Bad weather halts dismantling of grounded warship

The USS Guardian, a US Navy minesweeper, is still stuck after running aground Tubbataha Reefs, a Unesco World Heritage Site in Sulu Sea, in this Jan. 17 photo released by the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Command. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Bad weather has forced a US Navy-hired salvage team to suspend its operation to dismantle the USS Guardian, grounded since Jan. 17 on the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea, according to the Philippine Coast Guard.

Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo, the PCG spokesperson, said the operation would resume “if the weather at the reef area permits.”

In a text message to the Inquirer Balilo said that, “as per weather forecast, tidal height and wind speed are expected to increase or worsen.”

Balilo reported that the salvage operation stopped at 4:40 p.m. Monday “shortly after completing the rigging of Level 1,” or the USS Guardian’s aft section.

“This section was originally a part of the funnel, which was earlier removed along with the vessel’s mast…. The team has yet to schedule the lifting and eventual transfer of the section to one of the barges,” he said.

Meanwhile, an undisclosed number of additional salvage personnel, mostly ship cutters, have arrived at the Tubbataha Reef.

Balilo said earlier that while the ship dismantling operation was progressing, the Coast Guard did not discount the possible extension of the March 23 deadline set for the removal of the US Navy minesweeper from the reef.

He pointed out that “aside from the changing weather conditions in the Sulu Sea, the salvage team is also considering the structural integrity of the ship, as well as newly discovered obstacles in dismantling the USS Guardian’s superstructure.”

Last weekend, the salvage operation continued with the vessel’s bridge deck successfully lifted and transferred to a barge by the crane ship Jascon 25, the lead vessel tasked with dismantling the US Navy ship after another crane ship, the SMIT Borneo failed to anchor near the Guardian.