TOKYO >> A tape-cutting ceremony was held in southwestern Japan today to mark the completion of a replacement for the Japanese fishing boat that was rammed and sunk last year by a surfacing U.S. submarine. Tape-cutting event marks
launch of replacement
for Ehime Maru
Associated Press
Students and teachers from Uwajima Fisheries High School gathered at a shipyard in the southwestern prefecture of Ehime as the new Ehime Maru vessel was lowered into the water for the first time, prefectural official Koji Kimura said.
Ehime Gov. Moriyuki Kato and the captain of the sunken Ehime Maru, Hisao Onishi, who also attended, toured the boat afterward, Kimura said.
Nine men and teenage boys died after the nuclear-powered USS Greeneville surfaced beneath the Ehime Maru on Feb. 9, 2001, sinking it off the coast of Oahu. The trawler was owned and used by Uwajima Fisheries High School.
The new 499-ton Ehime Maru, which cost $11.3 million to build, is the same size as the original but has been outfitted with new sonar and safety gear.
Uwajima Fisheries students will begin training on the vessel starting in January, before making their first excursion in April, prefectural officials said.
The tape-cutting ceremony came days before the former skipper of the Greeneville, Cmdr. Scott Waddle, is to visit the new boat's home port for the first time to pay his condolences.
Waddle, who was reprimanded after the accident but allowed to retire at full rank and pension, is scheduled to arrive in Japan on Saturday. During his stay, he plans to lay flowers at a memorial for the victims and meet with their families to apologize.
The families of 33 people who were aboard the trawler agreed last month to a reported $13 million compensation package from the U.S. Navy. Negotiations between the Navy and two other families are continuing separately.
The Ehime government agreed in April to $11.47 million in compensation from the Navy to cover the costs of the vessel, equipment, cargo, crew salaries, mental health care for the survivors and the costs for a memorial service.
Uwajima is about 420 miles southwest of Tokyo.
