U.S. Cruiser Totaled By A Sand Bar

Strategy Page ^ | 3-17-09 | James Dunnigan

[river rat]

So much went wrong here - it’s hard to know where to begin.

Annapolis appears to be turning out far too many losers...and crew training can’t be up to snuff.

There have been far too many instances of our ships being damaged by “accident” or failure to provide adequate “force protection”

One would think that our modern and very electronically sophisticated warships should be capable of avoiding KNOWN hazards in close proximity to their own port area of Hawaii!!!!

How much is known about this Captain?

[Kozak]

It's not been announced how it hit the shoal, which is marked on charts.

[Travis T. OJustice]

Let me suggest the crap WAS on the charts, as is evidenced by this line in the article: " It's not been announced how it hit the shoal, which is marked on charts.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

“The ship may be there for months, and the total cost for repairs may be over $50 million”

Fix it. There is nothing on the face of the earth that can be had for $50m equal to this. I want it in our fleet.

[shotdog]

A grounding like this can ruin your whole day.

[Doohickey]

Which part of that quote do you find shocking?

[chrisser]

Does a ship run a full crew during sea trials or is just a subset required?

[Doohickey]

Because the launch tubes beneath them got mis-aligned?

[Zeddicus]

Well, the skipper certainly screwed up big, but I find it incredible that a warship could have been so heavy damaged from a soft grounding. Guess they don’t build ‘em like they used to.

[Doohickey]

More or less full crew plush augmentees from shipyard and any other agency that needs it’s system validated underway.

[cups]

Go big or go home I always say!

[river rat]

A little more information.

USS Port Royal Runs Aground In Hawaii… Captain Is Toast.

One of the biggest, most expensive and most technologically advanced warships based at Pearl Harbor ran aground in 17 to 22 feet of water half a mile off Honolulu International Airport’s reef runway.

Navy tugs tried early yesterday morning to nudge the 9,600-ton, 567-foot-long guided missile cruiser USS Port Royal off the sandy and rocky bottom, but were unsuccessful, officials said.

Captain John Carroll was replaced as commander of the USS Port Royal pending an investigation into how the ship ran aground about a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) south of Honolulu Airport last Thursday, authorities said.

The state-of-the-art 9,600-ton guided missile cruiser was freed from shoal waters south of Oahu early Monday after it spent three days stuck on a rocky and sandy seabed in 22 feet (6.7 meters) of water.

The cruiser was hauled to Pearl Harbor where it will enter dry dock repairs. Navy officials did not have a cost estimate for the salvage operation.

[WayneS]

That ship draws 33 feet of water?

[chrisser]

Thanks!

[WayneS]

The story says the debris WAS on the charts.

[CodeJockey]

The ship may be there for months, and the total cost for repairs may be over $50 million.

Let's see. AIG Bailout 85 Billion and we're talking 50 million for repairs. Chump change.

I think 1,000 million = 1 billion. Sorry if I am wrong, but I don't normally work with such large numbers.

So we gave AIG 85 X 1,000 million??? Let me repeat, 55 million is chump change.

[Buck W.]

“The ship may be there for months, and the total cost for repairs may be over $50 million.”

That’s just a few AIG bonuses.

[Clive]

Where I grew up, back in olden times, back when Noah was a shipwright, this would have been an occccasion for an Admiralty Board of Inquiry. Best the Captain could hope for was a posting as NOIC Aden.

[I Hate Obama]

Our warships can probably withstand missles, but not construction debris? It was probably made in China.

[r9etb]

but I find it incredible that a warship could have been so heavy damaged from a soft grounding

Which suggests that it wasn't all that "soft" a grounding after all. It took 4 days to get the ship off the sandbar, and they beat the hell out of it trying to do so.

Sounds to me like the good captain was moving at a pretty good clip, to get it 10 feet up onto a sandbar.