VOS APOLLO

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Rudder failure in Bosphorus

The 'VOS Apollo suffered a rudder failure on Jan 22, 2023, while towing a barge through the Bosphorusm eb route from Golcuk to Sakarya. The ship was safely anchored in Büyükdere under the coordination of the Istanbul Ship Traffic Services Center and assisted by the tugs 'Nazim Tur' (IMO: 9513086) and 'Kurtarma 11' (IMO: 9854399). As of Jan 23, the ship remained stationary in pos 41° 09.20' N 029° 02.91' E. Report with video: https://twitter.com/kiyiemniyet/status/1617148977601810433

AHTS continues to support operations on grounded USS Salvor

While the USS "Guardian (MCM 5)" has taken a pounding as she has been hard aground on the Tabbahata Reef, the "Vos Apollo" was one of the vessels to remain on standby during the ongoing salvage work at the ship which remained approximately 20-30 meters from the edge with several hull penetrations. After the wooden ship crashed into a coral reef at about 13 knots, it immediately got lodged into the coral and became unable to pull out. All indications are that the minesweeper simply didn't have the engine power to pull itself off the reef, but even if she would have had enough power, backing off the reef could have caused even more damage to the wooden hull and potentially ripped the ship apart further thus sinking her right there on the reef. The ship took on water almost immediately upon grounding. USS "Guardian" is flooded internally to the tide line, with the Auxiliary Machine Room and Pump Room completely flooded. There is coral underneath the hull in both the Auxiliary Machine Room and the Engine Room. The internal bulkhead between the Auxiliary Machine Room and the Engine Room is no longer water tight, and the several internal bulkheads are slowly losing integrity. There are also several cracks in the superstructure, and as you can see in the photo there are several holes in the hull along the length of the ship. Because even US Navy ships made of wood are well built and engineered for survivability, and despite all the damage the ship has taken being stranded on the reef for over 10 days, no fuel apparently leaked from the fuel tanks, and the "Vos Apollo" has removed all of the fuel and replaced the fuel with seawater to keep the ship stable on the reef. All indications are that all hazardous materials have been removed from USS "Guardian" and the ship was not in immediate danger of a catastrophic failure. The Navy continued to remove everything possible from the ship that can be removed safely. The "SMIT Borneo" and "SMIT Cyclone" with the barge "Smit Andaman" are en-route to USS "Guardian". The recovery operation primarily designed to protect the Tabbahata Reefs National Park, and not recover the ship for future use. Further on location is the guided missile destroyer USS "Mustin" (DDG 89) with embarked helo det; the oceanographic survey ship USNS "Bowditch" (T-AGS 62); the rescue and salvage ship USNS "Salvor" (T-ARS 52) and the m/v "Trabajador". The "VOS Apollo" is supporting operations. P-3s from Commander Task Force 72 are also supporting with daily overflights. Report with photo: http://www.informationdissemination.net/2013/01/operation-guardian.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+InformationDissemination+(Information+Dissemination)

Defuelling of grounded minesweeper finished

Fuel draining operations on the USS "Guardian" at the Tubbataha Reef have been finished on Jan 25 removing around 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel from the stranded and disabled minesweeper to prevent any further damage to the protected park's corals and other marine life. Completion of the defueling phase of the salvage operations came amid a statement by the reef's park manager saying that the grounding incident resulted in the worst damage to the World Heritage Site since the marine park was established 12 years ago. The fuel was transferred to the "Vos Apollo" during controlled defueling operations over the last two days.