Navy readies sunken Working round-the-clock offshore of Diamond Head, the Navy has begun the task of clearing the decks of the Japanese fishing training vessel Ehime Maru.
Ehime Maru
for move
Divers will search the ship for bodies
after it is pulled to safer watersGregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comPreparing to move the vessel to a shallow recovery site near the Honolulu Airport reef runway in late August, the 266-foot Ocean Hercules began the job of cutting Ehime Maru's guy wires and communication wires from one of the vessel's three masts Saturday night.
The Ocean Hercules arrived Saturday at the site nine miles south of Diamond Head. The Ehime Maru is sitting upright on the muddy bottom of the Pacific 2,000 feet down.
The stern of the Ehime Maru is buried in up to 6 feet of sand and mud with the rudder and propeller not visible.
Video surveys indicate that the Ehime Maru suffered damage to its forward port and starboard exteriors. It is believed to have a hole in its hull near the stern of the ship that's about 108 square feet, caused by the rudder of the attack submarine USS Greeneville when it surfaced, colliding with the Ehime Maru
A remotely operated vehicle, the Phoenix III, is clearing the deck of the Ehime Maru of two of three masts and other obstacles. That work should be completed by the time the heavy-lift vessel Rockwater 2 arrives at the recovery site at the end of the month, said Jon Yoshishige, Navy spokesman.
The job of the Rockwater's crew will be to lift the 830-ton Ehime Maru 100 feet off the ocean bottom and move it to the reef runway site. There, in 115 feet of water, Japanese and Navy divers will search the two lower decks of the Ehime Maru for the bodies of the nine Japanese school teachers, students and crewmen who went down with the ship.
The divers will also try to recover the missing crew members' personal effects and certain artifacts from the ship, such as its nameplate and anchors, for a possible memorial. The Navy hopes to begin that part of the $40 million recovery operation in September. It will involve 45 Navy divers from the Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One and an additional six to eight Japanese divers from the ship repair facility at Yokosuka.
"The ROV will be in operation 24 hours a day and seven days a week except during the periods of maintenance and manipulator-tool change outs," Yoshishige said.
The Phoenix III, manufactured by Oceaneering International Inc., will be used to connect a lifting wire to the center mast after it has been burnt or blasted away. The ROV also will be used to remove cargo nets, fishing hooks and long lines and rafts.
Either a crane on the Ocean Hercules or Rockwater, both owned by the Texas-based Haliburton engineering and construction company, will bring the forward and main masts to the surface. The only mast that will be kept is the one near the stern of the Ehime Maru.
The Phoenix III has to be used since divers cannot work at the 2,000-foot depth. It is normally called upon to lay undersea cables. All of the underwater work is being videotaped.
Thirty-five people were aboard the Ehime Maru when it was rammed by the USS Greeneville on Feb. 9. Three crewmen, four 17-year-old students and two teachers of Uwajima Fisheries High School were never found.
Once the Ehime Maru's diesel oil and other lubricants have been removed by divers in the shallow water, the vessel will be moved back to a deepwater site, probably by the end of October.