and New Jersey. On 08/12/11 we did initial survey dives and submitted
the a report on Atlantic Diver
On 08/19/11 we did a second trip to the wreck and noted the following:
We found that the deck at the base of the front of the wheelhouse deck
structure was starting to form a crease / valley across the entire deck.
Corresponding with the crease, there was a crease and minor tearing on
each side of the hull from the deck to the keel. This creasing was the
result (IMO) of the hull being unsupported from the very bow to beyond
mid ship. Nick Caloyianis (Emmy Winning U/W film maker) was out with us
and shot footage of this creasing and tearing.
Fast forward to 09/29 /11:
We dove the Radford for the first time since hurricane Irene. The ship
is now in 2 parts approximately 200' apart. The large main section
(from the bridge to the stern) is still upright and actually moved
about 200' from where it was. That's right, the entire section
moved 200' to a parallel position from where it was. What is also
remarkable is that it didn't tip over and it moved Southeast which
is toward the storm surge waves. Hurricane Irene's storm surge
waves traveled Southwest then West then North west as she passed over
the area. Finally the bridge end of this section has scoured into the
bottom about 5'. This bodes well for it staying up right.
The bow section (100+') is another story. This section is in the
same location as where it was before Irene. While we didn't dive
this section, it appears that this section has fallen over as it
didn't profile as high on the depth sounder. This likely happened
as the bow section has a very narrow beam as compared to the main body
of the ship. I will hopefully confirm this next week.
So what happened:
While I'm not a naval architectural engineer, nor did I play one on
TV, here is what I think happened. The tears in the hull go right along
side a vertical bulkhead from the keel up. The bulkhead likely kept the
the hull from distorting and forced it to tear from the keel up from
the downward pressure. IMO, this happened before Irene hit. When Irene
pushed the large section away from the bow, the deck which was the only
metal holding the 2 sections together, likely tore apart. Sadly, if the
bulbous bow had been jetted into the bottom, most of the keel would have
been supported and the ship would possibly / likely still be in one
piece. So, Irene a Category 1 hurricane helped break the Radford into 2
pieces, and yes I know the Radford is a destroyer not a battleship. It
just sounded better for a title. []
Ted
Ted Green
TDI Instructor Trainer #029
TDI Advanced Trimix Instructor #029
USCG Licensed 100 Ton Master (Captain)
Charter Boat "OC Diver"
http://www.ocdiver.com
info@ocdiver.com
Phone: 443.783.5157
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