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Safeguard Continues Dive Project to Clear Saipan Harbor

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100122-13
Release Date: 1/22/2010 3:30:00 PM

By Ed Baxter, Sea Logistics Command Far East Public Affairs

SINGAPORE (NNS) -- Military Sealift Command rescue and salvage ship USNS Safeguard (ARS-50) is completing a months-long project to clear large rocks and dead coral formations at the entrance to Saipan's main harbor.

The project supports the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Port Authority's objective to clear, crush or degrade large obstructions on the seabed, opening up Saipan's port to larger vessels.

The goal is to create a safe draft of at least 36 feet at the port's entrance, something officials feel would
allow a wider variety of military and commercial ships to visit the scenic central Pacific island.

"It opens up the ports to more diversified commerce," said Douglas Brennan, a member of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce's Armed Forces Committee.

Safeguard's current mission in Saipan is the third of its kind since February 2008. To date, 35 obstructions have been removed, crushed or degraded from Saipan's main harbor area, the largest of which weighed more than 100,000 pounds.

Civil-service mariners joined 17 Navy Divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 1, Company 17 at Saipan's Tanapag harbor entrance. The team had a single focus - to remove the largest obstructions, sometimes referred to as "Dangers to Navigation," or DTONs.

Naval Oceanographic Office's Fleet Survey Team provided Safeguard divers with global positioning system coordinates and multi-beam images of DTONs targeted for removal. Divers then attached underwater buoys to those obstructions.

The primary method of removal is to attach thick steel wires to each obstruction. Using Safeguard's capstan — a rotating winch device — obstructions were slowly broken loose from the seabed and brought onboard Sageguard using its 40-ton capacity crane. Obstructions are then disposed of in deeper waters.

The largest rock moved on this mission weighed more than 10 tons, and some of the obstructions are so large that divers elected to chisel anywhere from four to 18 inches from the object rather than bring it to the surface.

Other obstructions were so embedded they could not be broken from the seabed. Safeguard Civil Service Master Capt. Ed Dickerson placed the ship in a precision two point mooring position directly above one such larger obstructions. Safeguard then repeatedly dropped its 9,000 pound anchor repeatedly on the obstruction, eventually breaking the rock apart.

"The largest DTON, measuring some 30 feet in length and rising six feet above the sea floor, received over 70 precision hits with the anchor before it finally broke apart," said Lt. Michael Simmons, MDSU-1 Company 17 officer in charge.

Although dive conditions were favorable, the evolution was not without challenges from the weather and underwater currents.

"Due to the surf spilling into the harbor from the outer coral reef, we found a constant steady current leaving the channel," said Senior Chief Master Diver Randy Saunders. "We had two days where we experienced swells from eight to 10 feet."

Underwater visibility was generally good, however, through most of the operation at anywhere from 75 to 100 feet.

"We're limited to daylight hours and ensured our operations didn't interfere with commercial traffic," Simmons said.

Safeguard's divers are targeting a handful of remaining DTON's to be cleared before the project's completion on Jan. 26.

Safeguard is one of Military Sealift Command's four rescue and salvage ships.

For more news from Commander Task Force 73, visit www.navy.mil/local/clwp/.