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Home My WebLink AboutCC 2002-05-30 Advertisement\0 F SUNDAY, MAY 26, 2002 The Herald 5B ANDY NEWMAN/SPECIAL TO THE HERALD STEPHEN FRINK/WATERHOUSE VAST UNDERTAKING: A diver, above, hovers near the propeller of the Spiegel Grove, which 'turned turtle' during attempts to sink the vessel. At left, the Lana Rose, a 100 -foot salvage boat moors to the ship's hull. The work ship will play an integral part in plans to right the craft under water. ge firm formulates intricate plan to right ship ANDY NEWMAN/SPECIAL TO THE HERALD CAUTIOUS: Righting the Spiegel Grove will be a tough task, says Joe Farrell Jr. of Resolve Towing & Salvage of Fort Lauderdale. 'We also could use some luck,' Farrell says. mental.. With the stern of the ship at 130 feet deep and its bow above,, air and water pressure changes along virtually every foot of the ship and will con- stantly vary as the expected roll begins. Though the basic plan is set, the salvage team continues to rerun sophisticated computer modM,'recalculate figures and sketch out diagrams. They're pinpointing the precise places to affix 60 to 70 Subsalve lift bags specially designed inflatable bags that, When filled, can expand to the height of a two-story home and float a 25 -ton load. Without original blueprints, Resolve is working from sche- matics created for the botched sinking, and Farrell says he is concerned about just how much pushing, pulling and pressure a hull launched in 1956 can take. But, so far, he says, he's encouraged by struc- tural reports from divers and the Navy. The keys to the operation are rows of ballast tanks built into lower decks. Most ships don't have them, but the Spie- gel Grove was built to trans- port amphibious vehicles. The tanks were designed to be filled with water to lower the ship and flood a cavernous central hold, allowing landing craft to rapidly motor out. Now, the water tanks will hold air, pumped in by high- volume diesel compressors aboard' the Lana Rose, Resolve's work ship. "A lot of the success of this Job depends on the strength of those bulkheads." Farrell said. from the tugs, the massive Spiegel Grove - which origi- nally displaced about 6,500 tons before it was gutted for sinking — should roll to one side. Maybe slowly. Maybe in seconds. The ship could even keep going, coming to rest where divers want it on its fat bot- tom. More realistically, however, Farrell says that he expects to mount phase two. That would entail more air bags, aided by a barge fitted with a 300 -ton hydraulic jack lift. After secur- I ing heavy chains — each link weighs 70 pounds — to the Spiegel Grove's deck cranes, the barge would slowly ratchet the ship upright. That's the plan. But Farrell admits there are "a lot of unknowns." Here are a few: If the bow sinks faster than the ship rotates, increasing water pressure, which jumps 4.45 pounds per square inch for every foot of depth, could shrink the lift bags, sinking the plan and maybe the ship. As the ship starts its roll, all the air and millions of gallons of water inside also will move, "God knows where," creating shifting structural stresses Ages 30 to 65 Needed to participate in research study. You will receive compensation if you quaW.. 305-445-8056 SeaView °< x 30 -week research program being conducted for heavy drinkers. Qualified participants will receive study -related counseling, injectable study medication, lab and diagnostic work at no cost. For more information call UNIVERSITY( CONNIE HIGGINS, RN 305-243-2592 SCHOOL OF MEDICINE af, a.r\.j ; NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA PLEASE ALL TAKE NOTICE THAT a Special Commission meeting of the rltll Cnmmieeinn enhorlu loll i... TL...rn.l.... se,..,nn nnnn that, in the worst case, could rupture the hull. And while four anchors weighing 30 tons now fix the Spiegel Grove in place, Farrell says he worries about the swift Gulf Stream current. Running from one to three knots, if the salvage team allows the stern to float up from the bottom, the current may grab the ship. More serious, is the concern of potential damage to reefs, some fewer than a mile away. The Coast Guard, which is maintaining a 500 -yard no -en- try zone around the ship, approved Resolve's safety plans on Friday, but Farrell said weather and the pace of the underwater work will dic- tate the timing. It could hap- pen as early as this week. Captain Spencer Slate, oper- ator of Atlantis Dive Center in Key Largo and long a cham- pion of the eight-year, $1.1 mil- lion effort to acquire and sink the Spiegel Grove, dove the wreck last week, consulted with the salvage team and came away feeling upbeat. "I'm confident it's doable on its side," he said. "We went to the moon. Surely, they can roll this ship." )►''CITY OF MIAMI, FLO IDA$ NOTICE OF SPECIAL COMMISSION METING PLEASE ALL TAKE NOTICE THAT the Miami City Commission has scheduled a Special Commission meeting to be held on Thursday, May 30, 2002, beginning 3:55 p.m., at the Miami Arena, 701 Arena Blvd., in the V.I.P. Room, Miami, Florida, to discuss the following issue: Discussion and consideration of a proposed agreement with the Greater Miami Convention and Visitor's Bureau for the Bureau's issuance of a request for qualifications for a Construction Manager At -Risk and its responsibility to oversee and manage the construction of the Watson Island Regional Aviation and Visitor's Center. All interested persons are invited to attend. Any person or persons, wishing to appeal any decision made by the City Commission with respect to any matter considered at this meeting, may require a verbatim record of the proceeding upon which the appeal is based. Priscilla A. 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