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Steve White / U.S. Navy photo
The USS Guardian arrives at White Beach Naval Facility in Japan earlier this month.
A U.S. Navy ship with a wood-and-fiberglass hull that ran aground on a reef off the Philippines was still stuck nearly 22 hours later, Navy officials said Thursday.
The USS Guardian, an Avenger-class minesweeper, hit the Tubbataha Reef in the Sula Sea at 2:25 a.m. local time Thursday (1:25 p.m. Wednesday ET), the Navy said in a statement.
The statement said no one was hurt as a result of the collision, about 80 miles east-southeast of Palawan Island.
“The crew is currently working to determine the best method of safely extracting the ship,” the statement said. “The cause of the grounding is under investigation.”
Guardian, which is deployed to Sasebo, Japan, was commissioned Dec. 16, 1989, and has a crew of about 80, it added.
A U.S. Navy spokeswoman said at about 11:20 a.m. that the ship was still stuck on the reef.
According to a U.S. Navy factfile, the Guardian has a “fiberglass sheathed, wooden hull.”
“These ships 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,” the factfile says.
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Been there in the early 80's on MSO-443 USS Fidelity. The XO was plotting a course using a speed we were not doing. Needless to say the Captain was given the boot. Took the Coast Guard a lot of pulling at high tide to slide us off. Our sonar chest was pulling such a high vacuum from the sea chest we thought the bottom would implode (LOL).
Same as driving. You lose your license if you shoot the pooch. This has made me feel so nice to know the Navy is still hiring dumb@sses out of the academy and giving them the keys to the boats they have no business driving. FTN. Lots.
The XO should of left the navigating up to the QM's.
hey Denver Bill,
Nice physics lesson. Now tell me If I am a bird smuggler in South America and my plane has a pay load of 5 tons.
Can I carry 10 tons if I keep half of the birds flying at all times?
Sure, those birds don't care about your 10 tons of.. The flight will be short and straight down. I assume something got you up in the air in the 1st place (LOL). Maybe straight off the flight deck.
Only if the flying birds are on the outside of the plane.
Too bad they didn't have a submariner sonar tech onboard. They rock!
I'm not a former sailor, a Marine and so I'm not aware of all the sorts of things that could legitimately cause such a thing. But I'm betting that the list is a very short one. Of those things that might cause him to run his ship aground only one would eliminate him from being an incompetent. I didn't read that ALL of his systems were down or otherwise inoperable.
In today's environment I'm fairly certain that this sort of thing is a career ending event. It's so embarrassing to read about this sort of thing happening. It appears that while we can spend whatever we want to have whatever we want on defense we can't drive a ship. I'm a little sorry for the skipper. But hey, there are worse things that could happen than becoming the Captain of the Love Boat.
Think that in light of recent events, cruise lines are going to be pretty selective about whom they appoint as officers, also, so it may not be all that easy for him to find new employment in that line of work.
That's a ton of ignorant comments from people who have never navigated the waters around the PI. It is an extremely high risk evolution. The mistake was not being in "Restricted Maneuvering". The CO, Mark Rice is the former XO and is a Junior Officer (LCDR) who took over a couple of months ago. I truly hope this doesn't derail what may have been a promising career. Best way to learn is to make mistakes that aren't too costly.
An incompetent Navy is nothing more than a reflection on the competence of the Commander in Chief.
It was the strawberries... the stawberries....
Navigate the sandbar (or reef) it all works out eh cap I tan? Risky you bet and with all of our tax-money wasted on risk aversion classes at the academy...
booze and bjs at subic bay tend to do that to a sailor.im a merchant mariner engineering officer and that place is mind blowing-you tend to fall in love with 20 year olds real easy there and the capt was probably trying to relocate his eyes in there suckets from the suction he experienced on shore leave.if that caused you to run a ship aground captain go back and marry her!!!!!!
Jeepers Creepers what next? Last week a submarine lost its periscope, this ship has run aground, and the captain of the cruise vessel that sunk says he has no regrets. Are the inmates running the asylum or what?
sonar : no help
GPS : again, no help
maps : not a chance
Obama should ban reefs...
no, just those godforsaken assault rifles
obozo just got that pelosi to get reef banning approved
Subic is located in Northern Philippines while Tubattaha reef is located in Southern Philippines.
Made out of wood and fiberglass.... sounds like an old Galaxy 500 I owned in high school back in the 70s. Hey, I can do fiberglass and bondo, and I had wood shop..... that is, if the Navy is going to be looking for a contractor to fix the leaky boat.
Yet another Navy career down the shltter...
no prob - big cut-backs are on the way for all the military branches - got to have some way to thin the herd.
At least this time, they didn't hit another ship!
I have one word of advise.-----GARMIN
Ah hell, Kennedy ran his little wooden boat across the bow of a gigantic Japanese cruiser while putting along at less than walking speed in the middle of a shipping channel. He wrote a book and became President! I think this captain will do just fine, he is showing all the earmarks of a great leader. If he can get off the reef thing.
It was a destroyer, actually. (Kennedy was supposed to be hunting Japanese ships at the time, LOL!)
Thanks for the correction. I do know that after he walked out into the channel with the flashlight to signal a ship and got back, he was going to be court martial ed by the Navy, but daddy, who got him in, got him out on a medical and the charges dropped. But hey...
I think there should be a sailor on the Bow of that ship with a Long rope with a weight tied to it. Then the sailor could drop the weight at intervals and call out the depth to the capitan. Like the sailors did in the seventeenth century. Who needs radar and sounding equipment, seems it isnt doing this ship any good. U.S. Navy, best in the world.
Sounding is impossible at speeds over a couple of knots...
that was master and commander watch the movie.darthdon i think raytheon might want to argue that with you
Mark Twain !
Like a good neighbor....State Farm is there...lol
Reefer Madness!!!!
From the CO's bio:
"Following...he received orders to be an Instructor at the Surface Warfare Officer School where he taught Division Officer Students ship handling in the COVE Simulators. (emphasis added)"
Whoops! Maybe should have paid attention to what you were teaching, sir.
The ship I was on back in the '90s ran aground after leaving Bahrain; our CO was fired.
Good luck in your new career Capt.