USNS Salvor (T-ARS-52) is a , the second United States Navy ship of that name.
Salvor was laid down on 16 September 1983 by Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin; launched on 28 July 1984; and commissioned on 14 June 1986.
Salvor is the third ship of the auxiliary rescue and salvage class of vessel constructed for the US Navy. The rugged construction of this steel-hulled vessel, combined with her speed and endurance, make Salvor well-suited for rescue and salvage operations throughout the world. The hull below the waterline is ice-strengthened. Her propulsion plant can develop 4200 shaft horsepower with four Caterpillar 399 diesel engines coupled in pairs to two shafts. She is fitted with a Controllable Reversible Pitch (CRP) propeller within a Kort nozzle on each shaft. The CRP propeller/Kort nozzle combination produces greater thrust and more maneuverability control than conventional propellers. Salvor is also configured with a bow thruster which provides athwartship thrust for additional control of the bow when the ship's speed is less than five knots (9 km/h).
In 1995 and again in 2000, Salvor was the United States Pacific Fleet's winner of the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for most battle-ready ship of her type.
USS Salvor was decommissioned and transferred to the Military Sealift Command in January 2007. Salvor was redesignated as USNS Salvor (T-ARS 52). The ship has undergone modifications for civilian crewing as well as automation and control system upgrades at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
Mission and capabilities Like all Safeguard-class rescue and salvage ships, Salvor serves as an element of the United States Navy's Combat Logistics Support Force and provides rescue and salvage services to the fleet at sea. She also supported the protection of forces ashore through post-assault salvage operations in close proximity to the shore. She is designed to perform combat salvage, lifting, towing, off-ship firefighting, manned diving operations, and emergency repairs to stranded or disabled vessels.
Salvage of disabled and stranded vessels Disabled or stranded ships might require various types of assistance before retraction or towing can be attempted. In her salvage holds, Salvor carries transportable cutting and welding equipment, hydraulic and electric power sources, and de-watering gear. Salvor also has salvage and machine shops, and hull repair materials to effect temporary hull repairs on stranded or otherwise damaged ships.
Retraction of stranded vessels
Stranded vessels can be retracted from a beach or reef by the use of Salvor towing machine and propulsion. Additional retraction force can be applied to a stranded vessel through the use of up to six legs of beach gear, consisting of STATO anchors, wire rope, chain, and salvage buoys. In a typical configuration, two legs of beach gear are rigged on board Salvor, and up to four legs of beach are rigged to the stranded vessel.
In addition to the standard legs of beach gear, Salvor carries four spring buoys. The spring buoys are carried beneath the port and starboard bridge wings and are painted bright orange. Each spring buoy weighs approximately , is long and in diameter, provides a net buoyancy of 7½ tons, and can withstand 125 tons of pull-through force. The spring buoys are used with beach gear legs rigged from a stranded vessel when deep water is found seaward of the stranded vessel.
Towing Ocean Towing Operations as USS Salvor Vessel Location DateAFDB 1B, AFDB 2E (floating dry docks)Subic Bay, Philippines to Pearl Harbor Hawaii (ADFB 1B) passed to November- December 1987.Ex-Pearl Harbor operating areas (synthetic line experiment)May 1989. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to Kwajelein to Subic Bay, PhilippinesSeptember–October 1987.Ex-Hyannis, ex-, ex-, ex-Charleston, South Carolina (YTB-817 only) to Beaumont, Texas (all) to Panama Canal to San Diego, California (all except ex-Tenino) to Pearl Harbor, HawaiiAugust–November 1986Ex-Pearl Harbor Hawaii to SINKEXApril 1990.AFDL 40 (floating dry dock)Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to Kwajelein to Guam to Subic Bay, PhilippinesJune 1991.Ex-Yokosuka, Japan to Midway to Pearl Harbor, HawaiiJune 1991.Ex-San Diego, CA to Pearl Harbor, HawaiiApril 1992.Ex-Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to Bremerton WashingtonSeptember 1992.Hawaii operating areas to Pearl Harbor, HawaiiMarch 1993.Ex-Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to Bremerton WashingtonMay 1993.Ex-Rodman, Panama to Bremerton, WashingtonAugust 1993.Ex-San Diego, California to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii1994Ex-San Diego, California to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii1994Ex-Rodman, Panama to San Diego to Bremerton, WashingtonSeptember 1994.Ex-San Francisco, California to Bremerton, WashingtonOctober 1994.Ex-Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to Bremerton WashingtonJune 1995.Ex-Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to SINKEXAugust 1997.Ex-Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to San Francisco, CaliforniaMarch 1999.Decommissioned SubmarinePearl Harbor, Hawaii to Bremerton, WashingtonJuly 2000.Ex-Bremerton Washington to San Francisco, CaliforniaAugust 2000.Ex- San Francisco California to Bremerton, WashingtonAugust 2000.Ex-Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to San Francisco, CaliforniaMarch 2001.YDT 253 barge craneSan Diego, California to Bremerton, WashingtonAugust 2003.Ex-San Francisco, California to Pearl Harbor HawaiiSeptember 2003.Ex- Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to SINKEXFebruary 2006.USCGC Yocona (ex-)Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to GuamOctober 2006.
Salvors propulsion machinery provides a bollard pull (towing force at zero speed and full power) of 68 tons.
The centerpiece of Salvors towing capability is an Almon A. Johnson Series 322 double-drum automatic towing machine. Each drum carries of drawn galvanized, 6X37 right-hand lay, wire-rope towing hawsers, with closed zinc-poured sockets on the bitter end. The towing machine uses a system to automatically pay-in and pay-out the towing hawser to maintain a constant strain.
The automatic towing machine also includes a Series 400 traction winch that can be used with synthetic line towing hawsers up to 14 inches in circumference. The winch has automatic payout but only manual recovery.
The Salvor caprail is curved to fairlead and prevent chafing of the towing hawser. It includes two vertical stern rollers to tend the towing hawser directly aft and two Norman pin rollers to prevent the towing hawser from sweeping forward of the beam at the point of tow. The stern rollers and Norman pins are raised hydraulically and can withstand a lateral force of at mid barrel.
Two tow bows provide a safe working area on the fantail during towing operations.
Manned diving operations Salvor has several diving systems to support different types of operations. Divers descend to diving depth on a diving stage that is lowered by one of two powered davits.
The diving locker is equipped with a double-lock hyperbaric chamber that can be used for recompression after deep dives or for the treatment of divers suffering from decompression sickness.
The MK21 MOD1 diving system supports manned diving to depths of on surfaced-supplied air. A fly-away mixed gas system can be used to enable the support of diving to a maximum depth of .
The MK20 MOD0 diving system allows-surface supplied diving to a depth of with lighter equipment.
Salvor carries SCUBA equipment for dives that require greater mobility than is possible in tethered diving.
Mines Naval mine laying and recovery.
Recovery of submerged objects In addition to her two main ground tackle anchors ( Navy standard stockless or balanced-fluke anchors) Salvor can use equipment associated with her beach gear to lay a multi-point open water moor to station herself for diving and ROV operations.
A typical four-point-moor consists of an X pattern with four Stato Anchors at the outside corners and Salvor at the center, made fast to a spring buoy for the close end of each mooring leg with synthetic mooring lines. Using her capstans, Salvor can shorten or lengthen the mooring line for each leg and change her position within the moor.
As built, Salvor had a 7.5-ton capacity boom on a forward kingpost. However, the kingpost and boom were removed and replaced by a 10,000-pound deck crane in 2011. She has 40-ton capacity boom on her aft kingpost.
Heavy Lift Salvor has heavy lift system that consists of large bow and stern rollers, deck machinery, and tackle. The rollers serve as low-friction fairlead for the wire rope or chain used for the lift. The tackle and deck machinery provide up to 75 tons of hauling for each lift. The two bow rollers can be used together with linear hydraulic pullers to achieve a dynamic lift of 150 tons. The stern rollers can be used with the automatic towing machine to provide a dynamic lift of 150 tons. All four rollers can be used together for a dynamic lift of 300 tons or a static tidal lift of 350 tons.
Salvor also has two auxiliary bow rollers, which can support of 75 ton lift when used together.
Off-ship fire-fighting Salvor has three manually operated fire monitors, one on the forward signal bridge, one on the aft signal bridge, and one on the forecastle, that can deliver up to 1000 gallons per minute of seawater or aqueous film forming foam (AFFF). When originally built, Salvor had a fourth remotely controlled fire monitor mounted on her forward kingpost, but this was later removed. Salvor has a 3600-gallon foam tank.
Emergency ship salvage material In addition to the equipment carried by Salvor, the US Navy Supervisor of Salvage maintains a stock of additional emergency fly-away salvage equipment that can be deployed aboard the salvage ships to support a wide variety of rescue and salvage operations.
Operational accomplishments
Between 1987 and 2001, Salvor has provided rescue or assistance to ships at sea in seven instances. Two cases involved collisions near Hawaii: the boat accident in August 1987, and the collision of with Ehime Maru in February 2001. Salvor also assisted in the Exxon Houston grounding near Barbers Point, Hawaii, in March 1989, and the Kamalu barge fire in May 1989. On three occasions, Salvor has assisted a ship at sea that has suffered a catastrophic equipment loss: recovering the primary towing pendant of the ex-/ in January 1995, the anchor chain of the in February 1995, and the towed sonar array of the in June 1996. The ship was also involved in the rescue effort after the sinking of ROKS Cheonan.
During the same time, Salvor participated in seven sea-recoveries of submerged military aircraft, including an A-6E Intruder (VA-145) in Puget Sound, Washington, a UH-46D Sea Knight from a world-record depth of near Wake Island, a SH-60 Seahawk, an F/A-18C Hornet (VFA-22) near San Diego, and two United States Air Force F-16 Falcons in Korean waters and the Sea of Japan.
Other salvage operations undertaken by Salvor include repairing the propeller blades of , repairing the hull of , recovering a LARC-V amphibious vehicle, recovering and disposing of a Mark 83 bomb, pumping out oil leaking from the wreck of , and exploring the wreck of the in the Gulf of Thailand.
Operational history as USS Salvor
Maiden voyage
Salvor departed Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin on her first voyage on 25 July 1986. She visited Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, before conducting diving operations for certification in Lake Superior. During the first part of August she made stops in Toronto, Quebec, and Halifax. After departing Halifax, she was diverted to New York City because of Hurricane Charley. She arrived at Little Creek, Virginia and 21 August 1986 and received her ammunition loadout. Her next stop was Charleston, South Carolina, where she took a single navy harbor tug (ex-) in tow.