Posted on 01/30/2013 12:35:06 PM PST by PieterCasparzen
A United States minesweeper ship that crashed into a coral reef due to inaccurate Navy maps will have to be cut into small pieces and removed in order to prevent harming the ocean’s ecosystem, according to the Navy and other reports.
The $277 million USS Guardian, a Naval warship that clears waterways of mines, crashed into a coral reef near the Philippines earlier this month.
The Navy will disassemble it piece by piece in order to avoid damaging the reef rather than tow the multi-million dollar ship off of the reef and perform necessary repairs.
“Our only supportable option is to dismantle the damaged ship and remove it in sections,” Capt. Darryn James, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was quoted as saying Tuesday by the Military Times.
One Navy source criticized decision makers for deliberately destroying the expensive warship just weeks before devastating cuts to the defense budget are scheduled to take place.
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(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...
Maybe they can meld the sections to the Cruise Ship still on it’s side! And make a cruiser mine sweeper!
How times have changed. I was recently on the Cook Island of Aitutaki. In the 1940’s, the army corps of engineers blew out part of the reef so that the rest of it formed a beautiful protected harbor. Most beautiful island in the world.
Hey, it automatically cauterizes the burn! Another plus savings!..........
“trashed to splinters “
Would think so.
Corals are hardy little animals. As long as the cause of injury is removed they bounce right back. I grow them as a hobby and use to run a retail store. We cut them, break them and glue um to rocks. They almost always spring right back.
Why not just pull the ship back the same way it went in? it’ll follow it’s own damage path back out.
US Navy defeated by coral!
When you break the keel on a ship its like breaking the frame on a car. Its pretty much over.
Coral seldom loses to wood.
Mine sweepers can’t have metal hulls..........
Not necessarily so.
There have been Steel hulled sweeps.
The USS Washtenaw County (LST-1166) was converted to the MSS 2 to help clear North Vietnam of mines after the Vietnam War was over.
Also, WE used a tanker to ‘act’ as a sweep back in the Persian Gulf.
What a bummer for the captain! He can blame the charts, but I don't think he's getting another ship to command any time soon. The crew can be redeployed.
true because a 350,000 ton tanker can hit a mine and not even know it whereas the 3000 ton frigates take serious damage. ref FFG-58 SAMUEL B. ROBERTS the book is good NO HIGHER HONOR
If you just leave it there, it becomes the reef eventually.
Ships named after 60’s radicals ? ...
That's the last time they buy mapping software from Apple!
If you need ‘camo’ on a ship, dye it grey and make it look like a pipe or conduit. You could hide ‘til the end of the cruise.
insanity
What is it with the Navy (and Air Force) and the wearing of a moustache.
Enviro-madness. The reef will heal. The interest on the money we borrowed to build that ship will keep accumulating forever.
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