U.S. Navy may OK attempt to raise Japanese ship

Jill Waddle, top, and retired Air Force officer Dan Waddle, bottom, say Scott Waddle is contrite    WEB EXCLUSIVE Martin Savidge: Waddle's family worried about sub skipper's fate

Dutch company says lifting vessel is possible

In this story: Navy lacks equipment Heavy lifting RELATED STORIES, SITES

From CNN National Security Producer Chris Plante

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Navy will hire a Dutch salvage company to raise from the ocean floor a Japanese ship sunk in a collision with a U.S. submarine, official sources told CNN on Monday.

Officials were expected to announce later this week they would give the Dutch company the go-ahead to lift the 185-foot Ehime Maru from 2,000 feet of water.

The U.S. submarine USS Greeneville was practicing an emergency surfacing maneuver for 16 civilians on a demonstration cruise when it hit the Ehime Maru on February 9.

VIDEO CNN's Martin Savidge talks with the wife and father of Cmdr. Scott Waddle of the U.S.S. Greenville Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Nine people, including four high school students aboard the Japanese vessel on a training project, were killed. Rescuers picked up 26 other people, including nine students.

Navy officials believe the bodies of the nine who were killed may still be trapped inside the sunken ship.

Japanese government officials and family members of the nine people -- still officially listed as "missing" -- have strongly pressed the United States to make every effort to recover their bodies. The Ehime Maru is resting on its keel, nearly upright in 2,033 feet of water, the Navy has said.

Navy lacks equipment

Dutch deep-sea salvage experts told U.S. Navy officials it was technically possible to lift the ship to the surface, or at least close enough to the surface to be reached by divers, Defense Department and industry sources told CNN.

It is impossible for divers to operate at depths of 2,000 feet because of the immense pressure.

Although an official decision to go ahead with a recovery operation has not yet been made, Navy officials told CNN that they would conduct the operation if it were deemed to be "technically feasible."

Officials who asked they not be identified said that an announcement of a decision to go ahead is expected within the "next several days," barring any unforeseen delays.

U.S. Navy officials were briefing concerned parties on Monday about the details of the proposed recovery operation. Those parties include Japanese government officials, state officials in Hawaii and federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, which would have to sign off on such an operation, the sources said.

The U.S. Navy does not own the equipment required for such an operation and was compelled to hire a private company to examine the possibility of raising the ship.

Heavy lifting

Defense sources and a spokesman for the Dutch company Smit-Tak told CNN the operation would entail using remotely operated deep-sea vehicles to set up air hoses that would blast open channels beneath the hull of the 500-ton Ehime Maru. Steel cables would then be fed beneath the keel, followed by giant straps.

The straps would cradle the hull, lifting the ship slowly from the ocean floor with powerful hoists aboard salvage craft on the surface, officials said.

Smit-Tak, which is part of the Netherlands-based Smit International, is expected to be in charge of the effort, Navy officials said.

Contacted by CNN at its headquarters in Rotterdam, Smit spokesman Cees Bom said that such an operation has "never been done before" and "not from this depth."

Bom said that Smit International is the "leading maritime salvage company in the world" and was founded in 1842. He said that "there is a lot of extra engineering required," and "it is impossible to say" how soon the operation would be undertaken since some equipment may have to be designed and built specifically for the project.

Asked if there was a cost estimate available for the venture, Bom said, "Not at this stage."

Sub skipper's family speaks out about collision
March 11, 2001
Court of inquiry watches simulation of sub's periscope sweep
March 9, 2001
Sub skipper's lawyer disputes Navy's report of collision
March 7, 2001

U.S. Coast Guard
Japanese Prime Minister
CINCPACFLT :: USS Greeneville (SSN 772) incident
City of Uwajima's memorial site
U.S. Navy
 • CINCPACFLT statement on the USS Greeneville incident
 • Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet
 • USS Greeneville
National Transportation Safety Board

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