Navy welcomes US' Tubbataha grounding report that points to human error

From the Manila Bulletin (Jun 23): Navy welcomes US' Tubbataha grounding report that points to human error

The Philippine Navy welcomes the release to the public of the US Navy report on the results of its investigation into the January 17 grounding of the minesweeper USS Guardian on Tubbataha Reef.

Philippine Navy spokesman, Lt. Cdr. Gregory Fabic, said their US counterpart's report "proved that we share the common interest in the preservation of the natural maritime environment and its resources other than the pursuit of peace and stability in the region."

The US Pacific Fleet on Friday made public the result of the USN investigation into the grounding incident that damaged more than 2,345.67 square meters of prized corals at the UNESCO World Heritage site.

The 160-page report pointed to human error and lack of leadership as the root causes on the incident, which US Pacific Fleet Commander, Admiral Cecil D. Haney said was "wholly preventable."

"The grounding of USS GUARDIAN was entirely preventable. The root causes of the grounding were human error and a failure of leadership to provide adequate oversight and direction in planning and executing the Navigation Plan," according to the report.

Haney said: "This investigation uncovers no single point of failure; instead, there were numerous links in the error chain leading up to the grounding. Had any one of which been appropriately addressed, the grounding would have been prevented."

"The investigation further concluded that USS Guardian leadership and watch teams failed to adhere to prudent, safe, and sound navigation principles which would have alerted them to approaching dangers with sufficient time to take mitigating action," he added.

"The watch team's observations of visual cues in the hours leading up to the grounding, combined with electronic cues and alarms, should have triggered immediate steps to resolve warnings and reconcile discrepancies," he further wrote.

The investigation also disclosed, "Had USS Guardian not ran aground on the Tubbataha Reef, the imprudent, unsafe, and unsound CO (Commanding Officer) - approved Navigation Plan would have placed the ship directly over another navigation hazard with unknown depth at latitude 05 degrees 34.932 minutes North, longitude 119 degrees 32.835 minutes East as the ship passed in vicinity of Pearl Bank in the southern Sulu Sea approaching the Sibutu Passage."

It was also revealed that, "On 15 and 16 January 2013, USS Guardian entered restricted waters on two occasions without holding a Navigation Brief."

The grounding incident, aside from causing damage to Tubbataha Reef, also resulted in the total loss of a multi-million dollar commissioned U.S. Navy warship with a proud history, said the USN report. 

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