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USS Grapple Clears Shipping Lanes in Mobile Bay

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS050922-07
Release Date: 9/22/2005 12:23:00 PM

By Journalist 1st Class Jim Bane, U.S. Fleet Forces Command Public Affairs

PENSACOLA, Fla. (NNS) -- The salvage ship USS Grapple (ARS 53) worked most of September to open critical shipping lanes in Mobile Bay in support of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts.

The ship received orders Aug. 30 to move to the area affected by Hurricane Katrina, where it supported Department of Defense and Federal Emergency Management Agency operations.

Grapple got underway Aug. 31 after on-loading a mobile diving and salvage detachment. After arriving in Pascagoula, Miss., the ship was rerouted to inspect a higher priority item believed to be in the Mobile River in Alabama.

Sept. 6, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Army Corps of Engineers survey boats located an obstruction in the Mobile River.

“The obstruction was located near the center of the channel, limiting the shipping channel to approximately 28 feet of clearance in a normally 40-foot channel,” said Grapple Executive Officer Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Braun. The obstruction was determined to be a hazard to navigation, according Braun.

Two days later, Grapple arrived in Mobile and was tasked to remove the hazard. After anchoring in position above the hazard, ship divers located and rigged the obstruction as shipping traffic moved by them on both sides. The obstruction was raised with a 40-ton boom and placed on the pier in Mobile.

The hazard was a range marker approximately 25 feet long and 12 feet wide that was destroyed and sunk by Hurricane Katrina.

Grapple’s quick response enabled the uninterrupted use of the oil terminals and the coal terminal at Three Mile Creek, according to Braun.

Grapple’s next task involved an obstruction at the entrance to Mobile Bay.

All of the oil supertankers going into the Port of Mobile were forced to lighten their load by offloading fuel to smaller ships, allowing them access to shallower lanes, according to Braun. The delay was a costly and time-consuming process.

Grapple divers began operations Sept. 10 to correct this. The obstruction was located in the center of the channel Sept. 11 and brought on board. The obstruction was another navigational aid that had been washed into the channel by Hurricane Katrina.

Back in the Mobile River, two vessels were found sitting hard aground and resting on the beach. Grapple was asked to do a survey to determine the stability of the vessels and to see if they could be re-floated.

“We could actually run our small boats up under the bottom of these boats. We even saw a couple of alligators,” Braun said. “One of the two vessels had a 23-foot draft. The area where the boat was beached had a depth of 16ft. It was determined that a dredging operation would be necessary to re-float the vessel.”

Sept. 14, Grapple moved to an area off the coast known as the Louisiana Offshore Oil Platform to provide assistance there before heading to Naval Air Station Pensacola to avoid Hurricane Rita. “In the event Rita does any damage, we may be recalled to continue our operations,” said Braun.

Grapple has a crew of seven officers and 107 enlisted men and women. The ship’s mission is combat salvage and recovery, off-ship firefighting, emergency towing and at-sea firefighting. Grapple’s homeport is Little Creek, Va.