T
HELATE
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APTAIN
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HARLES
A. (B
LACK
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ART
)B
ARTHOLOMEW
, USN, a graduate of the U.S. NavalAcademy and the Navy Deep Sea Diving School, wasan engineer who made the Navy—and salvage—hiscareer. He served on board the heavy repair ship USS
Hector
during combat support operations in SoutheastAsia, as Commanding Officer of the Navy Experi-mental Diving Unit, and in staff positions with theCommander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and LongBeach Naval Shipyard. In 1985 Captain Bartholomewbecame Director of Ocean Engineering and Supervisorof Salvage and Diving. During his twenty-two years asa Navy diver and salvor, he participated in the salvage of sixteen ships, numerous aircraft, and thespace shuttle
Challenger.
C
OMMANDER
W
ILLIAM
I. M
ILWEE
, J
R
., USN (R
ET
.),is agraduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Webb Instituteof Naval Architecture, and the Navy Deep Sea DivingSchool. He served in diving and salvage billets in Harbor Clearance Unit One, in the Navy ExperimentalDiving Unit, and in the offices of the Supervisor of Diving and the Supervisor of Salvage, and as FleetSalvage Officer for Commander in Chief, U.S. PacificFleet. Following retirement from the Navy in 1979, heworked in the offshore oil industry and founded a firmthat provides marine salvage consulting services.Commander Milwee participated in more than 160salvage operations and worked on all seven continentsand numerous Pacific islands. He is the author of
Modern Marine Salvage,
a comprehensive text on salvage operations, and has written more than thirtyjournal articles and conference papers.
M
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USCLE
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IRACLES
Second Edition
More than 200 illustrations, photographs, diagrams, and maps.
In the days when wooden sailing ships made upthe fleets of the world, a ship that ran ashore couldsometimes be freed by the judicious use of groundtackle and muscle. Most of the time, however, therewas little to do other than rescue the crew and savethe cargo. The rules of the sea began to change, however, inthe mid-1800s. With the advent of steam power and agrowing understanding of how human beings canwork underwater, it became increasingly possible torefloat wrecked vessels, clear harbors, and locate andraise sunken ships, their cargoes, and other objectslost at sea.By the start of the twentieth century, the U.S.Navy had developed a fledgling salvage capability.Today, under the aegis of the Supervisor of Salvage,the Navy routinely handles assignments around theworld, guarding U.S. naval and maritime interests andresponding to requests for assistance from our allies.
Mud, Muscle, and Miracles
takes its reader on agripping journey through the evolution of salvage—from the construction of a cofferdam to reveal the bat-tleship
Maine
at the bottom of Havana harbor to theuse of side-scan sonar and remotely operated vehicles to recover aircraft debris and complete vessels from the depths. The story is one of masterfulseamanship, incomparable engineering, and absoluteingenuity and courage. It is also the history of one of our nation’s longest lasting public-private partner-ships—that of the commercial salvage industry andthe U.S. Navy.Along the way there emerges more than a century’s worth of strong, colorful, and supremelycompetent personalities, most of whom gained theirunderstanding of salvage on the muddy sea bottom oron a slippery deck with winches groaning and wireropes singing. Until the publication of these compre-hensive editions on naval salvage, they were amongthe last of our nation’s unsung heroes.This second edition updates U.S. Navy salvagehistory through the beginning of the twenty-first century and chronicles eighteen additional, prece-dent-setting marine salvage and deep-ocean recoveryoperations.
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IRACLES
Marine Salvage in the United States Navy
Second Edition
Captain Charles A. Bartholomew, USNCommander William I. Milwee, Jr., USN (Ret.)
“A unique compendium of the great stories of Navy salvage and diving profes-sionals who, through innovation and perseverance, so often make the impossiblelook easy. The contribution of Navy salvage forces to Navy, DOD, and nationalmissions cannot be overstated. Everyoneworking in the salvage business shouldread this work and refer to it throughouttheir careers.”
—VADM Kevin McCoy, USN Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command
Above: Destroyer
Monssen
(DD 798) highand dry on a New Jersey beach, March1962. Right: Capsized battleship
Oklahoma,
withattached purchases and winches for right-ing during Pearl Harbor salvage operations. Below: Lift craft raising the dredge
JamaicaBay
at Dong Tam, Vietnam, January 1967.(Authors’ Files).Front cover: A Navy diver from rescueand salvage ship USS
Grasp
(ARS 51),searching the crash site of TWA Flight800 in the Atlantic Ocean near LongIsland, NY, 13 August 1996 (U.S. Navyphoto). Insets, left to right:
Lafayette
capsized in her ice-filled berth in NewYork harbor, December 1941 (Authors’Files); rescue and salvage ship USS
Safeguard
(ARS 50) (U.S. Navy photo);and USS
Cole
(DDG 67) on boardheavy lift ship
Blue Marlin
for the returnto the States following a suicide bombingon 12 October 2000 (U.S.Navy photo).
BartholomewMilwee
Naval History& Heritage Command
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Naval Sea SystemsCommand
Second Edition
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Second Edition
The Early Days
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ITTSAND
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