Military News in or from the Philippines

[darthdract]

Jan 30, 2013 9:51:50 GMT 8 okla said:

Hey Folks....Call me stupid or anything else that might be more appropriate, but why should students in Manila demonstrate against the US because one of our vessels ran aground in Philippine waters while making a voyage from Japan to Indonesia. This wasn't an act aimed at the Republic of the Philippines. USN vessels are a common sight in this region, so why is this incident cause for demonstrations??? I betcha many of these demonstrators would welcome the sight of this or other American ships if tensions between China and the Republic of the Philippines increase. Am I out of line expressing this view and if so, feel free to chastise me. I am a big boy.

No Okla, I will not call you stupid on that and you are not out of line with that comment. Those students are the ones that are, shall we say, "Stupid" and out of line. Where were they when the Chinese Navy ran aground in the Scarborough? Did they protest? I really do believe that these demonstrators are paid by the communist party. I am no longer going to dig deep on that issue. If you are going to search the web for topics relating to the USN Mine Sweeper grounding, you will read a lot of insults being thrown towards those students who are protesting, so I can say they are in the minority.

They also believed these student protesters are part of the Party list called "Bayan Muna" (Country First) which some people think, including me, is some sort of a communist movement. If you can just understand a few Tagalog words you will laugh at obscenities being thrown at these so called "Reds". There were also some speculations that they are being paid by the Chinese government. I also think they are being used by local politicians to destabilize the government. Well if you are going notice the group called "Bayan Muna" Bayan=Country. The spelling of the first word is similar to the Tagalog word Bayad which means to Pay or Payment. So we can also call them the "Pay first movement".

[darthdract]

Is it just or the Paint on the Ship is starting to strip? Why is it the other side is red?

[okla]

Hey Darth...I appreciate knowing that I am in the majority, at least to your way of thinking, on my view of the protesters. I can never believe the day could come when the majority of the American and Filipino people ain't on the same side. There is, or damned well should be, a bond between our two nations that would take a monumental event to ever unseal. As to the "paint job" on the US Minesweeper I can only offer this. When I was sent to Korea, way back in the summer of 1952, for some reason, about half way to Yokohama, the crew hove to and began chipping away on the old paint and slapping on orange base coat. By the time we got into Tokyo Bay, our troopship was about one fourth pumpkin orange. I suppose on the voyage back to the ZI the job was finished and when she pulled into Frisco the old tub was battleship gray once again. As our buddy, Chad, would say, "this is another SWAG". Maybe these Minesweeper guys were doing the same thing on the run down to Indonesia. Thanks again for seeing my point of view on the protesters. Cheers.

[Karl Welteke]

Update re the Grounded USS Guardian MCM-5 on the Tubbataha Reef as of the 1st Feb. 2013

To All
The 7th Fleet and the Pacific Fleet (PACFLT)Commands are not exactly flooding the news world about this problem, understandable so. They haven’t put out anything new but I got 2 pictures from PACFLT.

The Defense News organization put out this and I got one image from this article, dated the 29th Jan. 2013:
Trapped U.S. Navy Minesweeper To Be Broken Up says the article from this URL:
www.defensenews.com/article/20130129/DEFREG02/301290008/Trapped-U-S-Navy-Minesweeper-Broken-Up?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

Here the article:
Caught between the jagged coral of an ocean reef and Filipino environmental and political concerns, the U.S. Navy says it will cut up the trapped USS Guardian and take it away piece by piece.
“Our only supportable option is to dismantle the damaged ship and remove it in sections,” Capt. Darryn James, spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said Jan. 29.
The decision, James said, keeps salvage equipment in deeper water and minimizes further damage to the coral reef.
The salvage plan, he said, aims to “safely remove individual sections of the ship without causing the release of harmful materials.”
Earlier, Rear Adm. Tom Carney, commander of the salvage effort, said the ship was too badly damaged for salvors to tow her off the reef.
Two heavy lift ship-borne cranes are en route to the scene of the grounding in the western Philippines and should arrive about Feb.1, James said. The dismantling operation is expected to take more than a month to complete.
All the ship’s fuel has been removed, the Japan-based U.S. Seventh Fleet said Jan. 25, and teams continue to take off more materiel.
“The Navy has safely transferred approximately 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel, 671 gallons of lubricating oil, dry food stores, paints and solvents contained in storage lockers, and the personal effects left behind by the crew from the ship,” the Seventh Fleet said in a Jan. 28 news release.
The 79-man crew evacuated the Guardian late Jan. 17, hours after the ship went aground on Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea. The minesweeper had been en route from Subic Bay in the Philippines to Indonesia. Most of the crew was returned to Japan last week, and a U.S. Navy salvage team has been working on the wreck.
Tubbataha Reef is about 80 nautical miles east-southeast of Palawan island.
The Filipino government has questioned why the ship was in the area — a protected UNESCO world heritage site where routine ship traffic is prohibited — and why the Guardian reportedly ignored warnings from local authorities that it was headed for the reef.
A U.S. Navy investigation into the incident is continuing.
The U.S. Navy also revealed Jan. 18 that the digital navigational chart in use by the Guardian misplaced the correct location of the reef by about eight nautical miles. The Navy and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, producer of the digital charts, reviewed more then 3,700 digital charts and, in addition to the Tubbataha Reef error, found another mistake off the coast of Chile. Both errors have since been corrected, and the Navy’s chief navigation official has declared his confidence in the accuracy of the digital charts.
The Guardian, a mine countermeasures ship built of composite materials, is a small ship by U.S. Navy standards, with a full load displacement of 1,312 tons, a length of 224 feet and beam of 39 feet. It is the fifth of 14 Avenger-class ships and was commissioned in 1989.
The ship has been assigned to the U.S. Seventh Fleet for most of her career and is forward-deployed to Sasebo, Japan.
The Guardian’s hull, according to the Navy, has been punctured by the coral, and several compartments have been flooded. Most of the fiberglass on the ship’s port side has delaminated and come off, revealing the ship’s wooden hull.
The Pearl Harbor-based Navy salvage ship Salvor arrived on the scene Jan. 27, joining the survey ship Bowditch, James said.
The destroyer Mustin continues to stand by the minesweeper as the flagship for the salvage effort, and the chartered anchor-handling tug Vos Apollo also is standing by.
The loss of the Guardian is a serious blow for the stressed U.S. mine force, which has been called on to expand operations in the Persian Gulf. Including the Guardian, 12 of the fleet’s 14 mine countermeasures ships are currently operating overseas or forward-deployed to the Far East or the Persian Gulf region.
The ships, which date from the late 1980s and early 1990s, were to have been replaced by new littoral combat ships, but lengthy delays in fielding new LCSs have led to renewed investment in the older ships, which have been upgraded and improved at considerable expense.
The Guardian incident has been a public relations mess for the U.S., which in recent years has been steadily — and somewhat quietly — increasing military visits to the Philippines.
President Benigno Aquino protested the Guardian’s actions, and the Philippine government is conducting its own investigation into the affair. Filipino authorities have said that about 1,000 square meters of coral reef have been damaged by the Guardian.
Vice Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the Seventh Fleet, issued an apology Jan. 20 for the incident.
“As a protector of the sea and a sailor myself, I greatly regret any damage this incident has caused to the Tubbataha Reef,” Swift said in a statement. “We know the significance of the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park and its importance as a World Heritage Site. Its protection is vital, and we take seriously our obligations to protect and preserve the maritime environment.”
James emphasized the U.S. Navy’s efforts to cooperate with the Filipinos.
“We continue to work closely at all levels with the Philippine Coast Guard, Navy and government personnel,” James said. “We are grateful for the support we have received as we all work together to recover Guardian and minimize further damage to the reef.”


The local gossips are eating up this story, Nationalism on both sides, dated 1st Feb 2013:
Trumps son hit over ship on reef tweet:
www.philstar.com/news-feature/2013/02/01/903534/trumps-son-hit-ship-over-reef-tweet

But I copied and pasted this paragraph from this Trump article.

Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo said Trump “does not have a grasp on the importance of the environment.”
Meanwhile, if the salvaging plans would get the nod of the Aquino administration, the extraction of the US Navy’s minesweeper from Tubbataha Reef might start on Monday.
Coast Guard Palawan District commander Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista said yesterday that if everything goes according to plan and the weather permits, the salvaging operations for the USS Guardian would begin on Feb. 4.
Evangelista clarified that Rear Admiral Thomas Carney, commander of the US Navy’s Logistics Group in the Western Pacific, handed over a copy of the proposed salvage plans to PCG commandant Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena Wednesday evening.
The US Navy and US ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr. have apologized for the grounding and promised to cooperate with the Philippines. – AP, Evelyn Macairan, Alexis Romero, Paolo Romero
FOUR NEW IMAGES have been uploaded into my Military News, Philippines album, they are in the front:


s74.photobucket.com/user/PI-Sailor/library/Philippines/No%202%20Phil%20Events%20Group%20Albums/Phil-Mil-News%202013-14?sort=2&page=1
or
tinyurl.com/nf75qrq

Notes:
-Again, I worry, the ship can’t be lifted and it will break up. The good news, the weather seems to be holding up but strong NE winds may return and start pounding the stranded vessel again.
-Re the paint off on the portside. Somewhere in the thread it says that this mine counter measure ship is built out of wood and that fiberglass has been placed on the outside hull. When the ship received that tremendous pounding by the waves, the fiberglass got knocked off on the exposed portside.
Karl
Here are the four images:


2013-01-27 PACFLT Grounded USS Guardian MCM-5 on the Tubbataha Reef.


2013-01-28 PACFLT Grounded USS Guardian MCM-5 on the Tubbataha Reef.


2013-01-29 USS Guardian, from the Defense News article


2013-02-01 from a Star paper article, the plan as understood by the Philippine Authorities.

[dmether]

My thoughts on the subject: If the coral reef is in Philippine waters, and the US Navy ship was following charts that were wrong, who is responsible for providing the data for the charts?

[EXO]

You may well be right there, but don' get in the way of a good old fashioned "shakedown". That is what it looks like to me from my view in the cheap seats.

[Karl Welteke]

Military News and update on the Grounded USS Guardian, as of 3rd Feb. 2013.


Military News and update on the Grounded USS Guardian as of 3rd Feb 2013.
A submarine is visiting Subic Bay. A decision has been made, the USS Guardian MCM-5, aground on the Tubbataha Reef,  is to be broken up. A local paper reports that fact also.
5 images have been added  and in the front of this album:

s74.photobucket.com/user/PI-Sailor/library/Philippines/No%202%20Phil%20Events%20Group%20Albums/Phil-Mil-News%202013-14?sort=2&page=1
or
tinyurl.com/nf75qrq




Posted: 01 Feb 2013 12:18 AM PST
USS Cheyenne (SSN 773), a Los Angeles-class submarine, arrives in Subic Bay today (February 1st) for a routine port visit.
This stop in Subic will permit the Cheyenne to replenish supplies as well as offer its crew an opportunity for rest and relaxation.

The USS Cheyenne, named after the town of Cheyenne, Wyoming, is assigned to the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet.

It is home-ported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Cheyenne, commissioned in 1996, is the last Los Angeles-class submarine to be built by the United States. (U.S. Embassy Information Office)

Posted by the Phil Star News Paper: on Feb 2013
MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino is seeking a timetable for the removal of the US Navy warship that ran aground in Tubbataha even as there are plans to dismantle it.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Aquino met with members of the Cabinet and was given an update on the situation in Tubbataha.
“However, since there is already an ongoing investigation, we cannot report anything. The President was apprised of the next steps to be taken to extricate the USS Guardian,” Valte said.
She said Aquino, who earlier pressed for an investigation and payment of fines for the damage caused by the US vessel to the reef, did not give any specific deadline, but he was looking at a possible timetable for the salvage work to be concluded.
The Philippine side is coordinating with the United States on the progress that they intend to do. I think, in the past few days, at first, what we were talking about is physically lifting the vessel; now they are discussing, and I think it has been confirmed, at least from the US side, that they will disassemble the vessel,” Valte said.
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) earlier said the President wanted all plans to salvage the ship to have approval of the Philippine government.
Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said Task Force Tubbataha was looking at cutting up the Guardian and avoid causing further damage to the reef.
“All hazardous materials like fuel oils, paints, and other lubricants, ammo, are to be removed before cutting up ship,” Abaya said.
He said there was no timeline yet for implementing the measure.
“Ship-borne heavy lift cranes are due to arrive today or tomorrow,” he pointed out.
The new plan for cutting up the vessel was submitted by the Americans to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) for final approval, reports said.
Coast Guard commandant Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena said he was informed by Rear Admiral Thomas Carney, commander of the US Navy’s Logistics Group in the Western Pacific, of the plan to cut the Guardian into pieces before vertically extracting it from the site.
Isorena said the task force is now studying the salvage plan before submitting it to the Philippine government for approval.
Two lift cranes commissioned by the US Navy, the SMIT Cyclone and SMIT Borneo of SMIT Singapore Pte Ltd., are expected to arrive in the area tomorrow to commence the vertical removal of the stranded vessel.
The USS Guardian, which is based in Japan, crashed into the reef before dawn on Jan. 17 while on its way to Indonesia after making a rest and refueling stop in Subic Bay.
Most of its 79 officers and crew were transferred to two other US vessels the following day for safety reasons as the 68-meter long, 1,300-ton ship was unable to maneuver on its own as it was buffeted by strong winds and waves.
Militant groups led by Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said they would file on Monday criminal charges against the officers and crew of the Guardian for violations of the country’s sovereignty and environmental laws.
The military, on the other hand, said they are confident that the US Navy would henceforth be more careful when visiting the country, particularly in the wake of the Tubbataha incident.
“I am sure they will definitely be more careful after what happened,” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista said when asked to comment on the scheduled visit of the submarine USS Cheyenne. – With Rainier Allan Ronda, Alexis Romero, Ding Cervantes, Michelle Zoleta


Here are 4 of the images:


2013-01-27 PACFLT Grounded USS Guardian MCM-5 on the Tubbataha Reef. It has been decided to break her up.


2013-01-27 PACFLT Grounded USS Guardian MCM-5 on the Tubbataha Reef. The text to the previous image.


2013-01-29 PACFLT Grounded USS Guardian MCM-5 on the Tubbataha Reef. It has been decided to break her up. She getting hit hard again by the sea!


2013-02-01 USS Cheyenne (SSN 773), a Los Angeles-class submarine, arrives in Subic Bay today (February 1st) for a routine port visit. US Embassy, Manila.
This must be a file photo!

[westernaus]

Karl, one wonders whether it would be cheaper for the US Navy to write the ship off and transfer it to the Philippine Navy and let them remove it , less the fines . One thing for sure the second last time I was in the Philippines , the so called super ferry ran aground on a reef , on a 2 hour journey from Cebu to Leyte . We arrived at Leyte after midnight , having started the trip at 2.oo PM. The reef had sustantial damage and so did the ferry , but no one could have cared and to my knowledge no one was fined .

[okla]

Hey Westaus Fox....Having read your post, EXO's "shakedown" theory becomes more plausible.

[Karl Welteke]

US MILITARY NEWS IN THE PHILIPPINES UPDATE AS OF 7TH FEB 2013

12 pictures have been added to my album and they are here in front:


s74.photobucket.com/user/PI-Sailor/library/Philippines/No%202%20Phil%20Events%20Group%20Albums/Phil-Mil-News%202013-14?sort=2&page=1
or
tinyurl.com/nf75qrq


Bamboo Bugle reports Bombs found on the ex Subic Base, SBFZ now, on 3 Feb. 2013:
bamboobugle.blogspot.com/2013/02/roadside-bombs-in-subic-tourist-district.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBambooBugle+%28The+Bamboo+Bugle%29

Here is the article and three images are provided:
Comment from a reader: About five World War 2 bombs have been unearthed at the Scuba Shack construction site. They have all been carted away, the first 3 in a van that was someone’s personal vehicle. Three more were unearthed and they took away two but it seems that the 3rd was left there because it might still be volatile. No worries, they covered it with plywood so in case it blew up it would contain the blast. Please see the attached pictures of what they left lying next to the busiest thoroughfare in Subic Bay, Waterfront Road.

Note from Karl:
The area is beach side from the former US Marine Corps Staff NCO Club which is now, after being renovated at least 2 time since the Base closed, a popular steak house.

USNS Tippecanoe (T-AO-199) is undergoing repair in Subic Bay right now. 4 pictures are in my album, dated 28th Jan. 2013.

The same Bamboo Bugle published a readers comment re grounded ship and then they commented on it:
bamboobugle.blogspot.com/2013/02/who-cares-if-navy-trashed-lousy-coral.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBambooBugle+%28The+Bamboo+Bugle%29

Here is the article:
Who Cares if the Navy Trashed a Lousy Coral Reef?


Comment from a reader on the post: The US left the Philippine Bases Because they Didn’t Want to Pay Extortion: Very true indeed. Even now they are trying to collect from the US an outrageous amount for the ship that ran aground in the coral reef down south. Whats the big deal? The lousy coral will eventually grow back! If the idiots that always end up running the Philippines were out shoveling s**t where they belong, this country could really amount to something. The problem really comes back to a citizenry that is too weak and passive and just lets it continue. I wonder if it will ever change?

Bugle: The "lousy coral" is a Unesco World Heritage site, meaning that it's up there with the Grand Canyon and Great Barrier Reef in terms of its environmental importance. You may love the US Navy but it doesn't help to put blinders on and claim that they are never wrong. That minesweeper had no business in a sensitive environmental zone in the first place. What is the United States Navy, a two bit third world operation? No. The United States Navy is world class operation. It doesn't trash its allies environmental locations. I guess if one of America's allies trashed the Grand Canyon you would say: "What's the big deal. It's just a lousy canyon."

Comment from Karl:
I wonder how we would feel if an oil tanker truck spills it’s oil in Yellow Stone Park or in another high value park? The Navy caused the problem and they got to clean it up! Another question-where was the Navy salvage ships, on station with the 7th Fleet, we used to have with real Fleet Divers and Salvors on board? Perhaps we could have got her off the reef on the 2nd or 3rd after grounding!!!!!

The Pacific Fleet, PACFLT, reports that assets on the Tubbataha scene continue offloading materials from the grounded vessel USS Guardian MCM-5 while waiting for the salvage floating crane, 2nd Feb 2013. Two pictures are in my album.


The floating salvage crane has arrived, a picture is provided in my album, 5 Feb. 2013!
Dilemma in Tubbataha Reef, crane needs to drop Anchor. One picture is in my album.
www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/02/05/904988/dilemma-tubbataha-crane-needs-drop-anchor

Salvage Operations for US ship at Tubbataha begin:
www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/02/07/905847/salvaging-operations-us-ship-tubbataha-begin

Notes:
-I came across another URL which seem to present exclusive Navy Pictures of US Navy activities here in Subic Bay. That person must be a resident here, judging by the pictures. You can see past pictures I haven’t covered and caution that URL already has 3 pages:
www.timawa.net/forum/index.php?topic=28077.30

-The previous picture of the USS Cheyenne (SSN 773) was a file photo (photo with description is in my album, and a bigger image).

-This will be my last update for 2 weeks, this weekend most expats, families and locals here will be busy with the Subic Bay VFW Post 11447 annual Beach Bash. This used to be our 4th of July celebration and the rains made us move it to February.
From the 11th to 18th Feb I’ll be on Corregidor continuing my exploring there and remember the US assault by Paratroopers and other Forces on the 16th Feb. 1945. We will raise the US 48 star Flag again on that day just like the Paratroopers did on that day many years ago.

Here are some of the images:


2013-02-03 Bamboo Bugle reports bombs were found on the ex Subic Base, SBFZ now. Location was across the street from the former USMC SNCO Club. This and 2 images.






2013-01-28 USNS Tippecanoe (T-AO-199) is undergoing repairs in Subic Bay right now. This and 3 more images








2013-02-02 The Pacific Fleet, PACFLT, reports that assets on the Tubbataha scene continue offloading materials from the grounded vessel USS Guardian MCM-5 while waiting for the salvage floating crane. This and 1 more image




2013-02-05 The floating salvage crane has arrived, a picture is provided in my album, I’m sure this must be a file photo, Star News Paper


2013-01-02 The previous picture of the USS Cheyenne (SSN 773) was a file photo from this date (photo with description is in my album, and a bigger image).This and 1 more image.