- Title: AUSTRALIA: DAMAGED BRITISH WARSHIP HMS NOTTINGHAM FLOATED INTO SYDNEY HARBOUR
- Date: 22nd October 2002
- Summary: (W3) WATSON'S BAY, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (OCTOBER 22, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF HMS NOTTINGHAM BEING LIFTED OUT OF WATER BY SWAN (SEMI SUBMERSIBLE, HEAVY LIFT) WITH SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE IN BACKGROUND 0.07 2. SLV, HMS NOTTINGHAM ON SWAN 0.13 3. SLV PEOPLE WATCHING 0.18 4. VARIOUS OF YACHT SAILING PAST HMS NOTTINGHAM 0.33 5. WIDE OF HMS NOTTINGHAM 0.41 6. WIDE OF RADAR ON HMS NOTTINGHAM 0.47 7. SMV PEOPLE WATCHING 0.52 8. SCU WOMAN LOOKING THROUGH BINOCULARS 0.54 9. SLV POLICE BOAT NEAR HMS NOTTINGHAM 1.02 10. VARIOUS OF HMS NOTTINGHAM OUT OF WATER (2 SHOTS) 1.13 11. CLOSE OF DAMAGED PROPELLER 1.17 12. VARIOUS, DAMAGE TO SHIPS HULL WITH WATER SEEPING OUT OF CRACK 1.22 13. VARIOUS OF WATER SEEPING OUT OF CRACKED HULL PATCHED UP WITH EMERGENCY REPAIRS (2 SHOTS) 1.38 14. SLV HMS NOTTINGHAM CREW ON BOARD 1.43 15. SLV CREW MEMBER INSPECTING DAMAGE TO HULL 1.47 16. VARIOUS, OF HMS NOTTINGHAM ON SWAN 2.03 17. CLOSE OF DAMAGE TO SHIP 2.10 18. CLOSE OF CANON ON HMS NOTTINGHAM 2.14 19. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIEUTENANT COMMANDER SIMON DALZIEL SAYING: "While she's been progressing slowly an obviously safety is our biggest parameter that we work to both for the ship and for her crew but things are progressing very well and she's almost clear of the water now." 2.24 20. WIDE OF HMS NOTTINGHAM 2.30 21. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIEUTENANT COMMANDER SIMON DALZIEL SAYING: "We are expecting her to take about six weeks. Swan with Nottingham in part will leave Watson's Bay tonight and go long side Garden Island, the Navy base here, where she will sit for a week. It takes about five days while the securing is done to the make sure Nottingham is fully secured to the desk of Swan and we expect her to sail around about Sunday to be back in the UK in the middle of December." 2.51 22. WIDE OF SILHOUETTE OF HMS NOTTINGHAM ON SWAN 2.56 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 6th November 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
- Country: Australia
- Reuters ID: LVAAC8V1N1Y4NJX1QWM4EUNFC5UZ
- Story Text: The crippled British warship HMS Nottingham was floated
on to a huge semi-submersible, heavy-lift ship in Sydney
Harbour so it can be piggy-backed home to Britain.
The Nottingham HMS was towed ignominiously stern-first
into the harbour last week, three months after the hi-tech 400
million U.S dollar Type 42 air defence destroyer hit
well-charted rocks off a remote Australian resort island and
almost sank.
The Swan, a semi-submersible vessel owned by heavy-lift
specialists Dockwise, has been contracted to carry the HMS
Nottingham back to Britain.
The journey began with a painstaking operation to float
the Nottingham onto the Swan's 126.8 metre (416 ft) by 31.6
metre (103 ft 8 in) deck on Tuesday (October 22).
The Swan's deck, capable of carrying 25,000 tonnes, was
submerged by taking on board thousands of tonnes of water
ballast to allow the HMS Nottingham to be floated over it by
tugs and massive ropes and then secured.
The Swan's deck was then being refloated by expelling the
ballast so that it would rise and lift the HMS Nottingham out
of the water.
The intricate operation needed to be inch-perfect as the
Swan's submersible deck is just over a metre (three feet)
longer than the HMS Nottingham.
Over the next five days the HMS Nottingham will be made
more secure in its cradle on the Swan in preparation for its
journey home.
"While she's been progressing slowly an obviously safety
is our biggest parameter that we work to both for the ship and
for her crew but things are progressing very well and she's
almost clear of the water now," Royal Navy spokesman
Lieutenant Commander Simon Dalziel told reporters.
The HMS Nottingham struck well-charted rocks off Lord Howe
island on July 7 in stormy weather, smashing a hole in her
hull and flooding five forward compartments, including her
forward engine room and a Sea Dart missile store.
She languished 100 metres (yards) off the island, 780
kilometres (480 miles) northeast of Sydney, for a month and
then spent another eight weeks in Newcastle, a port city north
of Sydney, being emptied of her deadly arsenal and having her
hull repaired.
"We are expecting her to take about six weeks. Swan with
Nottingham in part will leave Watson's Bay tonight and go long
side Garden Island, the Navy base here, where she will sit for
a week. It takes about five days while the securing is done
to the make sure Nottingham is fully secured to the desk of
Swan and we expect her to sail around about Sunday to be back
in the UK in the middle of December," the Royal Navy spokesman
added.
British navy officials have said they hope the ship can be
salvaged. It had been feared that the warship might have to be
scrapped, or consigned to navy target practice.
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