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(CNN) -- A 224-foot-long U.S. warship will have to be cut into smaller pieces to get it off a Philippine reef where it grounded two weeks ago, Navy officials said Wednesday.

They said that's the only way to prevent further damage to the Tubbataha Reef, a Philippine national park and UNESCO World Heritage site, where the USS Guardian, an Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship, ran aground on January 17.

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Lt. Anthony Falvo, a U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet spokesman in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, told CNN on Wednesday that Navy salvage experts are still formulating the details of how they'll cut up the 1,312-ton minesweeper.

Crews are now working to remove any hazardous materials from the vessel and will look to save anything that could still prove useful to the Navy. The ship's 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel were removed last week.

"We will strip it out beforehand. We'll work to salvage any parts that can be salvaged," Falvo said. Then the cutting will begin.

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As for other costs, Philippine officials said last week that the Philippines would seek compensation for damage to the reef. About 1,000 square meters (about 10,760 square feet) of it have been damaged.

"It's a damage to a world heritage site. It's a damage to our natural resources. It's a damage to an important site. We cannot but put emphasis on the importance of this reef as a heritage site," presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

The reef is home to a vast array of sea, air and land creatures, as well as sizable lagoons and two coral islands. About 500 species of fish and 350 species of coral can be found there, as can whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles and breeding seabirds, according to UNESCO.

The salvage operation must ensure that the reef sustains no further damage, Lacierda said.

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Wonder what the replacement cost is on a mine-sweeper that is over 200 feet long? It cost $61m 23 years ago.

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Wonder what the cost for damge to the reef will be?

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Seems odd that they can't float the ship off once they stripped a large amount of weight off the vessel. It would be interesting to see the incident report.

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So we are going to destroy one of our ships, a ship that cost tens of millions of dollars of our tax money to build, to save a freaking coral reef from unnecessary damage?! Not only that....the Filipinos are going to ask us for compensation money? Seriously?!

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the Filipinos are going to ask us for compensation money? Seriously?!

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So we are going to destroy one of our ships, a ship that cost tens of millions of dollars of our tax money to build, to save a freaking coral reef from unnecessary damage?! Not only that....the Filipinos are going to ask us for compensation money? Seriously?!

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Philippine officials said last week that the Philippines would seek compensation for damage to the reef.

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Don't know. Given the area of damage (1100 sq meters) and the ability of reef to regenerate, who knows?

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