USS Guardian
USS GUARDIAN an Avenger-class mine countermeasures vessel was laid down on 8 May 1985 by Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin; launched on 20 June 1987; and commissioned on 16 December 1989. In 2010, she became the first mine countermeasures vessel in the Seventh Fleet modified for a mixed-sex crew, with separate head facilities.
On 17 January 2013, Guardian ran aground on Tubbataha Reef, in a protected area of the Philippines in the middle of the Sulu Sea. The vessel was turned and pushed further onto the reef by wave action.
To prevent further damage to the reef it was announced on the 29 January 2013 by the United States Navy that the ship would be cut into three sections on the reef prior to removal, resulting in the total loss of the $227 million vessel. USS Guardian was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 February 2013.
After removal of fuel and useful equipment, and after the upper superstructure was cut and lifted off of the minehunter, the wooden hull was sequentially chain-sawed into four sections and lifted off of the reef by the dynamic positioning crane vessel. The bow section was cut and removed by crane on 26 March 2013. It was originally planned to cut the hull into three pieces, but the stern section had to be cut in half again. The last stern section was removed by crane from Tubbataha Reef on 30 March 2013.
For additional information and photographs see the following web based articles
officerofthewatch.com/2013/01/22/uss-guardian-grounding/
www.stripes.com/news/pacific/uss-guardian-co-3-others-rel...
breakingdefense.com/2013/07/untold-tale-behind-uss-guardi...
USS Guardian
USS GUARDIAN an Avenger-class mine countermeasures vessel was laid down on 8 May 1985 by Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin; launched on 20 June 1987; and commissioned on 16 December 1989. In 2010, she became the first mine countermeasures vessel in the Seventh Fleet modified for a mixed-sex crew, with separate head facilities.
On 17 January 2013, Guardian ran aground on Tubbataha Reef, in a protected area of the Philippines in the middle of the Sulu Sea. The vessel was turned and pushed further onto the reef by wave action.
To prevent further damage to the reef it was announced on the 29 January 2013 by the United States Navy that the ship would be cut into three sections on the reef prior to removal, resulting in the total loss of the $227 million vessel. USS Guardian was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 February 2013.
After removal of fuel and useful equipment, and after the upper superstructure was cut and lifted off of the minehunter, the wooden hull was sequentially chain-sawed into four sections and lifted off of the reef by the dynamic positioning crane vessel. The bow section was cut and removed by crane on 26 March 2013. It was originally planned to cut the hull into three pieces, but the stern section had to be cut in half again. The last stern section was removed by crane from Tubbataha Reef on 30 March 2013.
For additional information and photographs see the following web based articles
officerofthewatch.com/2013/01/22/uss-guardian-grounding/
www.stripes.com/news/pacific/uss-guardian-co-3-others-rel...
breakingdefense.com/2013/07/untold-tale-behind-uss-guardi...