USS Guardian is Fully Bricked Up and Getting Battered on Philippine Reef [IMAGE]

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USS Guardian philippines aground

Friday Update: Crew removed as salvors get to work.

*Update: The above image was sent to us last night by a confidential source

Original story:

While at a conference in Washington, DC today, I was shown an aerial image of the USS Guardian surrounded by breaking waves while hard aground on a Philippine reef via the cell phone of a high ranking Navy official, a graphic image which is making its rounds amongst the Navy brass and classified Navy networks.

philippinesUS Navy 7th Fleet Salvage teams are on their way to the incident scene and will be heading up the plan to salvage the Guardian.  Meanwhile, the ship and her crew are getting battered helplessly by poor weather in the region.

Unconfirmed reports indicate the Guardian ran up on the reef on an incoming tide and was still unable to free itself at the peak of high tide, in an area with a 8 to 9 foot tidal range.

uss guardian philippines aground reef

The USS Guardian, a U.S. Navy minesweeper, is seen at the Vicinity of South Islet in Tubbataha Reefs after it ran aground at Palawan province, west of Manila January 17, 2013 in this handout picture distributed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines on January 18, 2013. The Sasebo-based mine countermeasure ship was on its way to India from Subic Bay in the Philippines when it ran aground at 2:25 a.m. local time on Thursday at a marine protected area in Sulu Sea. REUTERS/Armed Forces of the Philippines/Handout

Click HERE for more details on this developing story

Full Coverage: USS Guardian Grounding

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Rob Almeida

Rob Almeida is Partner/CMO at gCaptain. He graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1999 with a B.S in Naval Architecture and spent 6.5 years on active duty as a Surface Warfare Officer. He worked for a year as a Roughneck/Rig Manager trainee on board the drillship Discoverer Americas. Rob is an accomplished sailor and competes in the US Australian Rules Football League. Rob can be reached at rob@gcaptain.com and via Google Plus

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Article Comments

5 Responses to USS Guardian is Fully Bricked Up and Getting Battered on Philippine Reef [IMAGE]

  1. avatar George Kinerson says:
    January 18, 2013 at 9:52 pm

    The Captain should remain in command of his ship….the sonarman on duty should give an account,

    • avatar Paul Mc Gough says:
      January 19, 2013 at 12:36 am

      OFFICER OF THE WATCH TO BLAME!!!!,,,HOWEVER,,,,,,,,THE BOOK STOPS AT THE CAPTAIN,,,,,,,,HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE VESSELL!!!!,,,HIGHEST RANKING OFFICER ON BOARD,,,,,,,,,SO HE AWNSERS TO THE BOARD OF ENQUIRY,,,,,,,NUMBER RANK AND NAME!!!!!!!!!!!

  2. avatar Brant J Mitchell says:
    January 19, 2013 at 4:26 pm

    current up date is digital charting shows an erroneous code in the software being forensically reviewed.

  3. avatar sglover says:
    January 22, 2013 at 5:48 pm

    If the Wikipedia account (look up “USS Guardian”) of this episode is true, the accuracy of the digital chart is a secondary issue.

    For ironic humor, you can’t beat the most recent item in the “Latest News” section of the ship’s web site — “USS Guardian Sailors Test Seamanship Skills”.

    http://www.guardian.navy.mil/

  4. avatar Saharuddin Bin Abu Samah says:
    March 14, 2013 at 3:04 pm

    Tipu