MANILA — The United States Navy has decided to scrap the 7 million minesweeper stuck on an environmentally sensitive Philippine reef, a spokesman said on Thursday, while Philippine officials examined potential legal violations and fines to be levied against the United States.
“The plan is to dismantle the ship into three pieces and remove the sections by crane,” said Lt. Cmdr. James Stockman, a Navy public affairs officer temporarily based at the American Embassy in Manila.
The complete loss of a Navy ship due to an accident during peace time “is a rarity,” Commander Stockman said.
The ship, the 224-foot U.S.S. Guardian, struck the Tubbataha Reef, a Unesco World Heritage site in the southern Philippines, on Jan. 17. According to Unesco, the reefs are home to more than 350 species of coral and almost 500 types of fish, including a wide variety of creatures, like whales, dolphins, sharks and turtles.
The Navy is investigating the cause of the incident, including the possibility that inaccurate digital navigation charts were a factor.
The announcement comes as the two close allies grapple with the increasingly expensive and embarrassing incident. Upon arrival in Manila on Tuesday, an American Congressional delegation led by Representative Ed Royce, Republican of California and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed regret over the incident.
Managers of the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park have identified at least three legal violations committed by the Navy vessel, according to Grace Barber, an administrator with the park’s management office. The vessel’s operators did not obtain permission to enter the park, did not pay the fee for entry and obstructed the work of park rangers, said Ms. Barber.
“The rangers have a protocol,” she said. “They are required to board and inspect every boat that enters the park. When the rangers asked the U.S. warship for permission to board, they were told to call the U.S. Embassy.”
The United States could be fined 0 per square meter of damage done to the reef. A full damage assessment will not be possible until the vessel is removed, said Ms. Barber, who added that park officials had never encountered a similar situation.
“This is the first time a Unites States military ship has entered the park,” she said.
The United States is seeking permission from the Philippine Coast Guard to dismantle the wooden-hulled ship, rather than tow or lift it off the reef, to avoid further damage to the coral in the area, Commander Stockman said. The decision was also a pragmatic one, as the vessel is no longer seaworthy, he added.
“The ship has been grounded since Jan. 17,” he said. “It has taken a beating by the waves and has taken on water. The vessel was already a loss.”
The Navy has removed as many items as possible from the ship to lighten it and has removed fuel, solvents and other materials that might cause environmental damage, Commander Stockman said. Two heavy-lift cranes are en route from an American naval facility in Singapore to start the removal process, which will likely take several weeks.
A Philippine senator, Loren Legarda, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, has called for an investigation into the incident.
“Those responsible for the damage on the Tubbataha Reef should own up and pay up,” Ms. Legarda said in a statement.