Rigging failure slows Ehime Maru lift effort
| • | Interactive graphic on how the Ehime Maru will be moved to shallower waters |
| • | Advertiser special: Collision at Sea |
By William Cole and Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writers
The Navy ran into trouble trying to raise the Ehime Maru yesterday when a remotely operated vehicle failed to close a pin that would connect two lifting frames — a job complicated by bumpy seas.
Repairs to the tool used by the remotely operated vehicle were under way yesterday. Navy and contract engineers on board the Rockwater 2, a civilian recovery ship, "remain confident that the rigging can be completed to enable the lift and relocation of Ehime Maru to shallow water," the Navy said in a statement.
Crew members aboard the Rockwater 2 have been working to couple four heavy cables and a top lifting frame to a lower lifting assembly suspended over the 830-ton Japanese fisheries training vessel.
The Ehime Maru remains upright in 2,000 feet of water nine miles south of Diamond Head. It sank Feb. 9 when the USS Greeneville, a fast-attack Navy submarine, rammed it during a surfacing drill. Five crew members of the Ehime Maru and four high school students aboard were killed in the accident.
Rear Adm. William Klemm, head of the salvage and recovery mission, said the 14.5-mile haul to the shallow-water site off Honolulu International Airport's reef runway will be excruciatingly slow because of the necessity of keeping the Ehime Maru directly beneath the Rockwater 2 and 90 feet above the ocean floor while it is being towed.
When the transit is completed, the ship will be left to settle for two to three days at 115 feet before divers attempt to recover bodies. The dive operation is expected to continue for 33 days.
