PHOENIX COMPLETES SUPPORT OF USS MONITOR EXPEDITION 2002 PROGRAM

Monday, August 19, 2002 -- Washington, DC -- Phoenix International, Inc. (Phoenix), the prime contractor for the Diving and Diving Related Services contract with the Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV), completed key project management and engineering services for the MONITOR Expedition 2002 program with the successful 5 August recovery of the ironclad’s revolutionary armored, rotating gun turret. This latest effort marked the end of historic at-sea operations conducted by the U.S. Navy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at the site of this nation’s first National Marine Sanctuary.

Phoenix’s participation in the MONITOR program began with Expedition 2001, the mission to recover MONITOR’s 30-ton steam engine. SUPSALV tasked Phoenix to identify and subcontract a portable commercial saturation diving system for use by Navy divers, and floating stock capable of accommodating Navy surface supplied air diving systems, the portable saturation system, and a heavy lift crane for recovering major components of MONITOR. The ship needed to be large enough to house all Navy dive crews, NOAA personnel, and official visitors; a daily total exceeding 100 personnel.

As the overall at-sea project coordinator, Phoenix was responsible for all subcontractor arrangements, mobilization and demobilization of equipment aboard ship, and all supply and logistics. The Phoenix project manager had responsibility for on-scene interagency liaison, communications, coordination of the operation’s project needs as well as those of all onboard personnel, and solving day-to-day problems on a myriad of operations issues. Phoenix provided survey/positioning services, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) crews, and comprehensive engineering services for Expeditions 2001 and 2002. The latter encompassed concept development, design, analyses, fabrication oversight, and deployment advice for the various underwater lift and recovery systems used during these missions. On Expedition 2002, Phoenix had overall design and development responsibility for the turret recovery system, dubbed “the spider”. Phoenix personnel routinely re-positioned the support ship in response to specific diver tasks and changing seas and currents, while ROV crews piloted the SUPSALV mini-ROV, MR-2, used to provide topside personnel real-time information on the status of underwater activities, and underwater imagery to complement historical program documentation. At one point the ROV was in operation for nine continuous days.

This year’s diving operation, MONITOR Expedition 2002, began on 26 June with the eight-point mooring of the 300 ft. long derrick barge, DB WOTAN, over the MONITOR Sanctuary site. Navy divers quickly commenced to clear MONITOR wreckage and sand from around the gun turret. On 17 July, the first of two unique components comprising the Phoenix designed 45-ton turret recovery system was lowered over and attached to the turret. Five days later, the second recovery component, the support platform, was lowered to the seafloor and placed 20 feet from the “captured” turret. On 5 August, the derrick barge DB WOTAN’s 500-ton capacity crane lifted the turret from its original resting place, and set it on the support platform. After the two recovery components were structurally locked together, the entire 235-ton assembly was flawlessly lifted onto the deck of DB WOTAN for transport to The Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia where a ten year turret conservation program will be initiated.

USS MONITOR sank in 1862, sixteen miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Discovered in 1973, the site was designated as the United States’ first marine sanctuary in 1975. In 1998, the U.S. Navy, working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and The Mariner’s Museum, began a series of recovery preparation dives on USS MONITOR. The MONITOR’s propeller, propeller shaft, steam engine, and numerous other artifacts were recovered on these earlier operations. The goal for Expedition 2002 was the recovery of the historically novel gun turret.

A number of organizations contributed to the successful implementation of NOAA’s 1998 long range management plan for MONITOR. NOAA, as the steward for the National Marine Sanctuary Program, provided on-site archaeological and object preservation expertise. The U. S. Navy provided all surface supplied and saturation divers for the MONITOR Expeditions with the Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) Two in tactical command of diving operations. SUPSALV’s multiple contributions included acting as the overall diving technical authority, shepherding the commercial saturation diving system through the Navy acceptance process, and supplying its mini-ROV MR2. Phoenix International acted as the prime contractor, providing engineering support, survey/positioning and ROV crews, and overall Expedition project management. The Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, Virginia has responsibility to conserve and display all recovered artifacts. Numerous Phoenix subcontactors supported the Expedition 2001 and 2002 efforts. Manson Gulf LLC (Houma, LA) supplied DB WOTAN, the primary surface support ship for the Expeditions, and the 500-ton crane used to lift the steam engine in 2001 and the turret in 2002. Global Industries Ltd. (New Iberia, LA) provided the portable saturation diving system critical to the diving operations. Kidder, Inc. of Morgan City, LA fabricated the Phoenix turret lift system, and Versabar, Inc. of Belle Chase, LA provided the spreader frame and hook slings on the recovery system.

Phoenix provides high quality manned and unmanned marine services to an international customer base from its facilities in Landover, MD and Morgan City, LA. Phoenix is the SUPSALV prime contractor responsible for providing the Navy with worldwide diving and diving related services in support of underwater ship repair and salvage activities.

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For More Information Contact:

Phoenix International, Inc.

9301 Largo Drive West, Largo, MD, 20774 USA

Tel: +1 (301) 341-7800

Fax: + 1 (301) 499-0027

tjanaitis@phnx-international.com or ggibbs@phnx-international.com