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.