U.S.S. Guardian Shipwreck: Navy Ship Removed From Philippines Reef

This is not a deep water disaster but couldn't think of another place to open the thread. Pretty interesting considering the fact that despite classified as a mine sweeper equipped to scan the oceans for possible sea mines, it ran aground on Tbbataha Reef. Was it just a captain's error/misjudgement/damaged sensors on the ship/equipment malfunction? One too many possiblities. Ofcourse we will never know the real cause or the official version of the incident however it just seems strange. I wonder if it was deliberate on the US navy's part to scrap the ship for potentially requesting a new one due to setbacks/budget cuts? or was it damaged due to any potential chinese sub in the area (monitoring the water due to the china/phillipine sea territorial dispute)? Just a thought.

MANILA, Philippines -- Workers in the southwestern Philippines have removed the last major part of a U.S. Navy minesweeper from a protected coral reef where it ran aground in January, and the damage will be assessed to determine the fine Washington will pay, officials said Sunday.
A crane lifted the 250-ton stern of the dismantled USS Guardian on Saturday from the reef, where it accidentally got stuck Jan. 17, officials said. The reef, designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural arm, is located in the Tubbataha National Marine Park in the Sulu Sea, about 644 kilometers (400 miles) southwest of Manila.

The doomed ship's parts will be transported to a Navy facility in Sasebo, Japan, to determine which ones can be reused and which will be junked, Philippine coast guard Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista said.

Workers were cleaning debris at the site, where American and Filipino experts this week will begin a final assessment of the reef damage, to be paid for by Washington. An initial estimate showed about 4,000 square meters (4,780 square yards) of coral reef was damaged by the ship grounding, according to Tubbataha park superintendent Angelique Songco. She said it was unlikely the estimate would change significantly.

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Recent image of the ship.

Chopped off portion being lifted from the sea.

reply to post by hp1229

If the Captain was at fault he/she would have been prosecuted by now. Chances are that the Skipper was not even on the bridge at the time of the incident.

This thread was raised soon after the incident where lots of theories were discussed as to probable cause.

Sober & Sane Captains do not make such silly mistakes - something else was happening here and we are not privy to same.

VERY interesting scenario, however, I'll stand by the Skipper on this one

seems to me that some people are loosing awareness while others are becoming more aware. This is the sort of thing that happens when people become to dependent on technology. People forget that computers are only tools, you still have to be observant of what is going on.

I remember reading about this when it first happened. If I'm not mistaken, the american captain was warned that his ship was to close to the reef before it grounded but I guess he decided to ignore the warning.