Lee, you do have to almost surface to use the periscope. You know that.
I expect periscope depth would not be called for until after the area was cleared using the sub’s ability to detect surface traffic prop noise. I doubt state of the art subs rely on blind luck to avoid striking the hull of a ship when rising to the surface. Aren’t those accidents caused more by human error, such as failure to follow procedure rather than lack of information?
IIRC this was a simulated emergency surface, the kind where the boat comes shooting out of the water for part of its length. I think they may have started from 650 foot depth (too lazy to look it up in the NTSB brief).
It happened to my parents, in a sailing yacht on the Swedish West coast. Technically it happened to me too, but I was too young to remember. They took emergency avoidance on seeing the periscope, which they thought to be an iron post, and didn’t have time to think about where they mis-navigated before the rest of the sub appeared. Complaining to the Navy garnered no response.
IIRC, they did a low magnification periscope sweep, but skipped the (slower) high magnification sweep.
Anyone interested in passive sonar use should have a dig through Jive Turkey’s analysis section:
He also did a quick video on this incident:
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Wikipedia has a good article.
After completing the high-speed maneuvers, standing orders called for the submarine to hold a steady course for three minutes to reestablish sonar contact, which had been disrupted by the high speed maneuvers, with any vessels in the area. In this case, however, Waddle ordered the submarine to change course and go to periscope depth after holding the steady course for only 90 seconds
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Here’s a good look into submarine sonar from a rocket engineer (Smarter Every Day YT channel). Around 25 minutes.
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However, a first-class sonar man, who had heard the Maru on passive sonar, did not notify the captain of his contact. He testified as such.