Ehime Maru recovery move gets Navy OK
| • | Graphic: Raising the Ehime Maru |
| • | Advertiser special: Collision at Sea |
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Having decided that moving the Ehime Maru to shallow water will not harm the ocean, the Navy today told relatives of those still trapped inside the sunken ship that the recovery of their remains will begin within a few weeks.
Advertiser library photo • Feb. 19, 2001
Family members in the fishing village of Uwajima were told that an environmental assessment — approved yesterday in Hawai'i by Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet — had concluded the move would not have significant environmental effects.
The bodies of as many as nine people may be inside the wreck of the Ehime Maru, which sank Feb. 9 when it was struck by the submarine USS Greeneville.
Fargo's endorsement means that Navy salvage contractors will begin the difficult task of lifting the 750-ton Ehime Maru from 2,000 feet of water.
The vessel, which was used to train Japanese high school students to be commercial fishermen, collided Feb. 9 with the fast-attack submarine USS Greeneville nine miles south of Diamond Head. The remains of nine people, including four teenage boys, are thought to be inside the Ehime Maru.
Navy officials at Pearl Harbor said yesterday that the salvage vessel Rockwater 2 would arrive next month and that the ship would attempt to lift the Ehime Maru sometime in August. The whole project should be finished in October.
The recovery firm Smit-Tak, part of the Netherlands-based Smit International Group, is the principal contractor and has arranged to lease the Rockwater 2 from Halliburton Co., a Texas-based engineering and construction firm. Crowley Maritime Corp. out of Washington state also will help with the move.
The Navy cautioned that success is not guaranteed. Proposed lift calculations were done without seeing the hole in the hull of the ship.
"The structural damage to Ehime Maru may be greater than anticipated and thus pose a safety risk to recovery personnel or prevent the vessel to be moved intact," the Navy said in a statement. "If it is not possible to safely lift and move the vessel, it will be left at its current location."
Damage to the hull is thought to be extensive. The environmental assessment noted that the force of the collision "opened the vessel's bulkheads and that fuel tanks and other closed containers were crushed by the enormous change in pressure caused by the rapid sinking." Although the Ehime Maru sits upright on the ocean floor, it struck hard, hitting the bottom at an estimated 65 mph.
The Navy will use specially equipped offshore construction vessels to lift the Ehime Maru, the assessment stated.
Flexible lifting plates will be placed under the ship by remotely operated vehicles. The ship would then be lifted clear of the sea floor using a sophisticated rigging system attached to heavy wire cables and linear winches mounted on the surface vessel.
Because 45,000 gallons of diesel fuel and some lubricating oil are likely still within the ship, the Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will monitor the move for leaks. Contaminent booms, skimmer systems and dispersants will be available throughout the operation, the Navy said.
Structural failure could occur at any point, causing the Navy to terminate the operation, the assessment stated.
The Navy plans to move the Ehime Maru to an extensively surveyed location roughly one mile southwest of Honolulu Airport's reef runway. The 14-mile move itself should take three days.
Barring problems, the Ehime Maru will be lowered to the ocean floor in 115 feet of water, a relatively safe depth for Navy divers. Sixty Navy divers from around the Pacific Fleet and six from the Navy's Ship Repair Facility in Yokosuka, Japan, will search the Ehime Maru for any remains, a job that could take 30 days.
Japanese officials, who along with relatives urged the United States to recover the bodies, have also asked that Navy divers recover the name plate and anchor of the Ehime Maru. Their hope is to create a memorial.
Once recovery efforts are complete, divers will attempt to remove remaining fuel and oil, then secure doors or loose materials. The Ehime Maru will then be moved to a spot 12 nautical miles south of Barbers Point and released in 6,000 feet of water.
A location device similar those used on airplanes will allow the Navy to learn the Ehime Maru's exact final location. The device will emit a sound signal steadily from the depths for 30 days, then stop.
