2009 USS Port Royal grounding The 2009 USS " Port Royal " grounding was a ship grounding by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser " Port Royal " off 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 United States Navy investigation found that the grounding was caused by a combination of a misread navigation system , a sleep - deprived commanding officer , broken equipment , and an inexperienced and dysfunctional bridge team . The ship ' s commanding officer , John Carroll , was relieved of duty and disciplined . Three other officers and one enlisted sailor were also disciplined . The United States 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 5 February 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 System 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 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 5 February 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 , 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 – 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 . 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 Admiral 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 commanding officer 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 Resources examined the site and discovered that the grounding had damaged the coral reef . The Hawaiian 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 United States Navy in a letter in April 2009 that the grounding had damaged between six to of the reef and that the " main injury scar " covered about . She added that the grounding may have damaged the habitat of green turtle s . On 18 February , 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 12 April 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 was expected to return to operation in October . The ship deployed for the first time since the grounding in June 2011 . The cruiser departed on an eight - month deployment to the Western Pacific and Middle - East . 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 . Work to repair the damaged reef began the last week of April 2009 . At a cost of $ 7 million , by 27 June 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 2 June 2009 , the Navy disciplined four " Port Royal " officers for the grounding . In a hearing presided over by Vice Admiral Samuel J . Locklear , commander of the United States Third Fleet , John Carroll was given non - judicial punishment 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 U . S . 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 commanding officer , 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 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 dry dock , 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 dry dock at Pearl Harbor on 24 September 2009 for final repairs and assessment before being returned to duty . While in dry dock , technicians from BAE Systems 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 . We ' ve moved forward . The ship has moved forward . It was an unfortunate incident that we all learned from . " Despite being the Navy ’ s youngest cruiser , " Port Royal " has been tentatively scheduled to be decommissioned on 31 March 2013 and will be dismantled . See also . USS " Guardian " ( MCM - 5 )