Conservation couple buys New Zealand Navy warship to recover oil from WWII wrecks...

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Fibonacci

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The Manawanui is built for diving missions in the middle of the sea. It has a recompression chamber, a domed bell for deep diving and a 15-tonne crane for heavy lifting overboard.

The Adamses plan to use their ship, bought for a sum in the vicinity of "a few hundred thousand dollars", to preserve the fuel-laden, mostly Japanese vessels that sank in the South Pacific during World War II.

RNZ Navy Manawanui.jpg


Many of the wrecks are corroded and starting to leak oil from the ocean floor.

The Adamses have feared a looming ecological disaster ever since they visited Micronesia's Chuuk Lagoon, where the US Navy sank dozens of Japanese ships in Operation Hailstone in 1944.

"While we were diving on one of the ships we saw this huge blob of black oil come out, drift up to the top and disperse," Mr Adams said.

"Each wreck we dived on had oil come out of it.

"There's a time bomb waiting to happen right through the Pacific.

"There's about 3,000 wrecks out there. Three hundred of those were oil tankers. They're at the bottom of the ocean, and they're starting to leak."

"The long and the short of it is, nothing's being done.

""So we decided we'd do something."

Great initiative :cool:

'You can't find these in Kmart': NSW couple buys warship
 
Waste of money really, most of the wrecks in Chuuk have little oil in their tanks or were coal powered. This has been a beat up from day one.
 
Oh what money will buy :daydream:
 
A feel-good, worthless endeavor. But whatever. Everyone should spend their own money as they see fit.
 
It looks like there's only a single 50 cal mounted on the bow. That's not much of a warship, unless there's some more weaponry that's not obvious in the photo.
 
Looks like a Gulf of Mexico oilfield boat, only smaller.
 
If Wookie had gone this route more folks mighta fit in his new berths. Granted he was wanting to get away from so many people on his boats, but that just seems selfish. :)
 
It looks like there's only a single 50 cal mounted on the bow. That's not much of a warship, unless there's some more weaponry that's not obvious in the photo.

Commissioning of a warship is generally driven by mission related factors and laws of armed conflict.

For another example of a warship that doesn't look like a warship (armament wise)...see the USS Lewis B. Puller. The Puller was commissioned as a USS (formerly designated as a USNS). Same deal with the Puller...nothing bigger than a .50 on it.

USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB-3) - Wikipedia
 
A feel-good, worthless endeavor. But whatever. Everyone should spend their own money as they see fit.

...Nonetheless, a Japanese group called the Japanese Mine Action Service is currently in Chuuk doing a clean-up.

Dr Jeffery said his contacts in Chuuk and Micronesia are happy to work with the Adamses, subject to their mission being funded — the couple are appealing for financial and in-kind help through their website.

As the Royal New Zealand Navy’s (RNZN) dive tender, HMNZS Manawanui was instrumental in clearing the southern Pacific waters of unexploded ordnance left over from the Second World War.

“I think it’s a fantastic outcome, in a sense carrying on the work we have been doing,” Commander Kennett said. “There was talk of Manawanui becoming a dive attraction, but this is better — she will continue to do a highly valued role on the sea, as opposed to being a permanent feature under it.”

Marawanui dive ship legacy continues in ecological role


Marawanui took part in Operation Render Safe in the Solomons in 2016... WWII munitions still active even after all this time underwater!


Hmmm...
Delving deeper however, it seems Other People's Money is required to fund this!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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