Martin Savidge: Navy pressured to raise Japanese ship

Martin Savidge

Q: Please describe the pressures the Navy is under to recover the ship.

SAVIDGE: The Japanese families have remained here and say they will remain here until the vessel is actually retrieved from the ocean floor. They've been adamant that the ship needs to be brought to the surface. The U.S. Navy has never publicly committed to such a venture and it would be a daunting task. It is one thing to locate the ship more than 2,000 feet under water, it is another to actually lift a (180-foot) vessel back to the surface from that depth.

But there is a lot of political pressure coming from Japanese officials here in Hawaii and the family members and also Japanese leaders back home. The government is well aware of the political implications here. And they have been taking it, step-by-step. First it was, "Let's locate the vessel," -- that they've done. Now they're in the second step, "Let's survey the vessel," and from there, they're going to contemplate the task.

Let me give you an idea of how such a salvage effort would compare with previous salvages that the world is familiar with. For instance, TWA 800, the airliner that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. That plane actually fell to a depth of 125 feet. Egypt Air, which also went into the Atlantic, was discovered at a depth of 250 feet. And the Russian submarine that went down was found at 350 feet. The Ehime Maru is sitting at 2,000 feet. That is a far greater depth.

Q: What kind of equipment and personnel would be required for such a recovery mission?

SAVIDGE: That hasn't been fully explained to us because the U.S. Navy has shied away from the topic and isn't saying much about the possibility of raising the ship at all right now. There have been some commercial operations that have said that they have done similar work at a similar depth.

The only thing that we do know for certain is that it is at a location that is secure, and when it comes to Navy assets nearby, Pearl Harbor has a significant amount of personnel and equipment. But whether it is the right equipment for that job, it is not known. Questions such as how long it would take to bring in, and how long the equipment would be needed aren't really known at this particular point.

Q: What is the next step in the investigation process?

SAVIDGE: The next step is the preliminary report from the Navy's investigation. We had thought it was going to be released on Friday here in Hawaii and in fact there had been some noise from the Navy telling us to prepare for a possible press conference. But as the day wore on, that never materialized and we have not heard anything about that since.

I do believe it is possible that the report could have some significant insight into the fate of the commander. It's also possible that the Navy could determine a board of inquiry is necessary, or go even a step farther to something even more serious and that is immediately go into the process of court martial. The other aspect that would be looked upon is how greatly did the Navy see the presence of the civilians on board as possibly contributing to the tragedy. Were there so many people on board that perhaps distractions would have contributed in some way to the collision? Perhaps or perhaps not.

Q: Might the video from the undersea robot that discovered the wreckage of the Ehime Maru be released to the public?

SAVIDGE: There are three cameras that we know of on the ROV (remote operating vehicle) in addition to some very bright lights. Two black-and-white cameras and one color camera. The U.S. Navy says it has no plans to release that video, however. After it has been reviewed, the Navy will then pass the video on to the Japanese government via Japanese officials here in Hawaii. They will have the opportunity to review the video. It could be up to them whether they that video should be released.

Remote vehicle finds Japanese ship sunk by U.S. sub
February 17, 2001

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