The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency misplaced a reef in the Philippine Islands by eight miles on its digital nautical charts, which helped cause the USS Guardian to run aground Jan. 17, destroying the ship.
NGA director Letitia Long told Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert that the digital nautical chart display of the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea was wrong due to erroneous commercial satellite imagery. Long made the assertion in letters obtained by the watchdog website Government Attic.
That error was compounded by "exclusive reliance" of the USS Guardian crew on GPS as a "single source of navigation." The crew did not pay heed to lighthouses on the reef, according to a 160-page post-wreck investigation report by Adm. Cecil D. Haney, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet.
How a Misplaced Reef on a Digital Chart Helped Destroy a Navy Minesweeper - Nextgov.com
The Canadian Coast Guard has this on their chartplotters.
NGA director Letitia Long told Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert that the digital nautical chart display of the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea was wrong due to erroneous commercial satellite imagery. Long made the assertion in letters obtained by the watchdog website Government Attic.
That error was compounded by "exclusive reliance" of the USS Guardian crew on GPS as a "single source of navigation." The crew did not pay heed to lighthouses on the reef, according to a 160-page post-wreck investigation report by Adm. Cecil D. Haney, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet.
How a Misplaced Reef on a Digital Chart Helped Destroy a Navy Minesweeper - Nextgov.com
The Canadian Coast Guard has this on their chartplotters.