The U.S. Navy announced Thursday that it will again lift the stern of the Ehime Maru, the Japanese fishing training vessel hit and sunk by a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine in February, to reposition one of the two wires put in place earlier in the day, a navy official said.
The precise positioning of the two wires, called messenger wires, is critical to rigging and transporting the hull from its current location at a depth of about 600 meters to a shallow shoal, where divers will attempt to retrieve the remains and personal effects of the nine missing Japanese who went down with the ship.
The two messenger wires, which were to be placed under the pilot house and engine room, are to be connected to two steel lifting plates that will eventually support the ship's hull as it is transferred to shallower waters.
Although the navy successfully lifted the Ehime Maru and pulled the wires through, it was later discovered that the forward wire had become caught around the middle of the ship, rather than beneath the pilot house.