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Joint Navy-Army Salvaging Team Successfully Raises Former Russian Submarine

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS080729-03
Release Date: 7/29/2008 5:26:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SS) Paul Dillard, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command Public Affairs

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (NNS) -- A joint Army-Navy salvage team raised the former Soviet submarine Juliett 484, also known as K-77, Juy 25 from the bottom of the Providence River.

More than 100 active and Reserve Sailors and Soldiers, mainly from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 2 based in Norfolk, Va., and a small contingent from the U.S. Army Dive Company from Fort Eustis, Va., have labored since June 1 to raise the submarine.

"It's just a massive feeling of accomplishment that I can't really put words to," said Navy Chief Warrant Officer Two Dale W. Kasztelan, salvage master for the operation. He added that it's been "a great joy to see the culmination of all the painstaking work that's taken place from planning phases through to today."

The 1960's-era Soviet cruise missile submarine-turned-museum sank at the pier during a nor'easter on April 17, 2007. Juliett 484, also known as K-77, led a storied life prior to her sinking, including a brief stint as a floating vodka bar in Helsinki, Finland and as the titular submarine in the film "K-19: The Widowmaker."

Preparing to raise the submarine from the muddy bottom required both considerable planning and unique diving salvage skills.

"Tunneling under the submarine, that's something you rarely get the opportunity to do as a Navy diver," said Navy Diver 2nd Class Kevin Eppleman.

Divers ran lift bands underneath the hull through the tunnels opened using water jets. The lift bands were attached to inflatable pontoons and these, combined with eight pumps that had been placed inside the submarine to provide dewatering, gave the sub enough stability and buoyancy for a safe controlled surfacing.

"You can spend 20 plus years and never get a chance like that and it really gets your heart pumping," added Eppleman.

Now that Juliett 484 has been brought back to the surface the Army and Navy operation is nearly complete, but she still faces an uncertain future.

"We don't know what the conditions are inside, because only the divers have been inside," said Bill Sheridan, deputy executive director of the Russian Sub Museum, the non-profit organization that owns the sub.

"Until it's dewatered and until we get a look at it we won't be able to tell whether there's anything to salvage, or whether it will be beyond our capabilities. We'll go one step at a time."

This salvage project offered a real-world training opportunity that required military, community and interagency resources and planning.

"The innovative readiness training program (IRT) has made this possible and gives us a big advantage over traditional training," said MDSU 2 Command Master Chief Ross Garcia.

Expeditionary combat salvage, a capability central to Navy Expeditionary Combat Command's adaptive force packages, has been made even more viable by Department of Defense IRT program funding. IRT is a program designed to improve military readiness and to simultaneously help rebuild America.

Naval Sea Systems Command out of the Washington Naval Yard and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Expeditionary Support Unit 2 from Norfolk also provided on-site logistics and support for the operation.

For more news from Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/necc/.