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. Unable to be recovered, the vessel was decommissioned and struck from the US Naval Vessel Register on 15 February 2013.
There were two destroyers that collided with cargo ships a few years back:
The Honda Point disaster was the largest peacetime loss of U.S. Navy ships in U.S. history.[3] On the evening of September 8, 1923, seven destroyers, while traveling at 20 knots (37 km/h), ran aground at Honda Point (also known as Point Pedernales; the cliffs just off-shore called Devil’s Jaw), a few miles from the northern side of the Santa Barbara Channel off Point Arguello on the Gaviota Coast in Santa Barbara County, California. Two other ships grounded, but were able to maneuver free off the rocks. Twenty-three sailors died in the disaster.
Given that we’re lucky to have two ships at sea on any given day, I think we have a pretty poor record. How many vessels would the US navy have at sea, typically?
I’m not even sure how to go about calculating that with any accuracy. I would hazard a guess to say that 1/3 to 1/2 of all US Navy ships are underway at any given time, but that’s just from personal experience at a smaller base. Forward deployed commands (like in Japan and Spain) have a generally higher operating tempo, so maybe a slightly higher average overall?
Out of 350-ish ships, half is a fuckin lot. Maybe one of our highly intelligent officers can chime in with more accurate info.
The US Navy has had its share of driving ships into things that it shouldn’t.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Guardian_(MCM-5)
There were two destroyers that collided with cargo ships a few years back:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_John_S._McCain_and_Alnic_MC_collision
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Fitzgerald_and_MV_ACX_Crystal_collision
There was also that incident – though in an era with more-primitive navigation – where most of a squadron of destroyers collided with California:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Point_disaster
Given that we’re lucky to have two ships at sea on any given day, I think we have a pretty poor record. How many vessels would the US navy have at sea, typically?
I’m not even sure how to go about calculating that with any accuracy. I would hazard a guess to say that 1/3 to 1/2 of all US Navy ships are underway at any given time, but that’s just from personal experience at a smaller base. Forward deployed commands (like in Japan and Spain) have a generally higher operating tempo, so maybe a slightly higher average overall?
Out of 350-ish ships, half is a fuckin lot. Maybe one of our highly intelligent officers can chime in with more accurate info.