USS Guardian is Getting Battered on Philippine Reef - Hard Aground !!

[lenseman]

WHOOPS !!

A U.S. Navy minesweeper, the USS Guardian, ran aground in the Sulu Sea off the Philippines on Thursday, and was stuck on a reef, the Navy said.

No one was injured in the incident, which occurred at 2:25 a.m. local time on Tubbataha Reef about 80 miles (130 km) east-southeast of Palawan Island, in the Philippines, the Navy said. There were no reports that any fuel leaked from the vessel.

The ship, with a crew of 80, had just completed a port call at Subic Bay in the Philippines, when the grounding occurred.

“The crew is currently working to determine the best method of safely extracting the ship,” a Navy statement said, adding that the cause of the grounding was under investigation.

http://gcaptain.com/navy-minesweeper-stuck-reef-philippines/

http://gcaptain.com/guardian-fully-bricked-battered/

Since running aground, the USS Guardian has pivoted through 90° on the reef due to rough weather. That movement can't have helped the integrity of the hull below the waterline?


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[lenseman]

USS GUARDIAN

This is how badly USS Guardian is being pounded on the reef !


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[Erik C]

That's a few more naval careers coming to an sudden end.

 

[U4]

Woops indeed I find it flabbergasting how, with the amount of navigational equipment on board, this sort of thing could happen!

 

[Resolution]

Woops indeed I find it flabbergasting how, with the amount of navigational equipment on board, this sort of thing could happen!

So you have never spent a weekend in the fleshpots of Subic Bay then?

 

[AndieMac]

They will have to borrow the submersible ship that the British Navy used to extract their own vessel (HMS Nottingham) that grounded near Lord Howe Island (South Pacific) in 2002.

 

[U4]

So you have never spent a weekend in the fleshpots of Subic Bay then?

Ummm...... No!

 

[Poignard]

They will have to borrow the submersible ship that the British Navy used to extract their own vessel (HMS Nottingham) that grounded near Lord Howe Island (South Pacific) in 2002.

Ouch!

 

[Firefly625]

looks like USS Guardian will soon be getting a new captain.... you would wonder how could this happen...

 

[Poignard]

looks like USS Guardian will soon be getting a new captain.... you would wonder how could this happen...

Hubris?

 

[Robg71]

They will have to borrow the submersible ship that the British Navy used to extract their own vessel (HMS Nottingham) that grounded near Lord Howe Island (South Pacific) in 2002.

The company is dockwise, quite impressive when you see them up close

 

[AndieMac]

The company is dockwise, quite impressive when you see them up close

By the look of the photos it was quite a snug fit, and yes, an impressive operation.

 

[lenseman]

Time Running Out for Salvaging USS Guardian? Monsoon Winds Expected to Worsen

The minesweeper USS Guardian ran aground on a reef at the Tubbataha marine park in the Sula Sea last Thursday. The ship is still there. So far there has been no reported leaks of fuel leaks though the Navy has confirmed that multiple spaces aboard the ship have been flooded. The worsen weather may threaten the salvage of the ship. The north east monsoon winds known as the Amihan are expected to worsen over the next few days.

As reported by GMA News: “The strong northeasterly wind and the associated big waves could affect any operation to rescue the US vessel. One thing to consider is there is another surge of the northeast monsoon this week, so expect stronger winds and heavier seas,” GMA News’ resident meteorologist Nathaniel “Mang Tani” Cruz said.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/stor...ardian-in-tubbataha-as-amihan-winds-intensify


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[lenseman]

Stuck Minesweeper to Be Cut Into Pieces

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."

James said the decision "keeps the cranes in deeper water to minimize coral damage." He added, "We are developing a thoughtful and deliberate plan to safely remove individual sections of the ship without causing the release of harmful materials."

Get more pure politics at ABCNews.com/Politics

None of the 79 sailors aboard the ship were injured in the grounding and there has been no seepage of fuel onto the reef. The ship's crew was transferred to another U.S. vessel and have returned to their homeport of Sasebo, Japan.

The ship's wooden hull - covered in fiberglass - is punctured and parts of the ship have been flooded. As part of the salvage effort the 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel aboard the Guardian were transferred to a Malaysian tug contracted by the Navy. Other materials that might damage the reef have also been removed including : 671 gallons of lubricating oil; dry food stores; paints and solvents contained in storage lockers; and the crew's personal effects left behind on the ship.

A preliminary Navy review found that the digital chart the crew was using to navigate the ship incorrectly listed the reef's location by 8 miles. A review of additional charts created by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency found another navigational aberration off the coast of Chile. Both have been corrected.

The Philippine Congress is conducting its own investigation of the ship's grounding.

According to a Navy fact sheet, the Navy's 14 Avenger-class ships "are designed as mine sweepers/hunter-killers capable of finding, classifying and destroying moored and bottom mines." With hulls made of wood and sheathed in fiberglass, the 224-foot-long vessels "use sonar and video systems, cable cutters and a mine detonating device that can be released and detonated by remote control. They are also capable of conventional sweeping measures."

A number of the vessels have been deployed to the Persian Gulf over the past year to counter any possible Iranian threat to close the Strait of Hormuz with mines.


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