Navy Almost Finished Moving Ehime Maru

Salvage experts aboard a lifting ship have nearly finished moving the 830-ton Ehime Maru to shallower waters and expect to place the sunken Japanese fishing vessel on the bottom today, the Navy said.

Divers could begin inspecting the deck of the ship as early as Tuesday, said Lt. Cmdr. Gregg Baumann, a Navy salvage engineer. They would be the first people to set foot on the Ehime Maru since Feb. 9, when it collided with the U.S. submarine Greeneville and sank in 2,000 feet of water about nine miles south of Oahu, Hawaii.

The collision strained relations between the United States and Japan, particularly after it was disclosed that the Greeneville was performing an emergency surfacing drill for a group of civilian guests aboard the submarine.

Nine people aboard the Ehime Maru were killed when it sank, but the Navy promised their relatives it would try to recover their remains. The ship had to be moved because the depth was too deep for divers.

It will be placed on the bottom in 115 feet of water, a little less than a mile south of the Honolulu International Airport. Baumann said he did not know how soon divers would enter the hull to search for remains.

The lifting ship, Rockwater 2, is carrying Ehime Maru in a sling made of 4-inch-thick cables and steel plates. By noon Saturday, Rockwater 2 had traveled most of its 14-nautical-mile journey, arriving at a high coral shelf, Baumann said.

Engineers still need to lift the ship about 1,300 feet over a distance of nearly two miles before they reach the final destination. Baumann said they would work overnight, winching the ship to maintain an 80-foot buffer between the Ehime Maru and the rising bottom.

Ehime Maru is being trailed by two remote operated vehicles whose video cameras have given the Navy its first real look at the damage caused when the Greeneville’s rudder sliced through the ship.