KEY LARGO, Florida Keys -- A South Florida-based salvage company hopes to roll the Spiegel Grove Friday, according to the firm's president. 

"We want to be ready to have tugboats on the scene by Friday afternoon," said Joe Farrell, president of Resolve Towing and Salvage. "If all goes well, we’ll attach cables from the ship to the tugs and make the first attempt." 

Farrell cautioned that changes in weather conditions or other unforeseen circumstances could delay the effort. He also said there was no way to predict whether Resolve would be successful on the first try. 

The 510-foot retired Navy ship sank upside-down Friday, May, 17, hours before crews had planned to scuttle it to create an artificial reef. The ship lies partially floating in about 130 feet of water, its bow protruding above the sea, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, about six miles off Key Largo. 

Farrell said that a combination of four factors would play key roles in the attempt to right and fully sink the ship. They are: 

• A series of surface lift bags, attached to the port (left) side of the vessel, to provide about 500 tons of buoyancy. 

• Air injection in 19 port ballast tanks providing about 2,000 tons of lift. 

• Two tugboats with a total of 100 tons of pull. 

• The ocean’s current, with an undetermined amount of force. 

The Spiegel Grove is currently anchored with the back end of the stern helicopter pad on the sandy bottom and about 70 feet of its overturned bow floating clear of the water. 

The Spiegel Grove is the largest ship ever scuttled to create an artificial reef. 

Two days after the misap, the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce inked a contract with Resolve to reorient the ship. The Spiegel Grove is anchored with the back end of the stern helicopter pad on the sandy bottom and the tip of its overturned bow floating clear of the water. 

Resolve's salvage vessel, Lana Rose, pulled alongside the Spiegel Grove, and the company's salvaging experts ran a model of the ship through salvaging software. They devised a plan to roll the ship at least onto its starboard, or right, side but are aiming for a final upright position. 

"If we get lucky, and the current helps us roll it over, it will be a one-shot deal" with the vessel sinking upright on the bottom, Farrell said. 

Spiegel Grove organizers want the ship to come to rest upright so its upper decks approach within 40 feet of the surface. Its nooks and crannies would be visible to snorkelers, and scuba divers of all levels would have something to explore. 

If the Spiegel Grove just turns on its side, Farrell then will assess the possibility of securing chains to the side of the ship where it meets the bottom. In conjunction with repositioning the air bags, hydraulic jacks on a barge would hoist the chains upward, three feet at a time, with 300 tons of force apiece, until the vessel turned upright, Farrell said. 

"Maybe we're too stupid to be intimidated but we feel we're up to this job," he said. 

Resolve divers are in the process of installing 60 to 70 heavy vinyl inflatable airbags onto the left, or port, side of the Spiegel Grove to provide 500 tons of buoyancy or lift. When inflated, some of the bags would stand more than 24 feet tall. 

Resolve divers are to feed air hoses into 19 ballast tanks located on the port side of the well deck. The goal is to displace 2,000 tons of water from the left side of the ship, Farrell said. This must be done without bursting the tanks or pumping air into unintended parts of the ship. 

If all goes as planned, the left side will begin to float. Additional lift is to be provided by several 5,000-horsepower tug boats to help get the ship upright. 

The prevailing sea current, which runs from the south at up to 3 knots, should catch the hull and help to roll the Spiegel Grove, Farrell explained. 

Even with the company's 20 years of salvage experience, there are many unknowns in the process, Farrell cautioned. 

As divers install the airbags and begin to pump air into the Spiegel Grove, the ship could begin to roll on its own, before the tugs arrive, Farrell said. 

Resolve team members must be careful not to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

"It's going to get a little risky for us," Farrell said. 

Cost to the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce, whose board of directors approved the contract with Resolve, is estimated to add another $250,000 to the $1 million already expended. 

"We know we have a very valuable resource and the fact that the Spiegel Grove will be the best artificial reef in the world," said Stephen Frink, a project organizer and a board member of the Key Largo Chamber. "We're going to invest what we have to, to make this ship right." Frink added. 

Frink said several local groups, including the Ocean Reef Community Association on North Key Largo, have pledged additional financial support. He said the chamber is also counting on additional revenue from the sale of Spiegel Grove commemorative medallions. 

PHOTOS:  [TOP] The Lana Rose, a 100-foot salvage vessel, and a commerical dive charter boat are moored next to the Spiegel Grove. (Photo by Andy Newman)  [BOTTOM] A Resolve technical diver pumps air into a giant lift bag. (Photo by Bob Care/Florida Keys TDC)

http://fla-keys.com/news/917.htm

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nbc6.net

KEY LARGO, Fla. -- The Spiegel Grove, which sank 6 miles off the coast of Key Largo before its intended time, is now getting help from specialists to be sunk right. 

"We just happened to be lucky that the event finally occurred and that we could be active participants," said underwater science director and Indiana University professor, Charles Beeker 

Beeker and professor Bill Jones, along with eight students are part of a group of volunteers helping with the final clean-up of the 510-foot ship before it is to be sunk as an artificial reef. 

"This ship is going to give a lot of firm substrate for corals to colonize," said aquatic ecologist Bill Jones. 

All was going as planned the morning of May 17, 6 miles off the coast of Key Largo, when suddenly the ship sunk before expected. 

"One of the welders said to stay with our buddy cause the ship was taking on more water than expected," said Lisa Hopwood, a senior at Indiana University, who was part of the original crew to sink the Spiegel the first time. 

Water was being pumped into ballast tanks in preparation for the sinking and within moments, the ship was began to sink before expected. 

Everyone was evacuated safely, but the ship had turned turtle, resting upside-down with its bow still poking above the surface.

"The Spiegel went down pretty quick. Quicker than we expected it to," Jones said. 

It is suspected by crewmembers that the interior bulkhead may have been ruptured, flooding the engine compartment, causing the ship to sink prematurely. 

"It's important for the Spiegel to be right-side up as an artificial reef," Beeker said. 

Beeker will be part of another group trying right the Spiegel Grove this week. Workers and volunteers are hoping to bring the Spiegel Grove down right, to salvage the project. The intention of the project was to create an artificial reef and a tourist diving sight. 

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May 14: History, photos, & Key Largo arrival 
May 17: Breaking news & photos of the sinking
May 18: More stories & sinking sequence photos
May 19: Early plans to right her are forming
May 20: Underwater photos & interactive graphic
May 21: Exclusive eyewitness story
May 22: Crew heads south to begin work
May 23: The Lana Rose is on the scene
May 24: Efforts delayed due to weather
May 25: Project Chairman resigns, then talks
May 26: Spiegel Grove is not the first...
May 27: Salvor reveals righting plans
May 31:  Rolling date set.  Graphics & map
June 1:   Volunteers help salvor
June 2:  Work nearing completion
June 4:  A Friday flip?
June 5:  Use your mouse to right the ship!
June 6:  Sinking moved to Monday
June 7:  Attaching the lift bags
June 8:  Weather changes plans
June 9:  Tugboats arrive for final preparation
June 10: She's on the roll...and goes down
June 11:  Salvors are done...she's on her 
               starboard side...and she is 
               WORLD FAMOUS!