USS Guardian Decommissioned in Japan While Salvage Delayed on Reef by Weather

Today in Japan, the US Navy officially decommissioned the minesweeper USS Guardian.  On the Tubbataha Reef, where the ship ran aground on January 17, salvage operations have again been delayed by bad weather.  The salvage plan is to cut the ship into pieces and to haul … Continue reading

Update: USS Guardian – Will Be Broken Up But Why Was it Near the Reef in the First Place?

The Navy has announced that the minesweeper, USS Guardian, which ran up on Tubbataha reef in the Philippines Sula Sea two weeks ago, will be cut up in place and hauled away.  The reason given is that the approach will “involve … Continue reading

USS Guardian & Rainbow Warrior – Did Bad Charts Lead to Two Groundings on Tubbataha Reef ?

In 2005, when the Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior, ran aground on Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea, the captain claimed that the reef was incorrectly plotted on his charts. As reported by the UK’s Guardian in November 1, 2005: Red Constantino of Greenpeace Southeast Asia blamed the incident on a … Continue reading