Press and Photo Releases 2013
Salvage Team Removes Fuel From Grounded USS Guardian
SULU SEA (Jan. 24, 2013) -- Malaysian tug Vos Apollo (foreground) prepares for defueling operations near the grounded USS Guardian (MCM 5) while a U.S. Navy small boat approaches with a salvage team. The U.S. Navy contracted Vos Apollo to assist with removing fuel from the mine countermeasures ship, which ran aground on the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea on Jan. 17. No fuel has leaked since the grounding and all of the approximately 15,000 gallons onboard Guardian was safely transferred to Vos Apollo during two days of controlled defueling operations on Jan. 24 and Jan. 25. The U.S. Navy continues to work in close cooperation with the Philippine Coast Guard and Navy to safely remove Guardian from the reef while minimizing environmental effects.
(U.S. Navy photo by Aircrewman 3rd Class Geoffrey Trudell/Released)