Navy Warship Runs Aground

[unhappycamper]

Navy Warship Runs Aground
February 07, 2009
Associated Press

HONOLULU - The Navy hopes a high tide due to reach Hawaii early Saturday will enable it to refloat a 9,600-ton warship that ran aground about a half mile off seaside Honolulu International Airport.

An initial effort by Navy tugs early Friday to free the guided missile cruiser USS Port Royal was unsuccessful. The $1 billion ship ran aground Thursday night while carrying guests that included a rear admiral.

"We're certainly working on bringing to bear the resources we have to move her off the current position. We're still putting that plan together," said Capt. W. Scott Gureck, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Fleet. "Obviously, the high tide gives us an opportunity to do that."

Divers and the salvage ship USS Salvor would try to tow the 567-foot vessel, the Navy said.

The cause of the grounding on the sandy bottom and the extent of damage to the vessel were under investigation.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-warship-runs-aground.html?col=1186032310810



uhc comment: Meet the one billion dollar USS Port Royal:


USS Port Royal (CG-73)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Port_Royal_(CG-73)

USS Port Royal (CG-73)

USS Port Royal (CG 73) is a United States Navy Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, the 27th and final in the class. She is the second US Naval Warship to bear the name of two naval battles of Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, of the American Revolutionary War and the American Civil War. However, during the initial building phase, the builders and crew were unaware of this history of the first Port Royal, as a result, the Engineering Control Center bears a plaque "First ship named".

Ordered 25 February 1988, laid down 18 October 1991 by Ingalls Shipbuilding at Pascagoula, Mississippi, launched on 20 November 1992, christened on 5 December 1992 by Susan G. Baker (wife of James A. Baker III, chief of staff to President Bush, and former Secretary of State), and formally commissioned on 9 July 1994 at Savannah, Georgia, Captain Nicholas L. Richards Commanding, Lieutenant Commander Derek B. Kemp Executive Officer, and Master Chief Petty Officer Dennis W. Mills, Command Master Chief. Expected decommissioning date is tentatively set for the year 2029, however the Navy is approximately 16 years ahead of its decommissioning program for this class of ship.

Originally, Port Royal was planned to be outfitted with the experimental shipboard mounted HELWEP (High Energy Laser Weapon System). HELWEPS is based on a megawatt-class deuterium/ fluorine chemical laser, replacing the standard 5-in forward gun mount. HELWEPS, it is said, could be used to destroy missiles out to a range of about 4 km. It could also be used to burn out electro-optical sensors at about 10 km. The outfitting, scheduled to occur in Port Hueneme, California in 1994 was cancelled, along with any plans of incorporating HELWEPS onto a Ticonderoga-class cruiser hull.

[Mudoria]

1. The Captain just reached the end of his military career.

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. Ain't that just great - in charge of guiding missiles, and don't know how much water is underneath

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I'm Impressed!

But then again

Sorta scared shitless that dangerous weapons are under the charge of incompetents