Ocean Engineering, Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV)

Dry Habitat used to conduct rudder repairs is hoisted from the water

SUPSALV conducts repairs to USS DONALD COOK's Rudder

Rota, Spain. SUPSALV’s Underwater Ship Repair specialist, Neil Wolfe teams with Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center Repair Officer, LCDR Ben Hall, and a crew of contract welder-divers to conduct repairs to USS DONALD COOK’s (DDG 75) port rudder in a dry habitat. Pictured is the dry habitat being transferred from the water after repairs. 200909-N-LC447-002

NAVSEA salvage engineers took on the challenge of refloating of a Navy Lighterage System pontoon causeway at the United States Naval Academy this spring as an in-house task. After delivery of Emergency Ship Salvage Material (ESSM) patching and pumping equipment on 9 April, they constructed patches and dewatered the flooded and heavily damaged individual compartments. Left: the sunken causeway. Middle: NAVSEA Engineering Duty Officer divers and SUPSALV salvage division staff patch, blow air into, and pump water from some of the 45 compartments. Right: the fully floating causeway prepped for tow and removal on 22 April.

SUPSALV Underwater Ship Repair specialists, Russ Mallet, Neil Wolfe, and Jacob Nessel, along with a team of Navy divers from Mid Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center are supporting the removal and replacement of a Controllable Pitch Propeller (CPP) Hub on a DDG Class ship. Pictured above is the dry habitat being lowered into the water to support the hub removal as the MARMC divers wait to receive it. 200324-N-LC447-001

Gulf of Mexico Ops successful in advance of spring mission

The U.S. Navy completed 600fsw recertification dives in the Gulf of Mexico in November marking the completion of the reactivation of the Saturation Flyaway Diving System (SATFADS). The system, which is transportable via sea or air, allows divers to work at depths and duration beyond those achievable with surface supplied diving practices to support critical undersea missions. SATFADS first planned mission is supporting DPAA in recovering remains from the WWII B-24 Heaven Can Wait off Papua New Guinea.

Responding to a request from NSWC Carderock Division, Acoustic Research Detachment in Bayview, ID, SUPSALV was tasked to salvage a capsized research platform in Lake Pend Oreille. SUPSALV’s team towed the capsized Experimental Support Platform (ESP) to the pier, installed pulling levers to the bottom of the hull, assembled pulling winches and holdback anchor legs and conducted a parbuckle operation on 22 October. Following the parbuckle, the ESP was pumped dry, stabilized and turned over to the ARD for refurbishment.

U.S. Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving team working from a contracted diving support and construction vessel, located and recovered the fuselage of a downed C-2A Greyhound aircraft from the depth of 18,789 feet using the deep ocean remotely operated vehicle CURV 21. The aircraft, which was lost in November, 2017 was recovered at the request of Commander Pacific Fleet in order to facilitate the mishap investigation.

SUPSALV diver repairing USS Preble bearing

Pearl Harbor, HI. (27 December 2018) – Responding to a CNSP/PHNSY request, SUPSALV tasked Phoenix International with removing and replacing port and stbd main bearings on USS PREBLE (DDG 88). Phoenix diver pictured is Tyler Makepeace, using NAVSEA hydraulic impact wrench IW12. 181227-N-LC447-022

Habitat being lowered into the water to support repairs to USS CARNEY

ROTA SPAIN, (Jan 15 2019) SUPSALV Underwater Ship Repair specialist, Russ Mallet, along with a team of contract welder-divers are supporting Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center Rota by repairing damage to USS CARNEY’s (DDG 64) port rudder. Pictured above is the dry habitat being lowered into the water to support rudder plate repairs. 190113-N-LC447-001

181214-F-XK019-1002 - Tyndall AFB, FL - 14 DEC 2018. Salvage Engineers from NAVSEA Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) team with MDSU Two personnel to debeach a USAF Missile Retriever vessel which washed ashore during Hurricane Michael. In this image, the second day of salvage operations, the vessel is being pulled by the barge toward deep water with large roller bags under the keel easing it’s slide across the seabed.

180930-N-LC447-003. View of PRINZ EUGEN’s propellers extending above the surface while the U.S. Navy team conducts oil removal operations aboard USNS SALVOR and T/V HUMBER moored over the bow of the wreck. During the Aug – Oct 2018 operation, the joint Navy / Army team removed over 228K gallons of oil from the submerged hull.

SAN JUAN, PR. 11 JULY 2018 - Responding to a FEMA and USACE request, SUPSALV tasked their east coast salvage contractor, DONJON Marine, to install temporary pumping systems in 10 locations in Puerto Rico. This image, shows a segment of the Malaria installation (eastern San Juan) where 7 pumps are installed to ready to respond to flooding brought on by 2018 hurricanes.

EX-USS SHADWELL Disposal - Wreck in Place

MOBILE, AL (13 January 2018). Ex-USS SHADWELL decommissioned and used as a fire test ship by Naval Research Lab since 1988 shown as its hull had been pulled up onto the beach on Little Sand Island, Mobile AL. SUPSALV representative in foreground, responsible for disposing of the vessel, observing progress. The SUPSALV team completed the project on 19 February having removed 305 cubic yards (CY) of trash, 180 CY of asbestos, 75 tons of PCB containing material, and 4,556 tons of steel structure. 180113-N-LC447-004

Latest News

SUPSALV supports NATO missions by clearing sunken dredge barge from the Port of Alexandroupoli, Greece

This 4th section of Dredge Barge Olga was cut and lifted on 22 August and loaded on a trailer to be taken to the processing site. SUPSALV is supporting future NATO missions by clearing sunken barge in the port of Alexandroupoli, Greece.

Sept. 4, 2019 - Responding to a request from U.S. Naval Forces Europe and U.S. Army Europe to remove a sunken dredge

Young Relieves Lehnhardt as SUPSALV Director

Aug. 2, 2019 - WASHINGTON –Capt. Jay A. Young relieved Capt. Keith Lehnhardt as Naval Sea System Command’s (NAVSEA)

Navy diving equipment tested by astronauts for space exploration missions

David Coan, extra vehicular activity lead for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center dives at the Aquarius Reef Base underwater habitat.donning a Kirby Morgan-37 helmet equipped with the Divers Augmented Vision Device Generation 1.0 heads-up display during the 23rd NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations in June 2019.

July 16, 2019 - Scientists, engineers and key partners of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division

Joint U.S. Navy/Army Team Removes Oil from Sunken WWII Ship

View of PRINZ EUGEN’s propellers extending above the surface while the U.S. Navy team conducts oil removal operations aboard USNS SALVOR and T/V HUMBER moored over the bow of the wreck. During the Aug – Oct 2018 operation, the joint Navy / Army team removed over 228K gallons of oil from the submerged hull.

Nov. 2, 2018 - This October, a joint U.S. Navy and Army team successfully completed a historic oil removal operation on the sunken World War II vessel ex-USS PRINZ EUGEN located in Kwajalein Atoll.

Publication Links

Faceplate Magazine Spring 2020
Faceplate, Faceplate Feedback, Article Submission Instructions ...
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U.S. Navy Diving Manual - Rev 7 Ch A. Dated 04/30/2018
Salvage Publications
Diving Publications
SUPSALV News Archive

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