US Navy ship strikes reef because of incorrect charts

BarryL · #1 01-19-2013

Hey,

I just saw this:
US Navy: Ship stuck in Philippines used faulty map - Yahoo! News

An inaccurate map that mislocated a marine sanctuary may have caused a U.S. Navy minesweeper to run aground on a coral reef in the Philippines this week, the Navy said Saturday

All 79 officers and crew of the USS Guardian were taken off the ship for safety reasons after it struck the reef with its bow at 2 a.m. Thursday. The Navy's Pacific Fleet, based in Hawaii, said Saturday that its ships along with several support vessels continued to conduct salvage operations that minimize environmental effects to the reef.

The Navy said in a statement that a review of Digital Nautical Charts, which are used for safe navigation by all U.S. Navy ships, found they contained inaccurate data and may have been a factor in the Guardian's grounding. As a result, Navigator of the Navy Rear Adm. Jonathan White released precautionary guidance to all Pacific Fleet ships, saying that "initial review of navigation data indicates an error in the location of Tubbataha Reef" in the Philippines.....

How about that?

Barry

Lake Superior Sailor · #2 01-19-2013

I was taught never to rely on one piece of information , use charts, depthfinder, radar, sonar, Chart plotter, and what ever else you have. A pilot is nice!...Dale

PalmettoSailor · #3 01-19-2013

Incorrectly mapped or not, I bet its a career ender for that Captain.

Sux if the map he had was incorrect but that's pretty much the way of the Military.

Even if he's absolved it will be a unoffical black mark on his record that will eventually put him behind his peers.

chef2sail · #4 01-19-2013

Yep...you are probably right

Wheres Jon?,,,he will probably let us know he was staring at his chartplotter, not look at a chart

SloopJonB · #5 01-19-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by PalmettoSailor

Incorrectly mapped or not, I bet its a career ender for that Captain.

Sux if the map he had was incorrect but that's pretty much the way of the Military.

Even if he's absolved it will be a unoffical black mark on his record that will eventually put him behind his peers.

Exactly - that's the "honour" that military types are always on about.

mad_machine · #6 01-19-2013

yup.. unless you are piloting a LST or a landing craft... running aground in the navy is a career ender.

Something that small.. he might not have even been a "true" captain.. that is a shame

tschmidty · #7 01-19-2013

Yep, doesn't matter if it was the captains fault, it was his responsibility.

joyinPNW · #8 01-19-2013

It's the Navy! Really?! Hitting an (endangered) coral reef? Sort of hope they work out the details a little better next time. Glad no injuries, but sad for the reef. Not happy about what is a bad day for the Captain...

smurphny · #9 01-19-2013

Some of the data on South Seas charts comes from soundings taken LONG ago. I wonder if that might have been a factor. If they just transferred 1800s depth soundings into new looking ENCs, it could cause a false sense of security.

mad_machine · #10 01-19-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by joyinPNW

It's the Navy! Really?! Hitting an (endangered) coral reef? Sort of hope they work out the details a little better next time. Glad no injuries, but sad for the reef. Not happy about what is a bad day for the Captain...

Thankfully only 10metres of it.. lets see how much they damage getting the minesweeper off