U.S. Navy ship goes aground due to bad charts

[Ram]

Looks like they could just back off at high tide!

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Frankly, I would have thought that a minesweeper, of all vessels, would have some sort of forward looking sonar that would have alerted them in time.

They only work when someone is manning them

[Cheechako]

I'm sure if he had taken the ASA courses that wouldnt have happened....

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

I'm sure if he had taken the ASA courses that wouldnt have happened....

That would really put them to sleep

[mcarling]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Frankly, I would have thought that a minesweeper, of all vessels, would have some sort of forward looking sonar that would have alerted them in time.

Of course, but do you think the forward looking sonar would be in use when transiting from the Philippines to Indonesia in (what they thought was) blue water?

[Ram]

Originally Posted by mcarling

Of course, but do you think the forward looking sonar would be in use when transiting from the Philippines to Indonesia in (what they thought was) blue water?

like Radar- while underway if they have it, they should be using it- it has to be someone sleeping on the job

[SY-Headwind]

I kinda feel bad for the person in charge... As you say he or she's career is probably over... Tho.... There are three kinds of sailors: The one about to go agroundd, the one who has gone aground and the lier. <--- well known saying. Everyone makes mistakes. Right? I surley did when I banged my sailboat on the only shallow rock in a great lagoon only 200 meters from a popular beach. A lot of smiling faces on that beach I tell you. All part of the show I guess.
hehehe

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by mcarling

Of course, but do you think the forward looking sonar would be in use when transiting from the Philippines to Indonesia in (what they thought was) blue water?

Yes, I would think one person would be assigned to sonar watch as his main task to do..... probably end of career for that captain. OTOH, did you hear about the guy who'se being considered for Admiral that accidentally shot down one of our own planes many years ago... on a training mission! There's a fight brewing over that one!

[mcarling]

Originally Posted by Ram

like Radar- while underway if they have it, they should be using it- it has to be someone sleeping on the job

It's the responsibility of the Officer of the Watch (and ultimately of the Commanding Officer) to ensure that they don't run into anything. How they do that is up to the orders of the OOW and the standing orders of the CO.

[Kettlewell]

Of course, but do you think the forward looking sonar would be in use when transiting from the Philippines to Indonesia in (what they thought was) blue water?

I guess the question is how far off the charts are. I would think that even if they were passing within a mile or two of some charted reefs they might be keeping an extra special watch on all instruments, especially in the middle of the night. Some folks I met did this down in the Caribbean off the coast of Honduras and Nicaragua--they decided to sail up to a charted offshore reef to anchor in its lee, making the approach in the dark using electronic charts, and of course the reef was misplotted by miles. Luckily, they had an aluminum boat and got off. At nearly the same time I was sailing by miles away because I had read the note on the paper chart about the reef position being uncertain.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by SY-Headwind

I kinda feel bad for the person in charge... As you say he or she's career is probably over... Tho.... There are three kinds of sailors: The one about to go agroundd, the one who has gone aground and the lier. <--- well known saying. Everyone makes mistakes. Right? I surley did when I banged my sailboat on the only shallow rock in a great lagoon only 200 meters from a popular beach. A lot of smiling faces on that beach I tell you. All part of the show I guess.
hehehe

That’s true, but this should not be the case with the Navy or any big ships, these guys have lots of checks & balances and a lot of time behind a wheel- there running agound days should be over by now- its not rocket sicence--I’ve run mine aground more times as a kid than I can remember & even 1 time in the last 6 years, but its always pilot error and no GOOD excuse- just not paying attention

[mcarling]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Yes, I would think one person would be assigned to sonar watch as his main task to do..... probably end of career for that captain. OTOH, did you hear about the guy who'se being considered for Admiral that accidentally shot down one of our own planes many years ago... on a training mission! There's a fight brewing over that one!

It's definitely end of career for the CO, though they might let him have shore duty until he can retire at 20 years. He certainly will never be promoted again, nor will he ever be given another command. It's probably game over for the OOW too unless the CO's standing orders prevented him from doing anything that could have avoided the grounding.

It's so difficult to make Admiral (I have a good friend who retired from the US Navy with 3 stars) that I doubt anyone makes it if there is a fight about it (Rickover being the notable exception).

[mcarling]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

I guess the question is how far off the charts are.

Several years ago, the US Navy was still using RN charts from the early 19th century for some less travelled parts of the world. I don't know whether that is still the case today.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by LeaseOnLife

gcaptain.com states this happened 02:30 am.

Everything bad ALWAYS happens at 2:30 AM ! Why is that?

[hellosailor]

Good thing it was only a reef and not a mine, huh?

When NOAA got borged into the military intelligence side, what do they call it today? National Geospatial Information Agency? The chartkeepers got this whole new attitude about "You're civilians, we can't share all this information with you" and that information included a LOT of classified imaging which in theory would also show reefs in strategic areas like the Phillipines, where the USN had such a large presence in Subic Bay.

Then again...was it ten years ago? That a nuke sub was supposedly making a speed run and hit an "uncharted" Pacific seamount?

Or maybe, we were just trying to show parity with the Chinese. They ran a warship aground somewhere off Taiwan a couple of months ago, didn't they?

Makes me really appreciate having the freedom to say "No, we're not going in there." In the USN, sometimes you don't have that option. Who knows.