Success of lifting Ehime
Maru still unsure

The Navy will attempt to rig
temporary lifting straps to the bow

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

The Navy says that, weather permitting, it should be able to get a clearer picture by the end of next week on whether it will be able to lift the Ehime Maru.

A Navy official said yesterday that salvage crews working nine miles south of Diamond Head from the decks of the Rockwater 2 have been able clear mud from the bow of the 190-foot vessel.

Using remotely controlled vehicles and hydraulic pumps, the work at a depth of 2,000 feet now turns to removing sediment from the ship.

Two of the Ehime Maru's anchors have been cut free from the bow, or front end of the vessel.

The task now facing the Navy and civilian salvage experts is to rig two temporary lifting straps to the bow.

The anchors will be turned over to the Japanese government once the Ehime Maru has been moved to shallower waters a mile south of the Honolulu Airport's reef runway.

The Navy yesterday said it did not try to retrieve the anchors because it did not want to lose them as they were being brought to the surface in rough seas.

The Navy has to move the Ehime Maru from its current muddy position to more level ground so it can attach metal lifting plates at two strategic locations.

Only one series of plates has been placed, under the ship's engine room near the stern.

Numerous attempts to place plates under the bow near the pilot house have failed so far.

The Navy has received $36 million for this unprecedented recovery operation.

However, the operation has cost $60 million so far, and the Navy has resisted placing a price tag on what the entire operation eventually will cost.

Engineering and environmental factors have increased the cost and extended the operation at least a month beyond the mid-September date that Navy officials initially set as the time when the Ehime Maru would be moved to shallower waters.

The Japanese fishing training vessel sank more than six months ago when struck by the nuclear attack submarine USS Greeneville.

The move is intended to facilitate the search for the remains of nine boys and men believed to be entombed in the vessel.