E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
AFP - WESCOM via EPA
A photo released on Jan. 20, 2013 by the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Command (AFP-WESCOM) shows the US Navy ship USS Guardian remaining stuck in the vicinity of the Tubbataha Reef, western Philippines, on Jan. 19.
The U.S. Navy ship USS Guardian remains stuck on a reef off the Philippines four days after the minesweeper ran aground.
In a statement, the U.S. Navy said preliminary findings of a review by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency found that digital navigation chart data was inaccurate and had "misplaced the location of Tubbataha Reef." This "may have been a factor in the Guardian grounding."
"While the erroneous navigation chart data is important information, no one should jump to conclusions," U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Capt. Darryn James was quoted as saying in the statement. "It is critical that the U.S. Navy conduct a comprehensive investigation that assesses all the facts surrounding the Guardian grounding."
Wescom via AFP - Getty Images
The USS Guardian remains trapped on the Tubbataha Reef in a photo taken on Ja. 19, 2013 and released on Jan. 20.
Photographs showed the ship had moved on the reef. Initially it was pointed bow first into the reef, but it has now turned 90 degrees.
The Navy Times reported that areas of the ship were flooded, and cited the Navy as saying there had been a "slight increase to a port list" Saturday.
Leave a Comment:
you know all of you out there making these negative comments should be ashamed of yourselves. the u.s. navy is the finest group of dedicated sailors in the world! it is extremely rare that this happens to one of our ships , but it does happen. yes, someone will lose a job and have a major blemish on there service record , but i say if it is due to mapping issues or sonor restrictions, in the middle of the night , it is pitch black out there. you find your way around in the dark with only a bad map and see where you end up ! lighten up people, be glad it was no worse. it could have been a mine killing dozens of our fine dedicated servicemen and or women. you all sit out there and critisize, you couldn't do thier jobs so lighten up! i served during desert storm and came within 100 ft. of hitting a mine. i am greatful for thier dedication and thier service, you should be too
GOOD G REEF
Elwood-2689850;
I'll agree the Chinese are very active in a lot of areas. However, this one looks to be our own fault.
"
Digital Error
The Digital Nautical Charts (DNC) used by the Guardian and most Navy ships
are produced by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), a largely
secret organization headquartered in Springfield, Va.
The DNC charts come in several versions. “General” and “coastal” versions are
used in open areas such as the Sulu Sea, and “approach” and “harbor” versions
are used for operating in and around harbors. According to an NGA memo sent to
the Navy on Jan. 18, the error was in the coastal DNC, apparently in use on
board the Guardian at the time of the grounding.
The general DNC and hardcopy charts show the reef’s location correctly, NGA
said.
Letitia Long, the agency’s director, told the Navy that the coastal DNC
charts would be corrected by Jan. 30, and advised ships not to use the Sulu Sea
charts until then.
The Navy’s head navigator took things a step further, advising in a message
sent to the fleet Jan. 18 “to operate with caution when using NGA-supplied
Coastal Digital Nautical Charts due to an identified error in the accuracy of
charting in the Sulu Sea.”
Rear Adm. Jonathan White, Oceanographer and Navigator of the Navy, said in
the message that preliminary analysis of the error indicates it “resulted from
incorrect geographic rectification of satellite imagery used to build” the
coastal DNC charts."
The Captain and Officers on this vessel are a bunch of tools that need to be keel hauled or at the least fired. What a complete screw-up. Nobody, I repeat nobody could miss that reef. It was more of a beach than a reef. The Iran navy could do better. Blow the ship up and fire everyone on the ship.
Do you know why the Polish Navy put Glass in the bottom of their ships? So they could see the Old Polish Navy on the bottom of the Ocean. I feel that we should do the same.
Do you also know, why sailors wave to the U.S. Flag displayed on Military Parades? It is because they remind themselves painting the bottom of their ships.
fyi-minesweepers don't have sonar. radar gear is referred to as 'navigational' which means it's slop out at sea. maritime mapping around the PI is notorious for being crap. If they thought they were well out to sea they wouldn't be using a lead line. The seventeenth was close to new moon. would have been dark as crap out at 2 am. The CO would only have been an O-4 so he can salvage his career IF he gets exonerated on the map thing and IF he never ever the rest of his life makes another mistake.
I bet they are flying three balls from the mast. The CO's, the XO's and the navigator's. Or for those who dont know three black balls are flown when the ship has run a ground.
Good Answer Italian Stugot!
Starting with Marco Polo, Americo Vespucci and later with Kristoforo Colombo (Columbus), Italians discovered America. To those who erroneously claim that it was Erick "The Red"... let me tell them the following: Why America (The Continent) was not named Ericka? Explain that to me Salames!!
Oh fricking paleeze :/ get real and check the facts!!!
lmao: America was here Long before being "discovered" by any fool from Europe :P
Long before the "DARK AGES" Folks knew this Continent was here,it's that the BS History you were Taught in School is WRONG!!!
Look deeper and don't be fooled by the BS "They" want You or I to think!!!
Just some food for thought,
How could America be discovered when there were people living here all along who already knew it was here?
Discover? Did it just materialize out of thin air then all of a sudden it was discovered? People were living here long before anyone thought they discovered it.
It's a matter of perspective. Conquered would be more accurate then Discovered...
rofl First off,a "Map" is for land,a "Chart" is for the Ocean,Seas,Bayswide enough Rivers etc.etc...
lamo! call The USCG they'd be more than happy to assist them Navy Boys!!!!(ex-Coastie ;) )
lol,look people it said 600 miles offshore so no land based distractions :P possible The Chinese messed with the GPS signal,but according to recent studies We still have the better tech,so I doubt that was the problem!!!
And Yes This Captain will be having to look for a new job soon enough! ;) Even with all the new and improved gadgets out there,any Seagoing service still has us Seamen stand watch to avoid BS like this from happening,yet it still does and more often than you think!!!
Looks like the Martians are here to!
Poor reef!
Is it just me... but is a ship trapped "in" the reef? How long was she there for the reef to form around her...
Isn't it "on" a reef?
USS Guardian was notified by Philippine Coastguard three times not to enter the area of Tubbataha Reef. However, for an identified reason the navy vessel proceeded to enter the reef. Sulu sea is not known to have sea mines as far as I know. I think the mine sweeper has no business in the area. The US navy officers should have responded to the Phil. Coastguard's warning having knowledge to the area. US navy may have the latest capabilities but apparently it did not work this time in avoiding the incident. The cost of the accident to the corals in the area which considered among the best in the world is priceless and its impact to the biodiversity will be enormous. I hope no one among the servicemen was hurt and we always appreciate their service.
Without a doubt, that Skippers career is over. GPS spoofing or not, using a combination of charts, sonar, radar etc.. this should never have happened.
Uless there is a real good reason, that Skippers career is toast. The Nav doesn't look to kindly on ship groundings.
A sinking minesweeper? No problem. The GOP wants to build another 80 of them anyway. They'll just make 81 instead-- courtesy of your disability or retirement check.
Go F**kyourself...the GOP keeps people employed....unlike the d**sh**t in the white house
they planning on pulling this thing off that reef, or just bitching about how it got there?
Better get it out of there fast....before the locals start stealing the metal to make jeepnies.
How do you go about getting it out ??
Tubbataha reef is a world heritage sight. It is well known and well charted. Only a certain number of dive charters are allowed to visit to save on environmental damage. When they tow that piece of crap off the reef they should sink it as a dive sight. It would be nice if the captain decided to do the right thing and go down with the ship but he will probably get a job driving an Italian cruise liner after being fired.
The faulty chart excuse doesn't hold up either as most of the Philippine charts are based on US Navy surveys.
I hope the Captain is busy filling out his resume for a new job. He is going to need it when they fire him.
A man in the crow's nest could have seen the reef, as is clearly evident from this arial photo. Also don't these tubs have sonar, radar and gps? How about Google? Somebody's got some 'splainin' to do.
Wow... good thing we're not at war in this part of the world... this sucker'd be a gonner. Doesn't the US Navy have an aircraft carrier or other vessel in the area who can tow this poor guy off the reef?... or pump their fuel out to float them off? Anyone got the number to Triple-A?
So, I guess the government is just going to let the ship stay where it is until they figure out who is to blame. Then they can send in the Seabees to dig a trench in the reef to free the ship. Looks good on paper !!!
OPPPS!
As I read these comments, I can't believe how un patriotic most of these posts are. This is a American ship in distress and most of the comments here are...hahaha. What a disgrace. There was a time, not too long ago, when people loved their country but now we have so many people living among us that are American haters and reaping the benefits of our society without contributing to its improvement that its time to get rid of these scumbags and have their asses deported. Let them go back to their own country of origin. Let them live in a third world country then they will appreciate our great United States of America!