got off the submarine that was still in the active phase. And not until the increased pressure from media sources began to speculate as to our activities on board the ship and different papers offering information and financial settlements for our identities did we feel it was important to get out the fact that the most important thing here is nine people are reported missing; kids, adults, and that's the true tragedy in the story and that needs to remain the focus of this. It's not the 16 civilians that were on board that submarine. We would have easily stayed out there three more days or however long we needed to in order to Scott Waddle and his crew to do what they were trained to do, which was aid and assist in any way possible.

LAUER: And, John, is that why you're speaking out as well?

HALL: Well, I would echo what Todd said. The reality is I think that everybody was pretty shocked when this actually happened and, as Todd said, we stayed out an extra day. We got in Saturday morning. When we were off-loaded the vessel and we were debriefed for a short period--I don't think anybody wanted to talk to the press. I don't think we thought we were the story. We aren't the story. Consequently--but the press can't talk to the captain and they're not really able to talk to the crew and so they know there are 16 civilians on and so they want to talk to somebody. In the last day or so, it's gotten to the point--I think yesterday we were told there are rewards out for, you know, for everybody. And quite frankly, you have 16 middle-class Americans who thought they were getting the ride of their lifetime and it didn't turn out that way. It turned into a tragedy.

LAUER: And you told me this is the last you'd like to speak about this?

HALL: This is the last I'd like to speak about this. I hope it is. There is an ongoing investigation. I think it's important to let the investigation go and I would consider an interview with the families of the nine missing individuals. I think those families need closure and if I could help in anyway with those families, I'd be happy to. I don't speak Japanese, but I'd be happy to have an interview with those families and answer any questions that I could with those families.

LAUER: And we will try and facilitate that. John Hall, Todd and Dianda Thoman, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

HALL: Thank you very much, Matt.

TODD: Thank you.

DIANDA: Thank you.