Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The naval destroyer ship parked on Buffalo's waterfront, USS The Sullivans, is nearing a solution for a more permanent fix.
Having just recently celebrated the 80th anniversary of the ship's christening, coupled with funding and support from all over the country, it is evident that the park's utmost priority is figuring out the best way to go forward in making this ship as sturdy as she can be.
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"We are still in the process to make sure that we can preserve [the ship] for generations to come," said Paul Marzello, President and CEO of the Buffalo Naval and Military Park.
"Right now it's in the hands of the naval surveyor who is preparing that report, we will present that report to our board of directors sometime before the end of May. At that point, we'll submit that to the City of Buffalo for their approval, and then it'll come back and we'll announce that to the public. My estimate would be sometime around mid-June."
Marzello says the surveyor is also putting numbers together to estimate the potential costs for taking the ship to a dry dock or other alternative solutions.
"Whether it's a tugging service, whether it's the dry docking services, whether it's anything that needs to be done to the ship in preparation for her departure, or upon her return."
We think that's going to take upwards of seven months to repair her hull. And when she comes back, we want to make sure that she comes into a berth that's going to be permanent, and that we can make sure that we can preserve her for generations," said Marzello
Marzello says dry docking the ship in Erie, Pennsylvania is still a possibility to have not only patchwork done, but steel replaced for The Sullivans. Marzello says it can be done. However, Marzello has some prioritized concerns.
"[It] has everything to do with price and availability. Certain dry docks aren't open when we would like them to be open so we can get the ship in and out in a timely manner. Some of them, the costs have just been exorbitant, or certainly higher than the other competitive quotes that are already coming in. So it's a matter of making sure that we have the specifications to the drydocking and making sure that what we can afford and in a timely manner that we can get the ship back here for us to enjoy."
There have also been discussions of building what is known as a cofferdam which is what Marzello describes as "a wall basically around the ship, kind of creating a bathtub kind of effect." That could present challenges, he says, when the ship needs to be dry docked for future repairs.
"If you build a cofferdam around the ship, the ship is locked into that cofferdam. When she needs to be drydock again, whether it's 20, 30, or 40 years from now, that cofferdam would have to come down. [There] is an option where you could build a series of doors or gateways, much like you would have in the lock system, but it becomes extremely expensive to put in a lock system here just to get the ships out every 20 years or so. So we have looked at it, we're putting price tags together, but we're not ready to reveal anything at this point."
There is still some damage to the other vessels, the USS Croaker and the USS Little Rock, that the park will continue to have to monitor and fix as well.
"There is going to be some sort of long range plan for the Croaker after we get finish work with The Sullivans. Little Rock is in the best of shape, because her hull is made with a lot thicker steel. So we're not as concerned, but at some point, we're gonna have to take a look at her as well," Marzello says.