Navy ship almost hits gray whales off Dana Point

[The Straight Story]

DANA POINT, Calif. (KABC) -- The Navy's new ship, the USS Coronado, nearly slammed into a pod of gray whales off the coast of Dana Point over the weekend. A captain on a whale watching boat was tracking the pod and alerted the ship.

Captain Todd Mansur thought he had seen it all taking visitors out on the ocean for 35 years with Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching. That's until last Sunday afternoon.

"We were following two northbound whales and the attention was starting to go elsewhere," said Mansur.

The attention turned to a 419-foot new Navy combat ship within a mile of Dana Point's shore.

"After several minutes of watching it coming our way, I decided I probably needed to hail the ship," said Mansur.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/orange_county&id=9462797

[longship]

1. It's a Littoral combat ship.

Ugly son of a bitch.