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OPrICAL t'ICIIIa.OGl' DlVISIOIf 

Orro-w..cHlllICAL DISI(II IIIGIIfERIlfG 

1tIIIoIr ..... ME 71 

To : Di.tribution 

Prom: L. B. Mola.key 

Subject: Ti-lp Report - Recovery of IV #3 

Location: At Sea - 350 Mile. NOrthea.t of Hawaii 

Ilt.rllODUCTION 

22 RovetIber 1971 

thi. trip report continue. chrono1olical1y the .vant. of the .ubj.ct 

talk for the period oE 9 &ovaabar thru!thuraday 18 No~r 1971. 

1 

TUESDAY. 9 NOVEMBER. 1971 

the .. ath.r .tUl prevant. any dive .ctivity. '!'he ta.k force 18 

headed for the Southern mo.t .ector of the operation are .... itinl word on 

how the Apache fuel problem i. to be solved. There is .lso growing concern for 

the status of Trieste • Being towed at length in such rough sea theft is a 

po.sibility of da_ge to exterior equip1D8t\t. The forward speed of the tandem 

tow has been reduced to a minimum. About two knot. is required to maintain 

.teerage. 

WEDNESDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 1971 

Word was received that .nother .hip va. being .ent out to relieve 

Apache so that shfl! c""", ~o to Pearl Harbor for £".1. White Sands, Apache. and 

Trieste are headed for the rendezvous .re.. '1'he we.ther hal shoved .ome .igns 

of abating but the sea, are still too high even to board Trie.te to •••••• the 

damage done by the rough ... ther. 

mUUDAY. 11 l'«WEHBEa 1971 

A salv.ge ,hip, about the same size •• Apache, will meet with White 

Sands,' to reli.ve Apache at about 1400. MeanwhUe, one of the officer, on ' __ , 

Trie'te, Al Amara, is reported to be suffering from .pendic1tis. A Navy ta.k 

force inclUding the Aircraft Cirrier Ticonderog' was reported to be someWbere 

nearby. Th.y ware contacted and plana were mad. to evacuate Lt. Amar. via 

helicopter from the deck of White Sands. This transf.r occurred at .bout 1300. 

A sequence of photos was taken of the ope:ation. 

the "Currenttt .rrived on schedule and the tow W" transferr.d from 

the Apache to the "Current". Apache headed to Pe.rl Harbor. The first outgoing mail was transferred to Apache prior to her dep.rture. Arr.ngements 

were made, through _ to _11 my trip report to hb wife who was r.quested 

to get a copy to D. Patter,on and to my office. 

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ME7l 

!be plan at this tm. is to proceed toward .. art Harbor; u-Ias the 

Trieste in the lee of one of the ... 11 islands; load Triast. into the dock 

well of White Sands and return to Parl Harbor. A review of the coadtUoa of 

Trieste and the equip_nt ci .... sed at sea and a check with the loaa ranp 

.. ather predictions will be the decidina factor upon which the future of the 

project is planned. Ia my opinion that decision has already baen ...se and the 

project viII be postponed until far more favorable .. ather can be predicted 

than 18 normal for the search area in Dec81lber and January. '1ha decision J . 

however, is heiDI held until after the revi •• in Pearl Harbor. 

ftIDAY. 12 NOVEMBER 1971 

1'he task force is underway, hudina for Pearl BarboI' at about 4 1/2 

knot. • 1'he sea. are sa.ewhat cal_r but still runnina about 4 to 6 feet. 

Winds are from 10 to 15 knots. NO sianificant activity performed. 

SATtJIDA Y. 13 NOVEMBElt 1971 

Still headina for Pearl Harbor at about 4 1/2 knots. No activity 

planned for the day. 

SUNDAY. 14 NOVEMBER 1971 

Trl'e'Ste was de-aassed commencilll at about 0800. 'l'he .... have calmed 

down to 1 to 3 f.et with wind. about 10 knots. '!'he . towing speed was reduced 

to about 2 knot. during the 8 hour de-gasinl operation. De-gassing ia performed 

by conoectiag a gas hose between Trieste and White Sand.. The tanks in Trieste 

are then pressurized by about 4 pound. per .quare inch of nitrogen. The 

aviation gasoline is then pumped out through the hose into the tank. of·White 

Sands. All open flames, cigarette smokia" etc., ar. prohibited during the 

de-gasina operation for obvious reasons. Once sufficient gas has baen removed 

from Trieste to raise it in the water to the level required to clear the tail 

gate of Whf!: e Sands the Trieste wit ... · be towed into White Sands and docked. 

('l'he shot ha. been removed prior to the de-gasiag operation.) 

Durina de-gaaing operation one of the service lines to Trieste 

became entangled in the bow frame. The ere. of the whaler (16 ft. Boston 

~ler) was dispatched to untangle the lines by coming alongside the Trieste 

and reaching out to the lines. In the process, the Trieste bow frame, coming 

down from a sea swell, landed on the bow of the whaler tipping it up on end 

and flippinl the two sailors aboard into the water. When this occurred, of 

course, the 'an overboard" alarlll was sounded and all hands mustered to the 

proper stations. 

Actually, there was little danger to the sailors who were in life 

jackets at the ttme as they tm.ed1ately cauaht hold of the Trieste and were 

taken aboard. There was, however, silnificant damage to the whaler and its 

enaine. A second whaler was launched to replace the du.ged boat and the 

original recovered. 

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S1JII)AY. 14 lOIIMIEl 1971 (Coat) 

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ODee the sa. .... rldlOYed the havNr boat va. l.unchecl, the service 

line. to Trieste vere disconnected and the White Sand. flooded dONa to .llow 

the Trieste to be brought aboard. '1'hla operation, ... enti.n, til. reverse of 

the l.unching operation, is conducted in a st.11ar .aBner. (UDfortunately 

both the launching and docking sequences vere performed after dark and veEe 

therefore not photolraphed.) The Trieste was safely aboard .ad .. cured by 

.bOut 0100 _the follOVlna moraina. 

!DDAY. IS NOVEMBER. 1971 

'11le task force wa. _t by three tu,s .t the muth of Pearl Harbor 

just after noon. The Apache vas UIlcoupled .nd White Saa.ds proce.ded to • 

pier, on Ford Ialaad. This is an island in the middle of Pe.rl Harbor .nd is 

.ccessible only by l.unch or ferry. 11IIIIIIII .nd I went •• hore and establi8hed 

lodgin_ .t the Holid.y Inn ad returDed l.ter for our lull.... At this tWe 

the reca..eadation fro. Cdr Mooney vas to discontinue .11 further recovery 

efforts until the spring bec.u.of the predicted poor ... ther at the site. 

'!'he official decision, however, and future plana vere to be fOlWll.ted .t a 

_eting t,o be held the followtDl .,rnia" with Ad •• Lacey. Cdr Mooney cODt.cted his superior, Cep. S. Packer, in S.n DielO and briefed ht. on the 

operation and presented his reco1l!lDlmdation. A review of all of the photography 

("-. t.ken of theoperation was held in the- ward rOOlll and approxi..cely 70 sUdes 

t __ .. were selected to illustrate the operation for the bdefina. Duplicate copies 

of the selected slides were made aad arranged to .erve as official coverage 

of the operation for the Trieste's file. Approximately 30 of my slides were 

uaed. 

TUESDAY, 16 NOVEMBER 19 n 

'!'he briefing meeting ws held at the Submarine Base coaaencing at 

1430. All the officers of the Trieste and White Sands, and Cdr. Mooney 

participated. Followinl m.t .. eUna_met With Ad1ii. Lacey for further 

discussion of the operation. The outcome of these briefings .nd discussions 

was a decision to re~urn to the site and ag.in try to recover the p.yload. 

This time, however, more support from the Navy will be avail.ble. It seems 

that much more attention from the hilher ups in the Submarine fleet will be 

directed toward successful completion of the operation. As a result Lt. 

Cdr Bartels was direct to outline his n~d8 cd requirements for coatinuation 

of the oper.tion. A list of requir .. nts was started Lmmedi.tely. The object~ve was to be ready to 10 b.ck to sea by S.turday, 20 November. 

WEDNESDA Y. 17 NOVEMBER 1971 

Activity on the ship bec... intense as plans were being made to 

repair Trieste, order replacement parts, provision the ship for the operation, 

etc. Among the itellS required were: two new outb".rd 1DOtora. a new whaler, 

a large refrigerator to replace the one built aboard ship on the way out, gas 

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for Trie.te'. life npport .y.t .. , fuel 011, lubdeat10D 011, foocl, a MV 

... hina .-chiDe, fire puap part., etc. 

At thia point in tWe I called the office to ... k d1rection a. to 

our participation in the next at.t..,t to ~e the recovery. _ had 

indicated that he felt it was not taperatt.. that I return to ... for the 

next attempt. He iDelicated, howewr, that 1 .hould use .., CNft J1ada-nt. 1 

therefore called ho.e to .eek direction and later received word to r ... in with 

the ta.k. force for the next operation. I informed_ that I concurred 

with the decision to remain on the job and would continue to provide whatever 

.upport aDel/or .ervice I could, but that it would .an a chanae to our contract 

in that such. Ions period at the .ite wa. not oriSinally anticipated. He 

1Ddic.ted that thls wa. understood. 

'Ibis afternoon_aDd I v1aited __ of the·Alr Force. 

We thanked hila for hi. cooperation in prov1d1n~e (via the air drop) 

and dlscussed the All' Pore.', capabl11~y for ,rovtdtng weather infolmatlon at 

the site. '!'his discusdon led to a definition of the requir8'Mllt. for operation of the Trieste. In order to better illustr.te the probl ... a.aociated 

with preparation for .nd makins • dive we ,ulse.ted • review of the .1ide. of 

the operation. We threfore pre.ented all of the alide. used for briefi. 

Adm. Lacey .. well a. a few other. the air drop. Ouriq th •• e 

discus.ions __ indlcated that in Honolulu and that 

he would be~.ted in the was contacted 

'1'IlUllDSA Y. 18 NO'IEMBIll 1971 

We met withlllllllllllllll a. scheduled and presented the briefing 

planned. Cdr. Mooney~nd p.rticipated in the discus.ion. The 

meeting was very informal but I feel ~uite 0rportun~ ................. ppeared 

senuinely intere.ted in the oper.tion and seemed .ppre~portunity 

to get such firsthand information on the subject. 

In further discu.sion of the Air Force's operation out here in Hawaii, 

the gener.l capabilities on the subject was covered. '!'he que.tion of !taItt-Bucket 

. configurations was also brought out. I sot the feeling that 

recognized this as the "next step" on the prosram. 

Afterllllllllllllllleft 

and showed • mo~i. en - - .. 

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•• ve us a slide presentation 

on. 

In addition Cdr. Mooney was introduced to the people who have .ccess 

to the mo.t modern, up-to-date we.ther in10rmation Batheri. equi,..nt .nd who 

agreed to provide weather data in support of our activity. I feel that the 

meeting was very informative for all parti •• concurred. 

In the afternoon we returned to White Sands (she had been moved from 

the pier on Lord Island to a berth in the shipyard at the Naval Ba.e). 

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We diacu .. ecl the operation required to bdlll the .aylo.t abO&N White SaDda 

and to loacl it into the newly acquired freezer box. Another piece of equip-

_nt .a i.dentified for the require_nt to transfer the payload fre. the dock 

... 11 to the free .. r. It.a decided to try to obtain a dolly, with wheele, 

capable of tre.portinl one tow on the deckof the dock well. TIlle would 

preclude havins to lower the fork lift truck into the dock ... 11 and thereby 

eimpl;lfy:the freezer loed1na sequence. 'Jherequeat •• made for such a dolly. 

LBM/mf 

cc: H. F. Mlauire 

H. W. Robertson 

R. W. Jones 

C. ICaratz •• 

P. Petty 

R. Roylance 

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