Global Diving & Salvage, Inc. Completes Heavy Lift Salvage Operation of Historic Tug, USS Wenonah, in San Francisco Bay

    SAN FRANCISCO, CA, October 01, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- When the vintage 100' World War II Tug, USS Wenonah, took on water and sank at her berth August 17, 2009 on Treasure Island, she created an oil spill and a continued threat to the environmental due to remaining hydrocarbons and other hazardous materials on board. Thanks to the rapid response by Global Diving & Salvage, Inc, the U.S. Coast Guard - Sector San Francisco, and the California Department of Fish and Game (Office of Spill Prevention and Response), the vessel was quickly recovered to mitigate further environmental damage.

Global, which specializes in marine casualty and environmental response, was contracted by the US Coast Guard - Sector San Francisco and quickly dispatched a team from its bay area office in Rio Vista, CA. Salvage specialists, divers and heavy rigging equipment arrived at the scene while Naval Architects calculated weights and analyzed the vessels strengths and lifting characteristics.

Working in 30' of water, Global divers dug trenches in the thick mud and debris beneath the wreck and maneuvered heavy chains underneath it in preparation for lifting. Global contracted with American Bridge-Fluor to acquire the services of the "Left Coast Lifter", a shear leg crane working in San Francisco Bay, to assist in refloating the vessel. With a lifting capacity of 1,700 metric tons, the "Left Coast Lifter" is one of the largest floating cranes operating in the continental United States.

Global Diving crews attached the chains to the crane and quickly commenced lifting operations of the 440 metric ton vessel. US Coast Guard - Pacific Strike Team recognized a unique opportunity for training and boarded the vessel to de-water the hull under Global oversight while divers surveyed and patched the vessel.

On August 31, with the vessel back in her berth and safely afloat, Global delivered the vessel to the US Coast Guard - Sector San Francisco who is working with other agencies to determine the vessels future.

"Synergy between state and local agencies ensured the unified command was able to focus resources in an efficient and timely manner," said LCDR Agustus Bannan, U.S. Coast Guard - Sector San Francisco. "Serving the general public and our stakeholders, we capitalized on the cooperation and good will of Global Diving and American Bridge that brought us the needed resource to complete the job."

About the USS Wenonah
USS Wenonah (YT-148/YTB-148/YTM-148) was a Woban-class district harbor tug which served during World War II in California ports, and continued her service until April 1974. The USS Wenonah is owned by the Historic Tugboat Education and Restoration Society.

Coast Guard Video of Salvage of USS Wenonah
http://www.viddler.com/explore/CoastGuardNews/videos/52/

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For further information:
Frank Immel
Global Diving & Salvage, Inc.
(206) 623-0621
[email protected]

About Global Diving & Salvage, Inc.
Global Diving & Salvage, Inc. is headquartered in Seattle, WA with offices in Anchorage, AK and Rio Vista, CA. It is a full-service underwater marine contractor and a leading provider of commercial diving, environmental, and related services. For 30 years, contractors and government agencies have relied on Global for a wide range of marine and environmental services, including marine construction, salvage, remediation and prevention. For further information, please visit http://www.gdiving.com/.

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