The Navy’s salvage and diving teams have been assisting in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill cleanup and containment effort since the early stages of the ongoing crisis, according to service officials.
“We have been providing expertise. We have been providing booming materials. We have been providing skimmers. I’m sure our role will expand over time down there,” Rear Adm. David H. Lewis, vice commander of U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command, said during a briefing at the Sea-Air-Space Exposition May 3.
On April 20, a BP semisubmersible offshore drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon, exploded and caught fire. It later sank. An estimated 5,000 barrels of oil have been leaking into the Gulf of Mexico per day since that time, and are threatening beaches, fishing grounds and sensitive environmental areas along the Gulf Coast.
Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen said during an earlier Sea-Air-Space panel discussion that officials would be “lucky” to be able to fix the leak within 90 days. BP, the Coast Guard and a host of government assets have been working since the incident began to seal off the leaking oil and contain the spill, thus far to no avail.
The Navy’s salvage and diving teams traditionally assist in ship groundings and recovery of downed aircraft, Lewis said. They also perform unusual missions such as fuel removal from sunken ships.
“Ship salvage we consider to be a national assist,” he said.
Lewis said that working on nontraditional types of missions, such as the oil cleanup effort, helps build the team’s knowledge for future missions.
“The level of experience grows across the full spectrum of salvage activities,” Lewis said.
Copyright 2010. Navy League of the United States. All Rights Reserved.
