In February 2001, while serving as Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Fallon was given Presidential special envoy status and dispatched to Japan to apologize for the collision between the U.S. Navy submarine "USS Greeneville" and the Japanese fisheries training vessel "Ehime Maru". The accident killed nine Japanese crewmembers, including four high school students. Fallon, along with Ambassador Tom Foley, met with family members of the victims at the Ambassador's official residence in Tokyo and in the "Ehime Maru"'s home port of Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture, bowing deeply and expressing regret on behalf of the United States and President George W. Bush. His deferential show of contrition to the families, carried out in front of news cameras, was widely credited with defusing an incident that could have damaged U.S.-Japan relations.