The U.S. Navy on Monday freed a guided-missile cruiser that had been grounded for more than three days off the coast of Honolulu, Hawaii. The USS Port Royal was pulled off a rock shoal early Monday after crews removed about 500 tons of water and 100 tons of anchors and other equipment to lighten the ship, the Navy said in a statement. The removal by a salvage ship and seven tugboats took about 40 minutes, and nobody was injured during the recovery effort, said the U.S. Pacific Fleet deputy commander, Rear Admiral Joe Walsh. The Port Royal was being towed to the Pearl Harbor naval base, and the area where it ran aground would be examined to determine if the ship leaked any fuel, the Coast Guard said. The guided-missile cruiser ran aground Thursday off Honolulu International Airport. Efforts to free the ship over the weekend were unsuccessful.
