The cleanup helps ensure that visiting military ships can dock safely at the island’s harbor.
A team of divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One removed the rocks from the harbor and from the shallower part of the main channel.
The largest was a boulder that weighed 50 tons with a diameter as wide as an average high school class room.
Seventh Fleet Cmdr. John Bird said the team’s success “is a significant step forward in enabling DDG and CG class ships to moor pier side in a crucial port and excellent liberty venue.”
Large military vessels cannot dock at Saipan ports due to dangers to navigation, or DTONs, in the channel, according to seaport manager MaryAnn Q. Lizama.
These ships have to anchor more than a couple of miles off the shore.
In early 2000, a big military ship hit a DTON while cruising the channel toward the Saipan port.
Led by Randy Duncan and master diver Jon Klukas, the divers and other USNS Safeguard crewmember held a debriefing yesterday morning at the seaport office with Commonwealth Ports Authority officials and members of Saipan’s business community.
Duncan and Klukas, in their presentation, showed which part of the main channel was cleared of DTONs.
They said they used a chart obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in locating the areas of concern.
Prior to the cleanup, hydrographers from the Fleet Survey Team based in Stennis Space Center in Mississippi surveyed the main channel and harbor.
They identified and labeled DTON that had to be removed.
The divers spent over 100 hours working under water and it took them 4,725 hours to complete the entire job, which consisted of diving, rigging, repair of equipment, maintenance of gear, logistics and administration.
The dangers to navigation removed by the team are dumped 600 feet in the ocean about five miles off the shore, Duncan said.
The USNS Safeguard crew and Navy divers have been on Saipan since Dec. 22.
Klukas said they got permit from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and local environmental agencies before they started the harbor cleanup on Jan. 6.
Duncan appreciated local hospitality.
Their hosts on island, he said, took good care of them.
For his part, CPA Esecutive Director Efrain Camacho expressed his gratitude, saying he does not know if the local government can perform such a job with limited resources.
Now that the channel is cleared, bigger military ships can dock at Saipan’s sea port, he said.
The other members of the mobile diving and salvage team are Paul Wotus, Kenny Bontempo, Enrique Martino, Nicholas Zaborski, Jericho Diego, Richard Racette, AJ Grun, Mariano Lorde, Richard Ellis, PJ Odell, Jason Balavram, Brody Dorton and Matt Stinson.
