A week ago last Thursday, the museum ship, the USS The Sullivans in the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park began to take on water and partially sank at her berth. Naval Park Director of Museum Collections and Curator Shane Stephenson provided an update on the status of USS The Sullivans Sunday evening via YouTube.
He reported that crews were “test pumping” areas on USS The Sullivans, preparing for the actual pumping to raise the ship. Stephenson said that will likely occur within the next two or three days.
“We are currently at a 14.1 degree list,” he said. “When she first started, she was about 30 [degrees], so more than 50% she has come up to port.”
Stephenson said the reduction in angle indicates that the ship is not sliding deeper into the river. He also said crews removed 26 cubic yards of oily contaminated materials and debris and 13 holes have been plugged. More than 200 yards of absorbent boom were replaced with new or clean absorbent materials.
He said 13,000 gallons of contaminated water have been pumped out and put into nearby containers from Miller Environmental Group. The water being pumped out Sunday afternoon was what he described as “pure river water.”
In all, approximately 50,000 gallons of water have been removed from the ship since the beginning of the recovery.
“We actually feel really good about today’s update,” Stephenson said. “They feel that they’re going to start the work — the actual pumping — after the pumping plan and the data has been collated… [they] can do it from there.”
Emergency Update III: USS The Sullivans
USS The Sullivans (DD-537) is a retired United States Navy Fletcher-class destroyer. The ship was named in honor of the five Sullivan brothers (George, Francis, Joseph, Madison, and Albert) aged 20 to 27 who lost their lives when their ship, USS Juneau, was sunk by a Japanese submarine during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 13 November 1942. This was the greatest military loss by any one American family during World War II. She was also the first ship commissioned in the Navy that honored more than one person.