You Couldn’t Make This Up – 1

So, the American navy has been forced to scrap a $300 million minesweeper, the USS Guardian, after it ran aground on the Tubbataha coral reef off the coast of the Philippines. Apparently, the ship’s captain ignored numerous attempts to warn it that it was entering a protected area. It is claimed that the US navy vessel was quite “robust” in dismissing calls for it to divert from its path, before running aground and causing inestimable damage to a world heritage site.

You couldn’t make this stuff up? Well someone did!

How reminiscent is this of that famous urban myth of the Canadian Lighthouse versus the US battleship/aircraft carrier which has been doing the rounds since c. 1995? The story tells of a US navy vessel commanding another ship, of Canadian origin, to change course. The Canadian vessel counters and advises the increasingly bullish and bullying American warship to change course. The US ship threatens the Canadian, which elicits the response “I’m a lighthouse. Your call!”. 

For years the US Navy has denied that any such incident took place and refuted the fact that the information circulated was a genuine transcript.

So, what are they going to say now? 🙂

Related articles

• USS Guardian: Video Of Scrap Operation Shown (news.sky.com)