Engineers fill air backs to help reposition retired Navy ship

KEY LARGO, Fla. -- Engineers filled dozens of submerged air bags Sunday to reposition a 510-foot retired Navy ship that officials want to sink to create one of the world's largest artificial reefs.

The Spiegel Grove sank prematurely May 17 in about 130 feet of water, hours before it was to be intentionally sunk to the bottom of the sea.

It landed upside down with its bow protruding above the sea six miles off Key Largo in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Its position has made it inaccessible to sport divers.

Engineers filled 70 lift bags that were attached to points on the port side of the ship and provide 500 tons of buoyancy. They have to be filled evenly with air to effectively lift the ship off the ocean's bottom.

If the air bags are successful, two tugboats will then try to slowly pull on attached lines on the ship's port side to pull it upright, or at least sink the ship on its side.

Wind and tidal conditions Sunday and the difficulty of evenly filling the air bags was turning the process into "an all-night event," said Joe Farrell, president of Resolve Marine Group, the contractor charged with moving the ship.

Ten to 12 divers were setting hoses and adjusting anchors in alternating trips. The ship's depth allows the divers to work on the ship only 15 minutes at a time and forced them to sit in a recompression chamber for one hour once out of the water.

Todd Schauer, an engineer with Fort Lauderdale-based Resolve Marine, said engineers think they will be able to push the ship onto its side, but have only a 50 percent to 75 percent chance of sinking it upright.