Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It has been well over a week since crews at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park began efforts to recover the USS The Sullivans after the 79-year-old vessel suffered a breach to her hull and began listing to the right.
Earlier this week, the hope was for divers to hit the water on Tuesday to get started with assessing the outside walls of the vessel and finding where the destroyer had suffered damage. However, inclement weather forced the postponement of the mission.
Luckily for crews at the Naval Park on Wednesday and Thursday, Mother Nature started cooperating, which allowed for divers to finally take to the Buffalo Harbor to get a first look at the hull of the Sullivans.
"We were heavily able to focus on assessment," said Sector Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Buffalo Sector on Thursday, Cpt. Lexia Littlejohn. "We got about a third of the way down the ship with the divers. They were able to kind of see what was going on with the hull. ... We need to be able to do that in order to re-float and repair the vessel. That's why we put a lot of focus today on assessing the vessel."
As divers were able to assess the condition of the ship, as she partially sat at the bottom of the Buffalo River, they were able to plug six holes in the hull, according to Cpt. Littlejohn. In addition, as of 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, more than 11,400 gallons of water had been pumped from the bow of the ship. That allowed the bow to sit six inches off the bottom of the river.
Before crews start to evaluate the condition of the inside of the USS The Sullivans, Cpt. Littlejohn says divers need to assess the complete outside of the ship. That will be the primary focus, as the team gets ready to continue its evaluation heading into the weekend.
"Following that, we're going to be working with T&T salvage to improve the model that they have," Cpt. Littlejohn continued. "So they're utilizing all this data that the divers give them to create the model, which will then allow us to determine when they perform actions on the vessel to re-float it, what's going to happen - is the vessel going to move? Is it going to shift? Is water going to come in from here or there? So assessment and getting more information for the model."
Earlier in the week, Cpt. Littlejohn was not sure of a timetable for the possibility of crews at the Buffalo Naval Park being able to re-float and right the ship in the Buffalo Harbor.
Related
However, with the progress already made since Wednesday and the expected ground to be covered over the weekend, Cpt. Littlejohn is slowly starting to get a better picture of a possible timeline to right the Sullivans.
"I think I'm still estimating on the order of weeks as a timeline. I think once T&T's senior naval architect gets here [Friday] and gives his assessment of things, finishes the model over this coming weekend, I think we'll have a better idea for you. Probably Monday on that timeline."
One key factor that will greatly benefit crews over the next few days of this mission is the change of the weather.
"The weather is a huge factor," Cpt. Littlejohn stated. "When it was pretty windy, the water level actually rose. That affects our ability to be able to conduct the response, conduct the re-float and repair operations. So we're monitoring the weather daily, and I believe we're getting a good weather window coming up here. We're hopeful that we can make even more progress than we have made already."
Not only are temperatures expected to continue to climb heading into Sunday, with highs expected to creep close to 80 degrees, the chances for precipitation decrease and winds will start to die down. Cpt. Littlejohn says the more ideal the weather conditions are, the more that can get accomplished in the waters.
"If we get a four-day weather window here coming up, I think we should have made significant progress by Monday," she said.
In addition to the work beginning on the outside of the USS The Sullivans, crews continue to work hard to remove oil and other contaminants from the vessel, but also the waters of the Buffalo River.
As of 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, 7,510 gallons of oily waste and nine cubic yards of oily debris have been removed from the Buffalo Harbor. In addition, the containment boom around the stern of the ship has been tightened, which has allowed for the Liberty Hound patio to be opened again.
As for the ship's condition, she continues to remain stable, listing at 15.4 degrees to the starboard side.