Demolition of ship led to disaster

The Columbian ^ | 2/4/2011 | Eric Robinson

[Bean Counter]

(Camas, Washington) The ugly demise of the beached and broken Davy Crockett, now the subject of a multimillion-dollar federal recovery effort, unfolded only after years of neglect.

The former Liberty ship has languished for almost two decades along the north bank of the Columbia River between Vancouver and Camas. At one point, a former owner warned the U.S. Coast Guard that the 431-foot vessel appeared to be at risk of coming loose from its mooring and careening into the nearby shipping channel.

However, little changed except the vessel’s ownership.

By the end of last year, benign neglect evolved to active dismantling.

*SNIP*

[Bean Counter]

This photo provided by a man who said he worked for Davy Crockett owner Brett Simpson of Ellensburg show workers dismantling the former Liberty Ship late last year.


When they do this in Pakistan, at least they beach the vessel first...

Think about what would happen if you went outside and removed all of the siding from your house, then stripped off all the sheet rock from the inside of the same wall, and then began removing every other 2x4.

How long until the roof collapses?? Same concept at work here.

What really fries me is that the "authorities" have known about this derelict for years, and had any one of them followed up and done their jobs any time over the last 18 years, the former USS Davey Crockett would have long ago been legally converted into razor blades.

This article is a good read on how outrageously incompetent any number of Federal and inter-state governmental agencies have been about doing the jobs they are paid to do. You cannot abandon a car on the street for 18 years, how can you abandon a derelict full of hazmat on a major waterway?

The worse news is that there may be at least 2 more like this one on the lower Columbia. No telling how many there are that nobody knows about.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I’m surprised they allow dismantling before asbestos removal.

[Bean Counter]

That’s the point...they were not allowed to be doing any of this.

[Bitsy]

Federal and inter-state governmental agencies have been about doing the jobs they are paid to do.

What! You are supposed to actually do the work you were paid for in a government job? Well, forget it - I am withdrawing my sesumes:)

[Abathar]

Prices for clean iron scrap is about $360/ton right now in 10 ton+ deliveries. A couple of guys with torches who know what they are doing and a rented crane can easily make some beer money fast. Cut out the easy prime weight and leave the rest for someone else to deal with.

[sit-rep]

just pull it out to sea and use it as target practice...

[null and void]

We will have none of that vitriolic discourse here!

[onedoug]

I think it´s the ¨SS¨ Davy Crockett. They were crewed principally by civilians.

[ericsvibe]

This is a problem in all of the states. Next to my favorite fishing hole is a 47 ft motor yacht that some yahoo ran aground in the 70’s. The former owner removed the engines and running gear, and left the hull there. Since it is made of figerglass is isnt going to decompose. It is on state land. The diesel tanks are about 25% full, and at this point the old fuel is just sludge. The state won’t do anything untill the fuel begins to leak. So they are going to wait for an ecological disaster before they will do anything....

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Was this a MSTS ship ?

[Robert A Cook PE]

just pull it out to sea and use it as target practice...

Nope.

Doing a “legal” SINKEX is even harder. You STILL have to remove all the hazmat, all the oil (and flush out the tanks and pipes), the asbestos, the electronics, the interiors, the ....

Heaven help us if we ever went to war. Filling out the enviro reports for all the sunken ships and destroyed airplanes off our coasts would bring the DoD and Coast Guard and Navy to a standstill.

[EODGUY]

RAC, you nailed this one.

My last few years in EOD were hampered by regulations that made it nearly impossible to get permission to use a location to counter-charge a recovered explosive device.

The only caveat was we could bypass the laborious “permission seeking” policy if we stated that immediate disposal of the device constituted an emergency.

About 90% of our calls were deemed “emergencies”.:)))

EODGUY

[sit-rep]

okay... let me paint you a win win scenario that just may work...

drag it “far enough” out. Blow the dust off a stashed daisey cutter. Remove the extention rod, outfit it with laser guidance and bingo presto! No more ship and hazmat, no more oil. and, we’d help get rid of those in humane mega bombs!

I’m happy with that outcome... (leaning back, feet proped up on desk, lighting a smoke....)

Just make sure we get it on video!

[Robert A Cook PE]

Quick! Lock your doors. Seal the exits. Step very, very quietly away from the windows. Turn off thelights, and slooowly lay down on the floor.

You are obviously smoking indoors, have actually confessed to doing so in public, and Reno/Napolitano/Obama’s cops will around shortly to conclude the process of ridding society of your fiendish, extremist ilk.

[sit-rep]

fine... f i ... if that be the case then out with the heavy artillery... if i gotta go, then let it be suicide by the one lucky cop!

[MileHi]

Ha! They best check their flank, never know where Carl Drega may be lurking...

Press on!

[sit-rep]

lol... I wonder if they'd write a book about me? The Ballad of Sit-Rep... Has a nice ring to it me thinks...