USS Sullivans is Sinking!

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

1 hour ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Yup!  Been sitting in mud while mouth of river silting up!  As the economy shrunk in BFLo... No doubt did the project depth with lack of traffic.  I wouldn't be surprised if they just don't dredge it anymore deeper. 18' plenty for the business it does! 

 

They will do the yearly soundings... 

 

Skyway coming down... Nothing big going through there.

 

Figure... That's high hydraulic flow there are mouth of river, Lake Erie/Niagara... 

 

Which leaves me with... If both boats were both stuck in mud on bottom for years..Years... How did they start taking on water?  Lack of funds, maintainers, maintenance?  Volunteers? Bad pumps???

 

Lack of maintenance, probably.  And unlike the North Carolina, no Navy to tell them "fix it or scrap it."

[ExiledInIllinois]

10 minutes ago, Crap Throwing Monkey said:

 

Lack of maintenance, probably.  And unlike the North Carolina, no Navy to tell them "fix it or scrap it."

Yeah....Metal structure, underwater... No regs to tell then to monitor and evaluate.  Even with us, infrastructure... They know it's happening  (we're actually 90% metal structure)... But they have the inspection records,  etc... through years... Just hopefully they get the money before something ruptures (which in coming years will take place).

 

Volunteer organizations totally have hands tied. 

 

Something like these ships, aging albatross. 

 

I would be all for infrastructure money going to stuff like this!

[Fansince88]

1 hour ago, Crap Throwing Monkey said:

 

Also helps that, with the North Carolina, the Navy gave a shit: they told the powers-that-be in 2009 that the North Carolina had to be repaired or scrapped, since she hadn't seen a dry dock in 50 years.

 

The cofferdam you saw is pretty recent.  They're still in the process of fixing the Showboat.

Forgot what that was called. Thanks. Teak isnt easy to come by that old. Did they know you took it? Was being sold?

[Spartacus]

1 hour ago, Ann said:

I read that they are pumping out 13k gallons of water per minute

 

 

 

they'll spend more money in a week on a futile PR rescue ploy, 

than if they had actually paid for periodic maintenance 

[RochesterRob]

1 hour ago, Crap Throwing Monkey said:

 

Have you seen what they had to do for the Oklahoma, though?  They'd have to tear apart the naval park to set that up, even for something as small as The Sullivans.

 

 

I have other pictures of that equipment, up close.  They were massive.

 

Plus, Oklahoma was outboard, and capsized away from the land.  The Sullivans is actually a different situation.  You'd have to rotate it in the opposite direction of land.  

 

If I had to guess...they're going to have to put floats on the lower side of the ship, and try to winch against the buoyancy of the floats.  If the Little Rock weren't there, it'd be a much easier problem.  But with the Little Rock where it is, I'm not even sure they have enough space to cofferdam and pump out the ship, like they did with California and West Virginia at Pearl Harbor.  

  Like I said before they would have to cantilever from the lake side with Little Rock out of the way if possible.  Depends on the soils and bedrock in the vicinity.  If my memory is any good I believe that the navy tried to cantilever Utah but the wreck would not grab bottom to start it coming up to level.  Also, 7 torpedoes ripped almost the entire port side of Oklahoma out so they could only move it a couple degrees per day as not to over stress what was left of the ship.  I still wish that Pennsylvania could have been saved versus being used in the Bikini Atoll tests.  

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

1 hour ago, Fansince88 said:

Forgot what that was called. Thanks. Teak isnt easy to come by that old. Did they know you took it? Was being sold?

 

Sold.  Have a certificate of authenticity that came with it.

 

Probably helped finance the maintenance, I'd think.

[Fansince88]

12 minutes ago, Crap Throwing Monkey said:

 

Sold.  Have a certificate of authenticity that came with it.

 

Probably helped finance the maintenance, I'd think.

That will make a beautiful pen. That said, be very careful! 

[Fansince88]

3 hours ago, Crap Throwing Monkey said:

 

 

More seriously...that's a 20-degree list or greater with the main deck awash, and inboard of the Little Rock, which is stuck in the mud and can't be moved?  I don't know how they're recovering that ship.  

Meanwhile one of the replies, "can a crane lift it"? really? 

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

1 minute ago, Fansince88 said:

Meanwhile one of the replies, "can a crane lift it"? really? 

 

https://scarlet-tech.com/2020/08/31/worlds-biggest-strongest-crane/

 

The Sullivans probably weighs in at a shade under 2,000 tons.  There's literally only three cranes in the world that could lift it.

 

Frankly, I'm amazed there's even three.

[Fansince88]

2 minutes ago, Crap Throwing Monkey said:

 

https://scarlet-tech.com/2020/08/31/worlds-biggest-strongest-crane/

 

The Sullivans probably weighs in at a shade under 2,000 tons.  There's literally only three cranes in the world that could lift it.

 

Frankly, I'm amazed there's even three.

Very sad to see a part of history suffer this fate. Hope they can do something but as you said, will be tough. 

 As far as the cranes go, never that simple right? Weight of the ship, water and chance of snapping it in half anyway. 

Edited April 15, 2022 by Fansince88

[Sherpa]

The Moskva then this?

I'm betting it was "loose lips."

[Ann]

WWII Navy ship partially sinks in Buffalo, dewatering efforts continue
 

Rescue efforts are underway to save a decommissioned World War II-era Naval vessel partially submerged in New York waters.
 

The historic USS The Sullivans took on water and partially sunk at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, according to the US Coast Guard Buffalo Sector.
 

Officials said the 78-year-old ship suffered a breach near the middle of the ship as its right side tilted into Lake Erie on Thursday.
 

The US Coast Guard said more than 3 million gallons of water flooded the historic ship.
 

</snip>
 

New York Gov. and Buffalo native Kathy Hochul said emergency services are prepared to save the “symbol of perseverance,” which has served as a museum ship since 1977.
 

“The USS The Sullivans is a tribute to our heroes — to a family that lost all five of its sons in the Pacific, and to the 400,000 Americans who died fighting in World War II,” Hochul said. “Our State agencies are on site and ready to help revive this treasure and symbol of perseverance.”
 

</snip>

[Ann]

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[Ann]

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[Ann]

This is the most submerged image I have seen:
 

 

[Koko]

21 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Which leaves me with... If both boats were both stuck in mud on bottom for years..Years... How did they start taking on water?  Lack of funds, maintainers, maintenance?  Volunteers? Bad pumps???

 

It may be a case of not running pumps. On the Erie Canal, ships are not permitted to run them, and it's BIG fine money if they're caught pumping any amount of oil/grease/whatever that bilge water may be contaminated with.

[Ann]

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[devnull]

21 hours ago, Sherpa said:

I'm betting it was "loose lips."

 

what does your mom have to do with this?

[Ann]

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[Ann]

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