Ehime Maru found to be holding up well
| • | Interactive presentation: A step-by-step look at how the U.S. Navy plans to move the Ehime Maru to shallow water and recover remains |
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By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Even with a gash along the bottom of its hull, the Ehime Maru is in much better shape than salvage experts initially thought, prompting the Navy yesterday to predict that its chances of successfully raising the wreck are better than ever.
Four setbacks in two weeks, including the failure of both plans to rig the 830-ton ship, will not prevent a team of Navy and civilian engineers from picking the ship off the ocean floor and moving it to shallower water, said Rear Adm. William Klemm, the officer in charge of the $40 million operation.
"These do not represent failures," Klemm said yesterday. "They represent learning experiences which have resulted in innovative approaches to the way in which we will execute the rest of the operation."
For much of August and early this week, salvage experts aboard the Rockwater 2 have tried to rig the Ehime Maru so it could be moved with heavy-duty lifting straps. The straps need to be pulled under the ship by cables, but the Navy has been unable to get the cables in place.
An attempt to bore pathways under the ship and several attempts to hoist the vessel by its stern both failed. Last Friday, one of the straps being used to hoist the ship abruptly snapped and the Ehime Maru fell 24 feet.
"The ship is in much stronger condition than had been initially anticipated," Klemm said. "It has been able to withstand far greater structural stresses than were initially calculated."
The Navy will announce today how it plans to finish rigging the Ehime Maru and whether it will still be able to lift it by mid-September.
