USS Guardian has run aground
- Thread starter ManilaBoy45
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Re: US military news thread
See for a good description on how they did this by the Military Sea Lift Command who contracted the Norwegian Heavy Seal Lift Vessel, Blue Marlin, to do the job.
But they have to get it into deeper water so that ship can submerse the deck the Guardian will rest on underneath the vessel and then release ballast to lift it up.
So, the Mustin (or some other capable vessel) will have to pull it off the reef, and then they would submerge the deck, move it under the Guardian, blow ballast and lift the deck with the Guardian on it...and then off they go.
They will have to pull the Guardian off the reef before they can get it on the larger vessel. it's a ship like they used to bring the USS Cole home after it was attacked in Yemen. See this pic:
See for a good description on how they did this by the Military Sea Lift Command who contracted the Norwegian Heavy Seal Lift Vessel, Blue Marlin, to do the job.
But they have to get it into deeper water so that ship can submerse the deck the Guardian will rest on underneath the vessel and then release ballast to lift it up.
So, the Mustin (or some other capable vessel) will have to pull it off the reef, and then they would submerge the deck, move it under the Guardian, blow ballast and lift the deck with the Guardian on it...and then off they go.
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Re: US military news thread
Half a century ago merchant ships were always getting into trouble and large tug owners, two of them Dutch, had tugs stationed all around the world, and certainly in Singapore. The Singapore tug would have been there days ago. Unfortunately for USS Guardian merchant shipping is now much safer so this service has discontinued.
Half a century ago merchant ships were always getting into trouble and large tug owners, two of them Dutch, had tugs stationed all around the world, and certainly in Singapore. The Singapore tug would have been there days ago. Unfortunately for USS Guardian merchant shipping is now much safer so this service has discontinued.
joshuatree
Captain
Re: US military news thread
Considering Subic Bay isn't that far away, I'm sure there must be a tug capable for the job close enough to have reached the location by now. I don't think that is holding up the salvage operation. I have a hunch it's more red tape than anything at this point - ie "get the ship off the reef but don't damage the reef any more". A tall order considering getting the ship off surely will grind the reef just a little more.
Considering Subic Bay isn't that far away, I'm sure there must be a tug capable for the job close enough to have reached the location by now. I don't think that is holding up the salvage operation. I have a hunch it's more red tape than anything at this point - ie "get the ship off the reef but don't damage the reef any more". A tall order considering getting the ship off surely will grind the reef just a little more.
Re: US military news thread
The USN has contracted two "lift ships" ships based in Singapore to lift the Guardian off the reef. While this article states an attempt to de-fuel the ship was unsucessful ABC news reported this morning she has been defueled.
The USN has contracted two "lift ships" ships based in Singapore to lift the Guardian off the reef. While this article states an attempt to de-fuel the ship was unsucessful ABC news reported this morning she has been defueled.
I have no clue. However delft may.
The news is clearly incomplete. A heavy lift ship is a ship that can be sunk until her main deck is at a considerable depth so some heavy load can be floated into position and lifted by pumping out the ballast from the ship. As they talk about two heavy lift ships I imaging the other will bring, and take away again, a floating crane. ( You might use a tug to bring the crane, Dutch built cranes and other awkward vessels were taken to Indonesia by tug when it was still a Dutch colony, but that is clearly less safe and, importantly, much slower at 2 or 3 kts rather than the 15 kts or there about of the heavy lift ship. In this case the crane will be rigged, and the Dutch cranes I mentioned were only rigged after they had arrived ). I wonder what the depth of water will be the crane works in. Or can she be allowed to stand on legs, damaging the reef only locally?
You want to take out all fuel, they are trying to do that now. You pump overboard nearly all drinking water, take off all heavy gear and put it on a barge ( Is the other heavy lift ship bringing the barge ? ). Close the breaches in the hull as well as possible, by tarpaulins on the outside or plugs on the inside and pump out as much sea water as possible. If she then doesn't yet float use you might use the crane to assist but that seem to me a rather desperate measure.
What I describe might well take two weeks, if the weather allows it. I wonder if faster results had been achieved if one or more supply vessels had been hired from an oil company that is drilling in the neighborhood. Flotation bags might have been delivered by military transport plane directly to the reef. Let's hope we'll learn which options they considered and how they made their choice.
You want to take out all fuel, they are trying to do that now. You pump overboard nearly all drinking water, take off all heavy gear and put it on a barge ( Is the other heavy lift ship bringing the barge ? ). Close the breaches in the hull as well as possible, by tarpaulins on the outside or plugs on the inside and pump out as much sea water as possible. If she then doesn't yet float use you might use the crane to assist but that seem to me a rather desperate measure.
What I describe might well take two weeks, if the weather allows it. I wonder if faster results had been achieved if one or more supply vessels had been hired from an oil company that is drilling in the neighborhood. Flotation bags might have been delivered by military transport plane directly to the reef. Let's hope we'll learn which options they considered and how they made their choice.
After sleeping on it, I imagine that as the ship was laying initially any oil rig supply vessel might have pulled her off, if necessary using her ground tackle. If I'm wrong the supply vessel would have provided the Guardian with anchors to prevent her turning square to the waves and damaging herself and the reef in the process.
The compensation for the rescue of the ship by a supply vessel might be something like 10% of her value and USN might have balked at showing the bill to Congress especially if the vessel were to be Chinese. The total bill is now likely to be higher.
The compensation for the rescue of the ship by a supply vessel might be something like 10% of her value and USN might have balked at showing the bill to Congress especially if the vessel were to be Chinese. The total bill is now likely to be higher.
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