U.S Navy minesweeper stuck on Phillipine reef : 'Ignored warning'

www.abc.net.au...

from the news report

Park rangers radioed the USS Guardian to advise it was nearing the Tubbataha Reef on Thursday, but the ship captain insisted they raise their complaint with the US embassy, Ms Songco told reporters on Monday.t

A US Navy minesweeper that has been stuck on a World Heritage-listed coral reef in the Philippines since last week ignored warnings to avoid the area, a Philippine government official sayst

Interesting that they ignored the warnings from the rangers and to contact the U.S embassy with their complaint?
What were they doing there ,minesweeping? catching dinner or lost at sea?
This is a world heritage listed area southeast of Palawan, but luckily no oil leaks as yet
which is good news and the crew has left safely
Apologies all round and now a recovery job for some civilian tugboats contracted by the U.S,

somebody is getting fired!

Don't they know you have to watch out for the mines when you are getting to close to them it turns different colors and the numbers tell you how many mines are around you.

F#king windows 98!

reply to post by 12voltz


*WE ARE THE UNITED STATES NAVY. WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING. THANKS FOR YOUR CONCERN, BUT WE HAVE THE SITUATION UNDER CONTROL*

Whoopsy! Someone is in a world of hurt after this one.......

Originally posted by dc4lifeskater
somebody is getting fired!

The ship captain will be an admiral within 2 months. Calling it now.

If they fire the captain, it's embarrassing and the US admits it was wrong.

If the captain resigns, same thing, and s/he won't get another cushy job anywhere, and the old boys network won't allow that.

If they do nothing, the captain is allowed to captain another ship despite being incompetent.

If they promote the captain, s/he keeps his cushy job, old boys are satisfied, US isn't embarrassed, and the captain won't ever captain another ship so no danger of repeat incidents.

As a Captain myself, something is not right here.

1. A Captain NEVER ignores restricted zones, datum depths or deviations from passage plans (unless drunk or preoccupied by a fine female)
2. He is responsible for his vessel and her manoeuvres - not the "US Embassy".

Therefore , I say with all conviction that he was ordered to that area by his superiors, and probably did so under protest.

Be very careful in demonizing the Captain and his crew - something is seriously wrong with this scenario. We are not being told the full story

Hm, this is reminding me of the old joke about the Naval vessel vs. the lighthouse.

There may not be an oil spill but as they are stuck on a reef it is safe to say there has been serious irreparable damage. The ecosystem in that area is trashed and that ships captain must take responsibility for his negligence. Whether or not he accepts the responsibility on his own, he must be held accountable for the damage made and I seriously do not think simply taking his command even comes close.

reply to post by Agarta


I agree, the Captain will be held to account for the actions of the vessel, irrespective of whether or not he had the con or was even on the bridge at the time.

For the vessel to acknowledge & subsequently ignore instructions from statutory authorities via a radio communication and continue into this territory is almost unheard of.

You don't even have to be a seafarer to see that something is not right here - its like driving your car into a lake - you just would not do it unless you had a gun to your head or were not yourself.

Can anyone say polar bear club. From the photos, it looks like that's ice.

Just look at this way, least they get a few days of vacation.

Ice?

coral reef in the Philippines

How is it irrepairable damage them shipyards can fix her right up in no time. As for the reef there is a time to reap and a time to sow everything will be ok. He just curbed it no harm no foul. Please dont forward to Greenpeace.

Originally posted by roadgravel
Ice?

coral reef in the Philippines

From the picture, it looks like ice.

reply to post by Manhater

That there ice is really breaking waves because of the depth change.

If the location on the globe isn't already familiar, locate the Philippines on a world map. Just north of the equator which means no ice.

It was in the bottom right corner the whole time!

As a ex mine sweep sailor i know that this captain is in a lot of trouble.
It does not mater that the Digital Nautical Charts, were wrong.

He was warned and should have taken actions to double check and use his mine hunting sonar to check the water depth.

They will be lucky to get this mine sweep off the reef in one piece because its a wooden ship.

In some ways though its hull is stronger then a steel hulled ship in that its 4 layers of Philippine mahogany with 3 layers of Rubberized Kevlar between the layers of mahogany then the outside is fiberglass.

Wooden Ships and Rusty Crusty Iron Men
USS Enhance MSO 437 Dec 1971 to Dec 1973
Operation Endsweep and ship board Fire March 17, 1973.
102msos.8m.net...

Originally posted by Sublimecraft
As a Captain myself, something is not right here.

1. A Captain NEVER ignores restricted zones, datum depths or deviations from passage plans (unless drunk or preoccupied by a fine female)
2. He is responsible for his vessel and her manoeuvres - not the "US Embassy".

Therefore , I say with all conviction that he was ordered to that area by his superiors, and probably did so under protest.

Be very careful in demonizing the Captain and his crew - something is seriously wrong with this scenario. We are not being told the full story

edit on 21-1-2013 by Sublimecraft because: (no reason given)

I was thinking along similar lines. It seems to me that his blatant disregard for the warnings that were issued means that the captain was never considering leaving the area, for some reason. Obviously the safety of the ship and crew is more important when there is not any objective that they are trying to accomplish, so why even risk maneuvering in a potentially dangerous area if one did not have to? It just doesn't make sense, and the most likely explanation is that the captain had a purpose in that particular area. I suppose it is possible that the captain was just being arrogant, but I don't think this is a given by any means.

Surely the US navy would know where a freaking reef is located. I would think their computerized maps and charts would depict such hazards, and since the US navy has been in that area since at least WWII, they should have known a reef was there. I wonder if the reef had anything to do with them being there? Maybe they were laying mines instead of trying to find them, dun dun dun.

All I gotta say is "Pride goeth before a fall". From the link, it states The Guardian was headed to Indonesia after visiting a Philippine port north of Manila. Doesn't sound like anything secret or special in any way. Just a pompous attitude, too much confidence and a whole lot of not paying attention. They had maps, tons of expensive equipment and verbal warnings immediately before. You can lead a horse to water.....

Maybe they were laying mines instead of trying to find them, dun dun

There is no room for storing mines on board except on the fantail and from the photos all i can see is there sweep equipment on the deck.

They might have been in the area to check or service sub tracking equipment that the US government has hidden in major shipping bottle necks like between the Philippines and Indonesia.

Since China has been trying to make claims to island in the area having hidden ship tracking sonar in the area would be one idea.

The mine hunting sonar on the sweeps has many uses in finding equipment on the sea floor and the sweep i was on did a lot of salvage and recovery work.
Everything from downed aircraft to test weapons recovery.

Look at those waves breaking on the coral Reef! I know! Lets head there! There must be mines there.