Stern of Cheonan Being Salvaged
Sheared Part of Cheonan Being Salvaged(inside red circle)
Posted on 04/12/2010 7:27:07 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
(LEAD) S. Korea moves sunken ship's rear closer to coast
SEOUL, April 12 (Yonhap) -- Workers moved the rear part of a sunken naval vessel closer to the coast Monday, as high wind and waves were feared to further complicate ongoing operations to salvage the warship that sank near the sea border with North Korea last month, military and private salvage company officials said.
A team of military and civilian divers has been battling strong currents in the Yellow Sea for more than a week to hoist up the 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan that was torn in two by a mysterious explosion on March 26. Among the 104 shipmates, two have been found dead, while 44 remain missing.
According to the officials, the rear of the ship, where many of the missing crew members are believed to be trapped, was towed about 4.6 kilometers toward the coast of Baengnyeong Island to prepare for the onset of further bad weather.
The ship sank in 45-meter-deep water at a location about 1.8km southwest of Baengnyeong Island. It is the closest South Korean island to North Korea's west coast, which is lined with short-range missile launchers and long-range artillery.
After the relocation operation, the Cheonan's stern is about 25m under the sea, said the officials, adding the broken ship could be lifted above the sea next week at the earliest, after further salvage preparations.
"Divers covered the ship's cut flank with a net to keep intact what is inside," an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The ill-fated warship blew apart near the tense sea border with North Korea, the scene of three bloody naval skirmishes in previous years, spawning speculation of an attack by the communist nation. Both Seoul and Washington have been cautious about raising such a possibility, however, with President Lee Myung-bak instructing investigators to be "open to all potential causes." North Korea's state media outlets have been silent on the incident.
After days of unsuccessful rescue operations, military divers had shifted efforts to linking chains and hoisting up the hull of the sunken vessel above water for investigation.
Experts and officials have mentioned a torpedo as one of several possible causes, as well as floating sea mines, an internal explosion, "metal fatigue" and a collision with a reef.
Survivors say a powerful blast knocked over the ship and that they smelled gas, with the rear of the vessel disappearing out of sight less than a minute later.
They are all hoping that it was just SK navy's snafu. They are all scared what taking on NK for its provocation would entail.
Judging from this reaction, I say Chia Head is laughing out loud, if he really did it. People love to claim that he is just a loon, but he believes he knows how to scare lots of folks outside his country, including some important ones. Apparently it is working.
So who is to say that he is crazy to pick this moment to do this if this is true?
Many loved to believe that it was due to old mine floating around and got 'lucky.' Or munition explosion, hitting a rock, or ship just broke in half due to metal fatigue. Or even friendly fire. Most of them are spewed by pro-NK shills. However, there are people who are supposedly on our side, doing that, too.
About SK's old mines, stories from military are that what they had over there were modified depth charges placed close to the shore to deter landing of NK troops some three or four decades ago. They were wired to the switch on the shore. They were set to detonate by electric charge through wires, and with those wired no longer connected, it is said to be extremely unlikely that they would explode on their own.
There are many people who would rather ignore NK involvement. SK and U.S. political leadership worrying about economic repercussions. It could even crash Wall St. as well as Asia's financial markets. Then there are some elements in the military who are uncomfortable with the possible conclusion that NK submarines or commando crews beat their surveillance system and successfully conducted its operation.
While investigation is still on-going, many outside SK are hoping that this was dumb SK navy shooting their foot, while many inside SK hoping that the finding would be inconclusive.
Sure they can prove that the ship was destroyed by an explosion under the keel, finding the cause of the explosion is quite another thing.
Worn out or maybe loose wiring led to a spark in the fuel tank.
Two blue arrow:
left -- fire control system
right -- 40 mm gun
No fire or smoke reported before the sinking.
It broke in half and went down pretty fast.
It might even be that somebody seniors goes up secretly and backchannels from Seoul to Pyongyang and says "Look. We know you did it. Cease and desist. We are not going to war over this one because it will cost you and us dearly. But there can be no guarantees if there is a repeat of this." And then just a cover up from both sides on it. I believe that is how it may be going at this point.
Now some will use this incident to revive some version of 'God d*mn' sunshine policy.
.
Yup!
We must not forget the Chinese involvement on the side of NK. The PRC would most certainly become involved as they did before with NK on their border.
Nobody wants to rock the PRC boat today.
The results of all of this will be quite frustrating IMO.
That is a most impressive barge crane. Just awesome.
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