The crew of New Zealand's most powerful tug is preparing for one of its biggest ever tow jobs next week -- helping salvage a crippled British warship.
The guided missile destroyer HMS Nottingham began sinking bow first when it hit rocks at Lord Howe Island off the east coast of Australia
10 days ago.
It was saved by frantic damage control efforts by its crew and the Royal Navy is now preparing to have the crippled 3500-tonne warship towed into an Australian port, either Sydney or Brisbane, for repairs.
The British have commissioned the New Plymouth-based salvage tender Pacific Chieftain, to tow the crippled ship stern first the 300 nautical miles to Australia.
The tug arrived yesterday and will spend the next few days preparing for the five or six-day tow.
The tug is owned by Swire Pacific Offshore Marine and spokesman Andy Neville said that with an 85-tonne bollard pull, the tug was well-equipped for the relatively straight-forward salvage tow.
He said the towing cable would be a large steel hawser, up to 700 metres long. The crew of the warship had already prepared a towing bridle to take the hawser but Mr Neville said the Royal Navy had yet to indicate which port the ship would be towed to and when it would be ready to start the tow.
He said the tug loaded additional fuel and water for the warship but made no other special arrangements.
He said they were unsure how fast the tow would be and that would not be decided until after preparations were complete.
"For us it is a fairly standard sort of ship tow."
Two New Zealand navy ships, the tanker HMNZS Endeavour and the Anzac frigate HMNZS Te Mana have been at Lord Howe island for a week helping with the salvage.
The tow was not expected to begin for another week with Pacific Chieftain on the stern and leading the tow and an Australian salvage tug attached the bow of the ship to provide additional control.
The warship was highly unlikely to be able to provide any motive power or steering for the tow, Mr Neville said.
- NZPA
