2009 USS Port Royal grounding
Encyclopedia
The 2009 USS Port Royal grounding was a ship grounding
by the United States Navy
guided missile cruiser Port Royal
off of Oahu
, Hawaii
on 5 February 2009. In the incident, the ship ran aground on a coral reef
, damaging and necessitating repairs to both the ship and the reef. The incident received wide press coverage in Hawaii, at least in part because of the damage caused to a sensitive coral environment.
A US Navy investigation found that the grounding was caused by a combination of a misread navigation system, a sleep-deprived skipper, broken equipment, and an inexperienced and dysfunctional bridge team. The ship's commander, John Carroll, was relieved of duty and disciplined. Three other officers and one enlisted sailor were also disciplined. The US Navy reattached 5,400 coral colonies in an attempt to repair damage to the reef.
to forward Ring Laser Gyro Navigation, an inertial navigator. Three times the VMS dead-reckoned the ship's location, mistakenly reporting the ship's location as 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from its actual position. The error was not noticed by watchstanders. The ship was undergoing its first sea trials, including full power, steering and helicopter flight operation checks.
The grounding occurred at 8 p.m. on February 5, 2009 when the Port Royal ran aground about a half-mile south of the Honolulu International Airport
's Reef Runway. No one was injured in the incident and no fuel was spilled. The location of the grounding was in full view of aircraft landing and departing from the nearby airport, causing embarrassment to the Navy.
The cruiser, which has a draft of 33 feet (10.1 m), ran hard aground on a sand and rock ledge in an estimated 14 to 22 feet (5–7 m) of water. The salvage ship made three unsuccessful efforts to pull the Port Royal off the sandbar (Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 6–7–8 February), despite full-moon high tides and the offloading of 200 tons of fuel and water, 7,000 gallons of raw sewage, and 15 tons of crew members.
According to the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the ship ran aground while moving very slowly as it transferred shore-based aviation assessment officials to a smaller boat to take them to shore. An oil recovery ship, the Clean Islands was behind the ship to clean up oil spills. Rear Admiral
Dixon R. Smith, the commander of the Navy Region Hawaii and the Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, embarked the ship on the morning of 6 February to serve as the on-scene commander.
The warship suffered heavy damage to the underwater bow sonar dome and to its propellers and propeller shafts and was drydocked for repairs. Captain Neil Parrott was assigned to preside over the investigation into the grounding.
examined the site and discovered that the grounding had damaged the coral reef. The Hawaii divers, with help from Navy divers, began mapping the damage to ascertain the extent of work required to repair the coral. As of 12 February 2009, several of the cruiser's propeller blade tips had yet to be recovered from the ocean floor. Laura Thielen, chairwoman of the Hawaii state Board of Land and Natural Resources, told the US Navy in a letter in April 2009 that the grounding had damaged between six to 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) of the reef and that the "main injury scar" covered about 9600 square feet (891.9 m²). She added that the grounding may have damaged the habitat of Green turtles.
On February 18, the ship entered Dry Dock Number 4 at Pearl Harbor for repair to the ship's shafting, running gear, propellers, painting of the underwater hull, replacement of the bow sonar dome and its internal elements, and repairs to damaged tanks and superstructure cracks. The Navy estimated that repairs would cost between $25 and $40 million and would be completed by September 2009. The Honolulu Advertiser
reported that a shipyard worker had said that no work had been done to repair the warship as of April 12, 2009. The newspaper reported that its attempts to obtain information on the status of the warship had received short shrift or had not been answered by the Navy.
As of the end of July 2009, most of the repairs to the ship had been completed. Structural problems occurred in rebuilding the sonar dome, the area of the ship most heavily damaged in the grounding. Also, the struts that support the propulsion shafts were found to be out of alignment by a small, but critical amount. The repairs were expected to be completed in September and the ship is expected to return to operation in October.
Acting on a request from the state of Hawaii to repair the damage to the coral habitat, Navy-contracted divers from AECOM
, Sea Engineering and CSA International, Inc. began work on repairing the damaged reef the last week of April 2009. At a cost of $7 million, by June 27, 2009 the divers had collected 5,400 loose coral colonies and reattached them to the reef using cement and plaster of Paris. The divers also removed 250 cubic yards of rubble. The Navy planned to conduct further repair work on the reef between October and December 2009 but it has since been reported that this work has been suspended. The Navy reports that environmental experts have advised them that reattaching further coral to the reef would do more harm than good.
for "dereliction of duty and improper hazarding of a vessel." Port Royal Executive Officer Commander Steve Okun was also given non-judicial punishment for dereliction of duty at the same hearing. In a separate hearing, Rear Admiral Dixon Smith, commander of Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, imposed non-judicial punishment on two other, unnamed Port Royal officers and an enlisted seaman for dereliction of duty and improper hazarding of a vessel. The Navy refused to provide further details of the punishments the sailors received.
The US Navy safety investigation into the accident, not intended for public release but which was obtained by the Honolulu Advertiser
in July 2009, listed several contributing factors for the grounding. The factors included a misinterpreted navigation system, a sleep-deprived skipper, faulty equipment and an inexperienced and dysfunctional bridge team.
The report stated that John Carroll had only 4½ hours of sleep in the 24-hours prior to the grounding, and only 15 hours of sleep during the previous three days. Also, he was at sea after a five-year break in sea command duty. Carroll had directed that the aviation assessment personnel aboard the cruiser be returned to shore in a small boat just before the grounding occurred.
The report found that the ship's fathometer, which measures water depth, was broken, as well as both radar repeaters on the cruiser's bridge. Some time before the grounding, the ship switched navigation systems from a Global Positioning System
, called the Voyage Management System, to a gyroscope
. The switch caused a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) discrepancy in the ship's reported position. Audible alarm bells triggered by the discrepancy were disregarded by the ship's crew. During the small-boat transfer, the cruiser's operations officer took a binocular bearing to the harbor landing from the boat deck and noted the position discrepancy, but was unable to correct the ship's course in time. Shortly thereafter, the ship ran soft aground, but then quickly was forced hard aground by the force of the waves.
The report concluded that in spite of the equipment and navigation systems failures, there were enough working sensors and visual clues to prevent the grounding. The report found that the ship's navigation evaluator lost situational awareness and that the "Bridge watch team, navigation, and (Combat Information Center) team did not work together to assess situation and keep the ship from standing into danger." Qualified lookouts were on board for watch duty the night of the grounding, but they were working in the mess as food service attendants and were not allowed to assume the watch. Furthermore, set and drift were not calculated.
The report stated that the cruiser had been rushed out of drydock, with some work scaffolding removed from the ship only 30-minutes before the cruiser departed for the ocean trials. Also, the quartermaster of the watch was inexperienced and lacked training, having stood three months of watch on a deployment a year earlier, but could not plot fixes in near-shore waters. The report recommended a supervisory-level navigation course, as well as an "operational pause" of at least 96 hours between shipyard availabilities and sea trials to ensure crews were adequately rested and prepared for underway operations. Captain W. Scott Gureck, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Fleet, declined to comment on the investigation's findings.
The report was created by the Naval Safety Investigation Board but has been classified by the Navy Judge Advocate General as a "Dual Purpose Investigation". The Navy will therefore not release the report under the Freedom of Information Act. Reportedly, the Navy does not want to publicly discuss what caused the grounding because of threatened legal action by the state of Hawaii.
and the navy replaced the cruiser's sonar dome, reinstalled rudders, and made structural repairs to the ship's tanks, superstructure, and underwater hull. In addition, four sections of shafting were replaced, struts that support the propulsion shafts were realigned, and the underwater hull was repainted blue.
In February 2011, the Navy and the state of Hawaii announced that they had reached a settlement on the damage caused by the grounding. The Navy agreed to pay Hawaii $8.5 million. The amount was in addition to the $6.5 million already spent by the Navy in efforts to repair the reef. "This settlement agreement recognizes the State of Hawaii's loss of a natural resource and takes into account the U.S. Navy's unprecedented efforts to restore the reef where USS Port Royal ran aground," said Rear Admiral Timothy Giardina, U.S. Pacific Fleet deputy commander. In response, William J. Aila, State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources interim chairperson, stated, "We believe the Navy has done the right thing by acknowledging its responsibility, working cooperatively with the state to restore the reef, and completing a settlement that will provide funding for protection of the state's marine resources."
After $40 million in repairs, the cruiser deployed for the first time since the grounding in June 2011. The cruiser departed Pearl Harbor on a seven-month deployment to the Western Pacific and Middle-East. Said Rear Admiral Dixon Smith, commander of Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, of the grounding incident upon the departure of the ship, "I've put it behind me," Smith said. "We've moved forward. The ship has moved forward. It was an unfortunate incident that we all learned from.
Ship grounding
Ship grounding is a type of marine accident that involves the impact of a ship on the seabed, resulting in damage of the submerged part of her hull and particularly the bottom structure, potentially leading to water ingress and compromise of the ship's structural integrity and stability...
by the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
guided missile cruiser Port Royal
USS Port Royal (CG-73)
USS Port Royal is a United States Navy guided missile cruiser, the 27th and final in the class. She is the second U.S. 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...
off of Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
on 5 February 2009. In the incident, the ship ran aground on a coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
, damaging and necessitating repairs to both the ship and the reef. The incident received wide press coverage in Hawaii, at least in part because of the damage caused to a sensitive coral environment.
A US Navy investigation found that the grounding was caused by a combination of a misread navigation system, a sleep-deprived skipper, broken equipment, and an inexperienced and dysfunctional bridge team. The ship's commander, John Carroll, was relieved of duty and disciplined. Three other officers and one enlisted sailor were also disciplined. The US Navy reattached 5,400 coral colonies in an attempt to repair damage to the reef.
Grounding
After spending time in the Pearl Harbor shipyard for $18 million in scheduled repairs, the Port Royal departed for the open ocean off Oahu for sea trials at 08:15 on February 5, 2009. The ship's fathometer was broken. At 12:01, the Voyage Management System's (VMS - an automated navigation system) primary input at the chart table was shifted from a forward Global Positioning SystemGlobal Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
to forward Ring Laser Gyro Navigation, an inertial navigator. Three times the VMS dead-reckoned the ship's location, mistakenly reporting the ship's location as 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from its actual position. The error was not noticed by watchstanders. The ship was undergoing its first sea trials, including full power, steering and helicopter flight operation checks.
The grounding occurred at 8 p.m. on February 5, 2009 when the Port Royal ran aground about a half-mile south of the Honolulu International Airport
Honolulu International Airport
Honolulu International Airport is the principal aviation gateway of the City & County of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii and is identified as one of the busiest airports in the United States, with traffic now exceeding 21 million passengers a year and rising.It is located in the Honolulu...
's Reef Runway. No one was injured in the incident and no fuel was spilled. The location of the grounding was in full view of aircraft landing and departing from the nearby airport, causing embarrassment to the Navy.
The cruiser, which has a draft of 33 feet (10.1 m), ran hard aground on a sand and rock ledge in an estimated 14 to 22 feet (5–7 m) of water. The salvage ship made three unsuccessful efforts to pull the Port Royal off the sandbar (Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 6–7–8 February), despite full-moon high tides and the offloading of 200 tons of fuel and water, 7,000 gallons of raw sewage, and 15 tons of crew members.
According to the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the ship ran aground while moving very slowly as it transferred shore-based aviation assessment officials to a smaller boat to take them to shore. An oil recovery ship, the Clean Islands was behind the ship to clean up oil spills. Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
Dixon R. Smith, the commander of the Navy Region Hawaii and the Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, embarked the ship on the morning of 6 February to serve as the on-scene commander.
Recovery
On 9 February 2009, the Port Royal was pulled off the rock and sand shoal at around 2 a.m. after crews removed another 500 tons of water and 100 tons of anchors and other equipment to lighten the vessel, the Navy said in a statement. The removal by a salvage ship and seven tug boats took about 40 minutes. No one was injured during the recovery effort, said Rear Adm. Joe Walsh, the U.S. Pacific Fleet deputy commander. Smith relieved the ship's commanding officer, Captain John Carroll, of his duties pending investigation. Carroll had been skipper of the Port Royal since October 2008. Captain John Lauer, an official in Smith's Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, temporarily assumed command.The warship suffered heavy damage to the underwater bow sonar dome and to its propellers and propeller shafts and was drydocked for repairs. Captain Neil Parrott was assigned to preside over the investigation into the grounding.
Damage assessment and repair
Once the raw sewage dumped by the ship had dissipated, divers from the Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural ResourcesHawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources
The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources is a part of the Hawaii state government dedicated to managing state parks and other natural resources of the state of Hawaii.-Divisions:...
examined the site and discovered that the grounding had damaged the coral reef. The Hawaii divers, with help from Navy divers, began mapping the damage to ascertain the extent of work required to repair the coral. As of 12 February 2009, several of the cruiser's propeller blade tips had yet to be recovered from the ocean floor. Laura Thielen, chairwoman of the Hawaii state Board of Land and Natural Resources, told the US Navy in a letter in April 2009 that the grounding had damaged between six to 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) of the reef and that the "main injury scar" covered about 9600 square feet (891.9 m²). She added that the grounding may have damaged the habitat of Green turtles.
On February 18, the ship entered Dry Dock Number 4 at Pearl Harbor for repair to the ship's shafting, running gear, propellers, painting of the underwater hull, replacement of the bow sonar dome and its internal elements, and repairs to damaged tanks and superstructure cracks. The Navy estimated that repairs would cost between $25 and $40 million and would be completed by September 2009. The Honolulu Advertiser
Honolulu Advertiser
The Honolulu Advertiser was a daily newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the largest daily newspaper in the American state of Hawaii. It published daily with special Sunday and Internet editions...
reported that a shipyard worker had said that no work had been done to repair the warship as of April 12, 2009. The newspaper reported that its attempts to obtain information on the status of the warship had received short shrift or had not been answered by the Navy.
As of the end of July 2009, most of the repairs to the ship had been completed. Structural problems occurred in rebuilding the sonar dome, the area of the ship most heavily damaged in the grounding. Also, the struts that support the propulsion shafts were found to be out of alignment by a small, but critical amount. The repairs were expected to be completed in September and the ship is expected to return to operation in October.
Acting on a request from the state of Hawaii to repair the damage to the coral habitat, Navy-contracted divers from AECOM
AECOM
AECOM Technology Corporation is a professional technical and management support services firm. The company is ranked as the number one design firm for 2010 and 2011 by Engineering News-Record and number one by Architectural Record. It provides services in the areas of transportation, planning,...
, Sea Engineering and CSA International, Inc. began work on repairing the damaged reef the last week of April 2009. At a cost of $7 million, by June 27, 2009 the divers had collected 5,400 loose coral colonies and reattached them to the reef using cement and plaster of Paris. The divers also removed 250 cubic yards of rubble. The Navy planned to conduct further repair work on the reef between October and December 2009 but it has since been reported that this work has been suspended. The Navy reports that environmental experts have advised them that reattaching further coral to the reef would do more harm than good.
Disciplinary actions and investigation findings
On June 2, 2009 the navy disciplined four Port Royal officers for the grounding. In a hearing presided over by Vice Adm. Samuel J. Locklear, commander of the US Third Fleet, John Carroll was given non-judicial punishmentNonjudicial punishment
Non-judicial punishment in the United States military, is a form of military justice authorized by Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Non-judicial punishment or "NJP" permits commanders to administratively discipline troops without a court-martial...
for "dereliction of duty and improper hazarding of a vessel." Port Royal Executive Officer Commander Steve Okun was also given non-judicial punishment for dereliction of duty at the same hearing. In a separate hearing, Rear Admiral Dixon Smith, commander of Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, imposed non-judicial punishment on two other, unnamed Port Royal officers and an enlisted seaman for dereliction of duty and improper hazarding of a vessel. The Navy refused to provide further details of the punishments the sailors received.
The US Navy safety investigation into the accident, not intended for public release but which was obtained by the Honolulu Advertiser
Honolulu Advertiser
The Honolulu Advertiser was a daily newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the largest daily newspaper in the American state of Hawaii. It published daily with special Sunday and Internet editions...
in July 2009, listed several contributing factors for the grounding. The factors included a misinterpreted navigation system, a sleep-deprived skipper, faulty equipment and an inexperienced and dysfunctional bridge team.
The report stated that John Carroll had only 4½ hours of sleep in the 24-hours prior to the grounding, and only 15 hours of sleep during the previous three days. Also, he was at sea after a five-year break in sea command duty. Carroll had directed that the aviation assessment personnel aboard the cruiser be returned to shore in a small boat just before the grounding occurred.
The report found that the ship's fathometer, which measures water depth, was broken, as well as both radar repeaters on the cruiser's bridge. Some time before the grounding, the ship switched navigation systems from a Global Positioning System
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
, called the Voyage Management System, to a gyroscope
Gyroscope
A gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of angular momentum. In essence, a mechanical gyroscope is a spinning wheel or disk whose axle is free to take any orientation...
. The switch caused a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) discrepancy in the ship's reported position. Audible alarm bells triggered by the discrepancy were disregarded by the ship's crew. During the small-boat transfer, the cruiser's operations officer took a binocular bearing to the harbor landing from the boat deck and noted the position discrepancy, but was unable to correct the ship's course in time. Shortly thereafter, the ship ran soft aground, but then quickly was forced hard aground by the force of the waves.
The report concluded that in spite of the equipment and navigation systems failures, there were enough working sensors and visual clues to prevent the grounding. The report found that the ship's navigation evaluator lost situational awareness and that the "Bridge watch team, navigation, and (Combat Information Center) team did not work together to assess situation and keep the ship from standing into danger." Qualified lookouts were on board for watch duty the night of the grounding, but they were working in the mess as food service attendants and were not allowed to assume the watch. Furthermore, set and drift were not calculated.
The report stated that the cruiser had been rushed out of drydock, with some work scaffolding removed from the ship only 30-minutes before the cruiser departed for the ocean trials. Also, the quartermaster of the watch was inexperienced and lacked training, having stood three months of watch on a deployment a year earlier, but could not plot fixes in near-shore waters. The report recommended a supervisory-level navigation course, as well as an "operational pause" of at least 96 hours between shipyard availabilities and sea trials to ensure crews were adequately rested and prepared for underway operations. Captain W. Scott Gureck, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Fleet, declined to comment on the investigation's findings.
The report was created by the Naval Safety Investigation Board but has been classified by the Navy Judge Advocate General as a "Dual Purpose Investigation". The Navy will therefore not release the report under the Freedom of Information Act. Reportedly, the Navy does not want to publicly discuss what caused the grounding because of threatened legal action by the state of Hawaii.
Aftermath
Port Royal left drydock at Pearl Harbor on September 24, 2009 for final repairs and assessment before being returned to duty. While in drydock, technicians from BAE SystemsBAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is among the world's largest military contractors; in 2009 it was the...
and the navy replaced the cruiser's sonar dome, reinstalled rudders, and made structural repairs to the ship's tanks, superstructure, and underwater hull. In addition, four sections of shafting were replaced, struts that support the propulsion shafts were realigned, and the underwater hull was repainted blue.
In February 2011, the Navy and the state of Hawaii announced that they had reached a settlement on the damage caused by the grounding. The Navy agreed to pay Hawaii $8.5 million. The amount was in addition to the $6.5 million already spent by the Navy in efforts to repair the reef. "This settlement agreement recognizes the State of Hawaii's loss of a natural resource and takes into account the U.S. Navy's unprecedented efforts to restore the reef where USS Port Royal ran aground," said Rear Admiral Timothy Giardina, U.S. Pacific Fleet deputy commander. In response, William J. Aila, State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources interim chairperson, stated, "We believe the Navy has done the right thing by acknowledging its responsibility, working cooperatively with the state to restore the reef, and completing a settlement that will provide funding for protection of the state's marine resources."
After $40 million in repairs, the cruiser deployed for the first time since the grounding in June 2011. The cruiser departed Pearl Harbor on a seven-month deployment to the Western Pacific and Middle-East. Said Rear Admiral Dixon Smith, commander of Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, of the grounding incident upon the departure of the ship, "I've put it behind me," Smith said. "We've moved forward. The ship has moved forward. It was an unfortunate incident that we all learned from.