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MDSU 1, NOAA Raise Rusty Steel Sailboat

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100727-16
7/27/2010

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Mark Logico, Commander, Navy Region Hawaii Public Affairs

PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- Navy divers teamed up with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), July 10-23, to salvage a 33 foot-long, steel-hulled sailboat which ran aground on a reef off Kure Atoll approximately four years ago.

The atoll, part of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, is located on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands near Midway Island. Monument managers enlisted the support of 17 Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 1 divers and the Safeguard-class rescue and salvage ship USNS Salvor (T-ARS 52) to salvage the sailing vessel, Grendel.

"This was an opportunity for us to gain real-world training and salvage experience, and while we were gaining this experience there was an environmental benefit for the state of Hawaii," said MDSU-1 Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Thomas Murphy. "It's smaller for a job that we normally do. But each salvage operation comes with different challenges that we need to overcome."

One of the challenges that the divers came across during the operation was that the vessel had accumulated a lot of sand.

The SV Grendel was last seen with its solo captain in Fiji in October 2006. The wreckage of the boat was discovered in about 10 feet of water in June 2007.

Scott Godwin, a resource protection specialist for Papahânaumokuâkea Marine National Monument, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, led the project, guided MDSU-1 to the SV Grendel and provided oversight as divers removed large quantities of sand and debris from the sailboat and began attaching lift bags to the hull.

After the boat was refloated, it was towed into deeper water and lifted by crane onto the deck of Salvor.

Salvor is operated by the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command and has a crew of 30 civilian and Navy personnel. Salvor, en route to her base of operations in Pearl Harbor, stopped at Midway and Kure Atolls for the salvage mission on her return from a six-month deployment in the Western Pacific.

"This is not only an outstanding example of governmental and private-sector cooperation, but provides a tangible outcome that will prevent degradation of pristine reef environments in Papahânaumokuâkea Marine National Monument and furthers the commitment to reuse and recycle" said Godwin.

MDSU-1 used this opportunity to practice their salvaging as an innovative readiness training evolution, which allow for improvements in military readiness while providing quality services to the community.

"The whole job was a really great experience," said Navy Diver 2nd Class (DSW) Clinton Self, a member of the MDSU-1 team. "We had a lot of learning curves. We also had a great opportunity to help out with the environment on the Kure Atoll."

The MDSU-1 divers not only salvaged the sailboat, they volunteered to help clean up the environment around the Kure Atoll. The divers assisted the Monument managers by collecting derelict fishing nets and debris from the docks and outlying waters. They also helped in pulling intrusive weeds that were brought into the island. MDSU-1 collected more than 9,000 pounds of nets, debris and weeds off of Kure Atoll.

Murphy said that an important part in MDSU-1's mission is looking into the environmental considerations when they do a job like this. He said that for the team to accomplish their mission, clothing and equipment were sprayed, frozen and quarantined in order to protect the island from foreign substances to the atoll.

MDSU-1 provides combat ready, expeditionary, rapidly deployable mobile, diving and salvage capabilities to conduct harbor clearance, salvage, underwater search and recovery, and underwater emergency repairs in any environment.