From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Mar 3): Salvage team removes USS Guardian’s bridge deck
The USS Guardian dismantling operation continued on Sunday shortly after the
vessel’s bridge deck was successfully lifted and transferred to a barge by the
crane ship Jascon 25, said the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
Lt. Commander
Armand Balilo, the PCG spokesperson, on Sunday said “the Guardian’s Level 2
(bridge deck) had been transferred to the (support ship) Archon Tide and later
moved to the barge Seabridge.”
In a text message to the Philippine Daily
Inquirer, he also said “the remaining equipment and materials at Level 2 have
been removed piece by piece.”
“The lifting of the bridge deck on Saturday
went well and was successful as planned and without any untoward incidents,”
Balilo also disclosed, citing a report from the PCG team closely monitoring the
salvage operation in the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea.
Earlier, he reported
that while the weather in the reef area had been very good and the ship
dismantling operation was progressing, the PCG did not “discount the possibility
that the March 23 deadline for the removal of the Guardian from the reef may be
extended.”
Balilo said that “aside from the changing weather conditions in
the Sulu Sea, the salvage team is also considering the structural integrity of
the ship, as well as newly discovered obstacles in dismantling the Guardian’s
superstructure.” He did not elaborate.
Last week, the dismantling of the
Guardian resumed with the removal of the vessel’s mast and funnel by the Jascon
25, which the Coast Guard said was the main vessel tasked with dismantling the
grounded US Navy ship.
Aside from the Guardian, the Jascon 25, Archon Tide
and the Seabridge, eight other vessels were in the vicinity, either involved in
the salvage operation or observing the operations, including the PCG
search-and-rescue ship, the BRP Pampanga.
The 68-meter US Navy mine
countermeasure ship ran aground on the Tubbataha Reef, a United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-designated World Heritage
Site, on Jan. 17 while on its way to Indonesia after a brief stop in Puerto
Princesa City.
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/66491/salvage-team-removes-uss-guardians-bridge-deck
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