The US Navy's nuclear submarines were built with non-conforming material, after a 30-year American metallurgical engineer tampered with strength tests of steel supposed to withstand intense diving pressures and extreme temperatures.
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Elaine Thomas, 67, pleaded guilty on Monday, Nov.8 to major fraud in a court in Washington state, in the northwestern United States, for falsifying these tests in order to cover up the fact that the steel sank in its foundry did not always meet the criteria required by the US Navy, said the US Department of Justice in a statement. She faces 10 years in prison and a million dollars in fines when the judge delivers his verdict next February.
Elaine Thomas, who was one of the country's first female metallurgical engineers in the 1970s, oversaw testing of the Bradken Company's foundry in Tacoma, a suburb of Seattle. This foundry near the large Kitsap submarine base is the only one in the country capable of producing steel strong enough to meet the requirements of the US Navy, and it is to it that the large groups turn. defense units that build American attack submarines, such as General Dynamics or Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Each time steel is cast for submarines, part of the metal must be poured into a test mold of a thickness similar to that of the parts of the submersible's structure to be reinforced to withstand the enormous pressures from the depths.
This test mold is then analyzed to ensure that each production meets the strict criteria set by the Pentagon.
However, between 1985 and the retirement of Elaine Thomas in 2017, half of the mussels produced by the Tacoma plant did not meet these criteria and it therefore improved the results obtained by correcting the figures by hand.
"The intention to defraud the US Navy"
In some cases, she explained that she did so because she thought it "
stupid
" that the US Navy required tests to be conducted at -100 degrees Fahrenheit (-73 degrees Celsius). In others, she explained that she used her “
engineering judgment
,” correcting one number because everyone else looked good.
The fraud was discovered when Elaine Thomas downsized her business before retiring and her tests were reviewed by an intern, who alerted foundry management. In June 2020, the Bradken company admitted responsibility and agreed to pay a fine of $ 11 million. Elaine Thomas "
set up and used a system with the intent to defraud the US Navy,
" according to the indictment. She "
falsified the results of more than 240 steel productions, which is a substantial part of the steel Bradken produced for the Navy
." In his defense, the former metallurgist said he had "
never intended to compromise the integrity of the material
".
She said she was "
satisfied that government tests do not suggest that the structural integrity of any submarine has in fact been compromised,
" according to the defense.
But according to the Department of Justice, the US Navy "
had to take important steps to ensure the safety of the submarines affected
."
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The US Navy has refrained from comment.
Between 1985 and 2017, the Pentagon took possession of dozens of submarines, of which around 40 are still in service.
