What a great story. Also kinda neat to learn the USS Coronado uses thrusters and not propellers. The article is @ http://www.newser.com/story/183604/navy-warship-stops-to-let-whales-pass.html while more about the ship is @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Coronado_(LCS-4)
Whales (despite having Nature's perfect sonar) routinely blunder into US submarines - particularly the boomers.
What are you talking about? The Coranado was built by two America companies, General Dynamics Corporation and Bath IronWorks in the Mobile Bay Shipyard.
Navy agrees to limit sonar that harms whales & dolphins... Navy to Limit Some Training that Harms Whales in Pacific Sep 15, 2015 The Navy agreed to limit its use of sonar and other training that inadvertently harms whales, dolphins and other marine mammals off Hawaii and California in a settlement with environmental groups approved Monday.
The USS Coronado is the Navy's Little Crappy Ship aka LCS that's not able to fight and survive in combat. The Coronado had no choice but to surrender to the whale or the whale would have sunk the USS Coronado. http://pentagonchoices.com/changing-the-name-of-the-navys-little-crappy-ship-wont-fix-it/
Nobody should be proud building these Crappy Little Ships. Even a freaking whale is a threat to these Crappy Little Ships.
These ships are horrible. One of them had to be dry docked after a kid threw a wadded up piece of gum wrapper at it and it punched a hole in the hull. Another of these ships nearly sank when it accidentally bumped into a jelly fish.
The LCS are glorified coast guard cutters. I don't see them being used in any major conflict but they are good for patrolling the coast and enforcing maritime laws. They may not have the firepower to take on an enemy ship, but they have enough to take on a merchant running contraband, some dinggy riding somalian pirates or for supporting search and rescue after a natural disaster.
Navy loses sonar case in appeals court... Federal Appeals Court Rejects Navy Sonar-Use Rules Jul 16, 2016 -- A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the U.S. Navy was wrongly allowed to use sonar that could harm whales and other marine life.