Posted on 11/12/2013 3:34:37 AM PST by SWAMPSNIPER
On an October morning back in 1973 I looked out across Salt Run and Conch Island and saw the superstructure of a ship towering over all.
The beach in that area was quickly closed to the public but I was driving my 57 VW Beetle and made a run up the west side of Conch Island where I found a sand dune to perch on.
The old Beetle ran oversize tires and I'd installed the cooling shroud and fan from a VW bus, the rig would go just about anywhere.
I watched the salvage operation as much as could, never believed they could pull it off, but they surprised me. The power of the tugboat was amazing!
http://keywestmaritime.org/journal/v14-3_2004-spring.pdf
http://keywestmaritime.org/journal/v14-4_2004-summer.pdf
http://keywestmaritime.org/journal/v14-2_2003-winter.pdf
http://keywestmaritime.org/journal/v14-3_2004-spring.pdf
http://keywestmaritime.org/journal/v14-4_2004-summer.pdf
I have always been interested in salvage operations, what we did at Pearl Harbor was damned impressive, but for a really interesting salvage with political connotations and even some humorous (though embarrassing for the US Navy) I always found the grounding of the USS Missouri fascinating.
Grounding of the USS Missouri in 1950
BFL
RADM Homer Wallin was the officer in charge of the USS Missouri salvage. He is the same officer that lead the salvage operations in Pearl Harbor after the Japanese attack.
I did some research on the CABLE, she was ARS-19, had an impressive history with the Navy.
Fascinating story about the Missouri. Skipper with a serious case of recto-cranial inversion IMO....
On one of television’s documentaries about either the Missouri or Wisconsin years ago they had a guy on who said that he was at the helm of the Missouri when thee Captain give the order to change course[I can’t recall the degrees or whether it was right or left] . He said he responded with,” Sir, there are shoals there” The Captain replied, “I have given you an order and I expect you to carry it out.” Aye, Aye Sir and over the wheel went. We were making 20 knots.
There was a whole book written about it, and it went into gory detail...yes...recto-cranial inversion is right on. The helmsman, who was familiar with the area, knew they were going on the wrong side of the buoy, tried to warn him once, got icy silence in return, waited a little longer, tried again and got slapped down.
Dumb ass Captain got what he deserved.
Very cool...I looked it up. For some reason, I looked at her and said “I’ll bet she served in the Pacific...”
I don’t know why, but given how many ships were there, I had a better than average chance of being correct.
In any case, very interesting stuff.
The shoal they ran on was gooey, slick mud on a very, very gentle grade.
When they hit that at 15-20 knots, they had no idea they were going aground. There was no shudder, no grinding, no noise, they didn’t even decelerate where anyone could tell the ship was slowing down.
The first indication they had was the condenser intakes got blocked with mud, and the screws were throwing up mud.
Then they stopped, and were stuck fast.
Amazing.
I understand there is a book out somewhere about him...I have to try to find it.
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