Stuck Minesweeper to Be Cut Into Pieces

[jazz lady (Premo)]

Unable to tow the minesweeper USS Guardian off a reef in the Philippines, the Navy has decided that the only way to free the ship without causing further damage to the reef is to cut the ship into pieces.

That basically means the USS Guardian will no longer exist as a Navy vessel and will be taken off the Navy's ship roster.

The 23-year-old Avenger class minesweeper USS Guardian ran aground on Tubbataha Reef the night of Jan. 17 as the ship crossed the Sulu Sea. The reef, located about 400 miles south of Manila, is both a Philippines natural park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Days after the incident the commander of the Navy's Seventh Fleet issued an apology to the Philippine government.

In the days since, the Navy was unable to tow the ship off the reef as poor sea conditions complicated the salvage effort. Capt. Darryn James, spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, told ABC News that the Navy now plans to cut the ship into pieces to get it off the reef. Two heavy lift ship-borne cranes will arrive at the scene by Friday to begin to salvage the ship. The process is expected to take a month.

"The ship is badly damaged," said James. According to James the team of naval architecture and salvage efforts working to free the minesweeper determined that "after a full review of all possible alternatives, our only viable option is to dismantle the damaged ship and remove it in sections."

Stuck Minesweeper to Be Cut Into Pieces - Yahoo! News

[CrashTest]

Bad charts missed that reef by only 8 miles. I wonder who will take the hit. Can't imagine an incident like that without the Navy finding human error somewhere. The Navy doesn't work like the State Dept.

[RPMDAD]

And i see another Captain's career going down in flames, for wiping out a ship on a relatively peace time cruise.

[GWguy]

I read this earlier today, but the article I read said they were using maps that placed the reef some 9 miles from where they were. I was going to make a joke about them using Apple Maps.


I can't find a single article that says anything about the maps and errors.

Found it....
Seawater pumped into U.S. warship to keep it stable on reef - CNN.com

An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the grounding. A Navy spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. James Stockman, said last week that the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which prepares the digital navigation charts used by the Navy, has reported the location of the reef was misplaced on a chart by nine miles.

[PJumper]

Originally Posted by CrashTest

Bad charts missed that reef by only 8 miles. I wonder who will take the hit. Can't imagine an incident like that without the Navy finding human error somewhere. The Navy doesn't work like the State Dept.

The park rangers advised the Captain that they're getting to close to the reef but instead of listenig to the well-intended advise, he smarted off saying "Make your complain to the Embassy". Like I said before, when arrogance takes over common sense, sh*t happens!

[Gilligan (Premo)]

$25 million order cut for the salvage effort. Wow.

Defense.gov: Contracts for Tuesday, February 05, 2013

[Lurk]

Originally Posted by Gilligan

$25 million order cut for the salvage effort. Wow.

Defense.gov: Contracts for Tuesday, February 05, 2013

That's only about 100-120 contract jobs that will be added to the sequestration cuts.

[Gilligan (Premo)]

Uh..just to be clear(er), my use of the word "cut" was intended to mean that an order/contract had been issued for that amount of money.

[Gilligan (Premo)]

Some great pictures of the now-completed salvage effort..

Salvage of USS Guardian

[dustin]

Originally Posted by Gilligan

Some great pictures of the now-completed salvage effort..

Salvage of USS Guardian

I'm surprised they show photos of the hull thickness...