Stuck Minesweeper to Be Cut Into Pieces

jazz lady

jazz lady

~*~ Rara Avis ~*~
PREMO Member
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."
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Stuck Minesweeper to Be Cut Into Pieces - Yahoo! News
 
CrashTest

CrashTest

Well-Known Member
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

RPMDAD

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

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. :eyebrow:

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.
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PJumper

PJumper

New Member
CrashTest said:
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.
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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

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
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

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
dustin said:
I'm surprised they show photos of the hull thickness...
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The Avenger class design and construction details were public domain even when they were being built. Very common practice for a very long time, excepting the fiberglass skin overlayed on the outside of the hull.

Construction details are well known and public for even the much more technically advanced mine countermeasure vessel designs from Sweden, Norway and the UK, that are using cored composite structures.
 
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