Raising Russian sub in Providence, RI.... latest.

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http://www.projo.com/news/content/SUBMA ... e66f8.html


One sub, coming right up
01]http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/n ... -0014.html[/url]

Crews work to raise sunken sub

Wednesday, Jun 18, 2008 - 05:33 PM Updated: 06:40 AM
PROVIDENCE -- A mission to raise a Russian submarine that sank in the Providence River last year began Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Defense along with Army and Navy divers and salvage crews hope to get the submarine upright by next week and out of the water in July.

"The submarine is lying on its port side on the bottom," said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Dan Shultz. "It's completely flooded and it's in some state of disrepair after staying there for a year."

The submarine, known as Juliett 484, was moored at Collier Point Park and used as a museum.

It sank during a storm in April 2007.

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Here are some additional details.

http://www.military.com/news/article/na

Here are some additional details.

http://www.military.com/news/article/na ... 6032311124

Navy, Army Work to Raise Sunken Sub
June 20, 2008
Navy News
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - U.S. Navy expeditionary combat salvage divers and a contingent of U.S. Army divers are taking part in a unique real-world training mission that is honing their skills while benefiting the local community in Providence.

Nearly 100 active and reserve Sailors and Soldiers, including 50 divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 2 in Norfolk, and the U.S. Army Dive Company based at Fort Eustis, Va. arrived in Providence, June 1 for training salvage operations on the sunken former Soviet submarine K-77, also known as Juliett 484.

The former Soviet cruise missile submarine sank at its mooring here during a freak storm on April 17, 2007.

This salvage operation, comprised of a heavy Navy diving and salvage footprint and a contingent of Army divers, is an extremely unique opportunity for training on a complete joint salvage mission, and is being performed as part of the Department of Defense's (DoD) Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) program. Through IRT, military units receive training by taking part in real-world, community-based projects.

"The Department of Defense would normally achieve readiness for our waterway clearance and salvage mission through baseline funding and normal training packages; however, this is a unique opportunity to get more effective training for nearly the same amount of money and benefit the local community at the same time," said Army Capt. Charles Denike, Army Diving Company commanding officer and Juliett Deputy Mission commander.

"So, instead of spending tax dollars by simulating a training environment, the Innovative Readiness Training program allows us to train in a complex joint, inter-agency real-world command and control, and diving and salvage project, ultimately maximizing the effectiveness of the taxpayers' dollars in a direct, measurable way in both our military program and in the local civil sector in the process. For Army, while Maritime Security is certainly a Navy mission, the opportunity here helps ensure the appropriate level of joint capability and capacity for potential future missions."

DoD involvement began in the summer of 2007, when Navy and Army divers conducted underwater surveys to determine how to safely recover K-77 from the Providence River. In April, the divers, supported by Naval Sea Systems Command engineers, continued necessary surveys and engineering calculations prior to the complex salvage operation. The project involves patching and pumping water from the submarine's pressure vessel, and repairing the submarine's ballast tanks, in order to ultimately raise it to the surface.

"This has been a unique experience in itself," said Sgt. Chaise Turner of the U.S. Army Dive Company. "You don't get the chance to dive on an old former Soviet submarine all the time."

"There's so much history behind it," added Navy Diver 1st Class (DV) Eric Riggenbach from MDSU 2. "I've dived on a few American submarines, but to see how a Soviet submarine was designed has been really interesting."

According to Cmdr. Dan Shultz, commanding officer, MDSU 2 and Juliett Mission commander, this project provides a valuable opportunity for both Army and Navy divers to hone their expeditionary diving and salvage skills in a real-world setting, skills that are vital in support of the nation's strategy for Maritime Security, including peacetime support to international humanitarian and disaster relief, engagement with international partners, as well as wartime missions.

"The ability of U.S. Navy and Army divers to clear waterways, ports and harbors is important to our nation's ability to help other nations open their own waterways and lanes for the movement of commerce," said Shultz. "This would also include our own ports and waterways critical commerce in the U.S., especially following a natural disaster or terrorist event."

Both the Navy and Army divers bring a vast range of experience in a variety of environments, but the shallow, murky water of the Providence River offers additional training value.

"A lot of the younger guys are getting the experience being in a zero-visibility situation with cold water and long dive times, as opposed to versus shorter times we're used to," explained Turner.

Riggenbach agreed. "This is probably one of the only opportunities we get to put hands on and operate certain equipment, that we normally only use on salvage ships."

Additionally, this mission provides the opportunity for the divers to train together in a joint setting, with Army and Navy divers integrated into one team.

"We've learned a lot from each other," said Riggenbach. "The Army does some things different than us, but they're very professional and hard working as we are. Whenever you get divers together, regardless of their service, we're still the same."

Supporting the divers are engineers from Naval Sea Systems Command's Supervisor of Diving and Salvage, and Sailors from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Expeditionary Support Unit 2, who are providing logistics and communications support, as well as personnel to operate the Army Landing Craft Unit that serves as a diving platform.

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First step a

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First step a success for Russian sub salvage operation

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, June 26, 2008
PROVIDENCE
Just after 5:30 p.m. yesterday, Juliett 484, the sunken Russian missile submarine resting on its side on the bottom of Providence harbor, poked above the water for the first time in more than a year.

The conning tower of the Cold War-era missile sub came out of the water gradually, rising over the course of an hour until the red star, symbol of the Soviet navy, was fully visible. After a year underwater, the hull was rusted slightly, and flecked with green and gray from the marine life that has grown on it.

Most of the submarine remains underwater, but it is now sitting mostly upright, and on track to be brought fully to the surface around July 15.

The submarine, a museum ship in Providence since 2002, had been on its side in the 35-foot-deep water off Collier Point Park since it sank in a storm in April 2007. The sub lay at a 48-degree angle, with the tower facing East Providence.

The military salvage team, which is refloating the submarine as a training exercise, needed to pull the submarine upright and stabilize it before they could try to bring it fully to the surface. It still rests on the bottom of the harbor, but now it tilts at roughly a 7- to 10-degree angle.

As the top of the submarine broke the surface yesterday evening, a team of Navy and Army divers and salvage experts breathed a sigh of relief. This was the most important — and dangerous — moment in the year-long process of raising the sunken submarine, and it went off without a problem.

If they had miscalculated even slightly, the submarine could break the suction holding it to the harbor floor, and leap out of the water toward the pier, causing a catastrophe on the water’s edge.

“If the guys have calculated this wrong, and we break that suction unexpectedly, it’ll take this whole station out,” said Navy Master Chief Ross Garcia.

“It would cut through this stuff like floss through hot butter,” he said.

The teams spent much of the day yesterday pulling on the submarine using wires attached to six giant hydraulic motors. They would tug at the sub, check the resistance, then pump water out of the submarine to lighten it. This process went on all day, until at 5:30 p.m., the submarine began to turn slightly.

The salvage team will now allow the submarine to settle for several days, and ensure that the water still inside does not shift around and cause the submarine to move again. They will then put large pontoons on either side of the boat to stabilize it.

Once it is locked in place, divers will burrow under the submarine and place inflatable equipment called “belly bands” underneath the sub. When the remaining water is pumped out, and the belly bands are inflated, it should give the submarine the buoyancy it needs to rise to the surface.

“If we get this thing to come up right, it’ll be quite historic,” Garcia said. “There’s no history in sub salvage to indicate that any project has gone successfully.”

Juliett 484 was commissioned by the Soviet Union in 1965 and served in the Soviet Baltic and Northern fleets until its decommissioning in 1994. It was then sold and moved to Helsinki, Finland, to become a restaurant.

When that venture failed, it was sold to a group in St. Petersburg, Fla., where it became a museum. In 2001, the submarine was used in the filming of the Cold War thriller K-19: The Widowmaker, starring Harrison Ford.