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Safeguard Concludes SALVEX

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS050928-12
Release Date: 9/28/2005 3:12:00 PM

From USS Safeguard Public Affairs and Journalist Seaman Adam R. Cole, Task Force 76 Public Affairs

SASEBO, Japan (NNS) -- USS Safeguard (ARS 50) completed the first Salvage Exercise (SALVEX) with the Indian navy Sept. 24, conducting 12 days of combined dive exercises off of India’s western coast city of Cochin and its surrounding waters.

U.S. Navy divers worked closely with their Indian counterparts at SALVEX, a combined classroom and in-port training with at-sea dives and salvage exercises.

Lessons taken from India will be added to Safeguard’s long list of experiences since deploying in late April. The ship has completed diving operations with seven countries since departing Sasebo.

Safeguard Commanding Officer Lt. Cmdr. Doyle Hodges felt that SALVEX was another step in achieving interoperability within Southeast Asia and boosted dive skills for both the U.S. and Indian divers.

"The U.S.-Indian SALVEX was a unique opportunity for Safeguard, both because it was the first combined salvage exercise held with the Indian navy and because the chance to visit India was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most of us,” said Hodges. “By the end of the exercise, U.S. and Indian navy divers were working seamlessly together. It was a real privilege to be a part of this, and I'm very proud of what Safeguard has achieved."

In the course of two weeks, Safeguard crew members completed a variety of activities. They toured Indian training facilities, completed familiarization dives on Safeguard’s dive system with Indian divers, conducted in-harbor salvage exercises and salvaged the wreckage of an Indian navy aircraft.

Hodges also noted that the hospitality and teamwork demonstrated by the Indian navy was absolutely overwhelming.

Chief Hull Technician (DSW/SW) Clifford E. Morin said that the Indian divers were “eager and friendly” counterparts.

From an operational standpoint, Morin said, he was impressed with the extent of their diving program after touring India’s dive facility.

Major evolutions characterized both the in-port and at-sea phases of SALVEX. During the in-port phase, dive teams worked together and completed an underwater cutting and welding evolution, an evolution the “Indians clearly enjoyed and were grateful to have participated in,” said Morin.

The U.S. and Indian navies worked closely during the at-sea phase to salvage and recover an Indian Seahawk jet that was submerged for 30 years and was only recently discovered by the Indian navy.

The aircraft was at a depth of 165 feet, a depth that is likely to cause harmful effects of nitrogen narcosis, or “rapture of the deep,” a disabling condition similar to intoxication and brought on by higher levels of nitrogen dissolving in the blood stream. With textbook dive techniques, the crews fought past the potential dangers and brought the plane to the surface after four days of diving. The recovered aircraft was stored on Safeguard’s fantail and transported back to port.

On the final day, Safeguard attended a reception with their Indian counterparts and congratulated each other on a job well done.

“Although we come from different navies, it was great that we could all work together so well to accomplish the mission,” said Hull Technician 3rd Class (DV) Zachary DiMare. “In the end, it was a good feeling to have our divers and the Indian divers sitting on the salvaged fighter plane. It was a true reward after our combined hard efforts.”

Safeguard (ARS 50) is a forward deployed rescue and salvage ship operating out of Sasebo, Japan, and is part of Task Force 76, the Navy’s only forward-deployed amphibious force.