Rough seas off Diamond Head have delayed by about a week the operation to lift the Ehime Maru, the Japanese fisheries training ship struck and sunk by a U.S. Navy submarine in February, a Navy official said Tuesday.
The Navy had planned to begin as early as next Monday moving the ship to a depth where divers can search for missing crew members.
But high waves, which have topped 3 meters, have slowed preparations by the salvage ship Rockwater 2 to rig the sunken ship.
A spokesman from the National Atmospheric and Oceanographic Administration in Honolulu confirmed that waves have been higher than normal for the past several days and that the conditions would likely affect all ocean-going vessels.