 The SS Normandy was launched at San Jose, the 29th of October, 1932. In completion, she won of the largest and fastest liners afloat. Her general characteristics were length overall 1,029 feet, beam 119 feet, gross tonnage 79,280, displacement 65,000 tons, speed 30 knots, force power 160,000. The ship's main propulsion plant was turboelectric drive through four screws. 29 boilers furnished the steam for the turbines. The immense size of the vessel can be visualized when it's realized that any one of the three funnels was large enough to hold both tubes of the Holland Tunnel. The Normandy was requisitioned by the U.S. government after the outbreak of war in 1941. She was transferred to the Navy Department on the 24th of December of that year and renamed the USS Lafayette. The ship was berthed at Pier 88, North River, and work was begun converting her to a troop transport. The conversion included provisions for birthing and messing about 12,000 officers and men and the installation of necessary ordinance. On the 9th of February, 1942, as the work of conversion neared completion, sparks from a burner's torch ignited bay of life preservers in the Grand Lounge at a fire started. Planned by a strong northwest wind, the blaze swept over both sides of the promenade deck. Until by 1530, it appeared that the entire deck was aflame. Shortly thereafter, the fire caught hold on the quarters of the boat deck, sun deck, and on the bridge, so that the three upper decks in practically all spaces except the theater were enveloped in flames and smoke. The New York City Fire Department took charge of the firefighting activities. Operations were directed chiefly toward getting the fire under control as soon as possible, keeping it from spreading to the lower decks, and protecting the pier on the lured side of the vessel. By 1530, the Lafayette had taken a list to port. Gradually, this list increased. Until by 245 on the 10th of February, the vessel completely capsized, coming to rest on the port side at an angle of a little less than 80 degrees. The capsizing was the result of a combination of circumstances. First, the reduction of the ship's metacentric height or stability to a negative value, causing the ship to heel over. This took place soon after the streams of water had collected on the upper decks. Secondly, the ship's effective freeboard was reduced because of open air and cargo ports on e-deck. As the vessel listed past 13 degrees, these ports were submerged. Thirdly, a further loss of stability and consequent increase in heel due to the port bilge forward grounding on the rock ledge on the falling tide. The ship was completely flooded, fore and aft, up to the outside waterline. The Secretary of the Navy appointed a special committee to make recommendations with respect to salvage or other disposition of the USS Lafayette. The recommendation of the committee was that the vessel should be raised. The Bureau of Ships placed the vessel under the cognizance of the supervisor of salvage, Commodore W. A. Sullivan, who in turn was succeeded by Captain B. E. Monzo. They had at their command the facilities of the Navy's salvage service, which consists of the salvage section of the Merrick, Chapman and Scott Corporation, operating under the general ship's salvage contract, NOBS 36. At a point about one-third the length of the vessel from the bow, the rock profile of Manhattan slopes deeply off into the riverbed. A considerable portion of the vessel's weight rested on this rock shelf. The after two-thirds of the length of the ship was supported and surrounded by mud and soil of various densities. Actually, the possibility of salvage by pumping depended upon the soil in which the after portion of the ship rested, ultimately developing enough bearing to resist the initial tendency to settle by the stern. It was the decision of the engineers that the ship should be raised by controlled pumping. To supervise the work, engineering offices were erected on a barge alongside the Lafayette, and details were worked out in the main offices of the Merrick, Chapman and Scott Corporation. Upon Mr. A. C. W. Seakey, Naval Architect and Consultant Engineer, Merrick, Chapman and Scott Corporation rested the entire program of stability and strength calculations. The preliminary step in the salvage operation was the removal of a superstructure above the promenade deck. Controlled pumping involved the division of the ship into numerous watertight compartments. The compartmentation of the ship was based upon the original watertight bulkheads. Wooden watertight bulkheads were constructed between decks where no original watertight bulkheads existed. To complete the compartmentation, the promenade deck and certain decks below were made watertight. This compartmentation was necessary to control the relationship between the center of gravity and the center of buoyancy during writing operations and also to control any unforeseen leaks or failures. At the beginning, there was only a limited number of experienced divers available. Consequently, two diving schools were organized at Pier 88, one civilian and one for Navy divers. As the student divers gained proficiency in handling underwater tools on the diving dress, they were sent out to do underwater work on the Lafayette. Eventually, as many as 73 civilian divers were employed at one time, besides a considerable number of Navy divers. Diving conditions were extremely hazardous. Jagged steel edges and broken glass were an ever-present threat. The maze of debris-packed passageways presented a terrific problem. The men worked in complete darkness. The water and the slip containing such an amount of mud and sewage that underwater lights were useless. Work was accomplished by sense of touch alone. Approximately 5,000 tons of superstructure was removed, slightly less than half of which was submerged and was cut away by divers using the underwater gas torch. These decks were removed to lower the center of gravity and to make accessible the various uptake openings for patching. On the Lafayette cap-sized, furniture, stores and other loose objects accumulated on the port side, blocking passageways, making it necessary for divers to clear away this debris before commencing the actual salvage construction. All minor cabin bulkheading and ship's piping was removed to lighten the ship as much as possible and to make room for the watertight bulkheads. These operations often were carried on in 50 feet of water and 10 feet of mud since much of this debris had settled to the lowest possible point, the submerged port side of the ship. After capsizing, cargo passages became vertical shafts and through these shafts, scrap material was hoisted from the interior of the ship and deposited on barges lying alongside. Records were kept for the weight removed for future calculation. A miniature industrial city sprang up on the starboard side of the Lafayette. Air compressors for the diving units, portable power generators, tool sheds, banks of cylinders containing cutting gas, firefighting equipment, winches, small derricks, catwalks, welding machines. Power and water lines ran the length of the hull. Barges were moored along the almost vertical face of the promenade deck. These contained the blacksmith's shop, the carpenter's shop, machine shop and engineering office, while other barges used as lighters passed to and from the ship carrying material and scrap. During salvage operations, the Lafayette presented a strange appearance to those aboard ships passing up and down the busy Hudson River, much like a giant gulliver overrun with busy little effusions. To prevent any possible damage to the starboard screws, they were removed prior to writing operations. Each of the screws weighed 23 tons. The port screws being submerged in 50 feet of mud and water could not be removed. The interior of the ship as she lay on her side presented another strange spectacle. Volkheads became decks. Decks became bulkheads. Elevator shafts were used as companion ways, and the former fort ship's passageways were used as elevator shafts. Stairways and ship's ladders were useless, and carpenters were kept busy during the entire salvage operation, building wooden ladders, platforms and scaffolding to facilitate movement of men and materials throughout the interior of the ship. Miles of ladders and thousands of feet of lumber were used in this construction. Immersion destroyed the ship's electric system. Three of the four turbines were inundated. But after the ship was raised, the blading of the turbines was found to be only slightly corroded. To compartment the ship, it was necessary to install large wooden bulkheads. The bulkheads were constructed of grooved 8 by 12 timbers with a 2 by 4 joint. Approximately 210,000 board feet of 8 by 12 timbers and form lumber was used in constructing these bulkheads. If all bulkheads were placed together, they would make a bulkhead 350 feet long and 60 feet deep. The placement of bulkheads in the Lafayette followed this plan. For water tightness, concrete was poured where the wooden bulkheads met the ship's steel decks and where they met the skin of the ship. The concrete was poured underwater using the trainee process. The concrete was pumped into forms by a pump creek machine sealing the wooden bulkheads to the steel structure of the ship. These bulkheads were built from above water downward and 900 cubic yards of a 1, 2, 3 mix of concrete was used for the ceiling. To back up cargo ports and airport patches on the port side of the vessel, divers poured bags of concrete over these spots to strengthen them. 16 cargo ports and 356 airports were strengthened in this manner. The amount of shoring which had to be done is indicated here. In all salvage jobs requiring extensive pumping, the ability of decks and bulkheads to withstand the hydrostatic heads expected requires thorough consideration. Timber beams were placed between the original deck beams to support the deck plating against water pressure. The shoring extended from these timber beams to timber stringers on the deck below. This is the shoring at sea deck after the ship was raised to 30 degrees. A total of 90,000 board feet or approximately a mile and a half of shoring timbers were used. And all the immense amount of material was placed and aligned by divers. Here are indicated the underwater openings on the promenade deck which necessitated the construction of special patches. The main patches were constructed in this manner. It is interesting to note that 21-inch steel eye beams were used. Also, that rubber gaskets used in patches were made from rubber recovered from the Lafayette's decking. The patches for the various openings were constructed on the barges board alongside. And when completed, were placed in position through a combined operation of men on the surface, divers and derricks. Here, a turbine uptake patch weighing 21 tons is being lowered into the water preliminary to transferring it to a vertical position for placement against the ship. All large patches were equipped with gate valves through which water was permitted to flow to keep the water levels inside and outside equalized until ready to commence pumping. The valves also for visit flooding during pumping operations should that become necessary. When the patches were properly seated, the rods or bolts which had been previously secured at the inboard end to a suitable ship structure by means of hinge shackles or levers were run through corresponding bolt holes in the patches and bolted up by divers from the outside. Captain J.I. Tucker, one of Merritt, Chapman and Scott's leading salvage officers, was made superintendent of the work on the Lafayette. Captain Tucker was well suited for the Lafayette job in view of his previous experience in salvaging capsized vessels and particularly in view of his many years' experience in diving. Port hole patches were hinged discs of wood with strong backs. The patches were hinged to enable the diver to place the patch through the port hole from the inside of the ship. It was often necessary to excavate 10 feet of mud to place these patches. And sometimes it required a week's work for the placement of one patch. 356 patches were placed in this manner, one diver working the entire period of salvage operation on this job alone. As a safety precaution, the starboard condenser intake was covered with a wooden patch to ensure water tightness when the ship was righted. Wooden plugs were used to seal 4,500 small openings. All patches, plugs, shoring and bulkhead timbers were prefabricated in the carpenter and blacksmith shops located aboard the barges moored alongside the place of the promenade deck. Pumping of the Lafayette was accomplished by the use of 40 10-inch pumps, 32 6-inch pumps and 25 3-inch pumps capable of discharging 40,000 tons of water an hour. They were tested on the pier previous to installation. The placing of the pumps inside the vessel just prior to the writing operations was a hazardous and difficult job involving in many cases considerable ingenuity on the part of the rigors. It was necessary to locate a suitable number of 10-inch and 6-inch pumps in each of the watertight subdivisions of the ship to adequately dewater the compartments in a short time and at the same time to provide a reserve to handle unexpected leakage. It was also necessary to have enough initial reserve capacity available to compensate for the expected reduction due to increasing head as the water level dropped and the vessel rotated. In each case, suctions extended to the port side of the ship and were possible close to the watertight boundary of each compartment. Discharges ran nearly horizontal through the promenade deck. The pump platforms were hinged to the vertical decks and rigged in such a manner that as the ship rotated, the pumps could be kept in a horizontal position by slacking off on chain falls in order that gasoline-driven pumps would not exhaust in the compartments. Flexible steel exhaust lines were carried up to the starboard side of the ship and out through airports. When the Lafayette capsized, her rudder cut under the pier about five feet, shearing five piles supporting pier 88. Since that portion of the ship still projected under the pier, it was necessary to remove a portion of the pier at this point to avoid any possible damage to the stern of the ship during writing. As a further precautionary measure, pile clusters were driven to act as prenders for the vessel to bear against as it approached a 45-degree position. From the very beginning of the salvage operations, it was necessary to take extraordinary fire precautions. After the initial fire and capsizing of the vessel, the embarrassment that might be caused by subsequent fires during salvage operations made it necessary to take exaggerated precautions, even though the probability of further damage to the ship because of fire was very small. Smoking was not allowed inside the hull while the ship was being cleaned or cleared or during the final pumping operations when the possibility existed of gasoline fumes permeating the ship. A fire watch was always posted whenever there was burning with an axis settle in torch. Various gas testing devices and implements were used throughout the salvage of the vessel as a constant precaution against the formation of gas from organic materials within the ship and that created by the immense amount of city sewage draining into the slip in which the ship lay. Four instruments were constructed to give an accurate picture of the exact position of the ship at any time during writing operations. Draft and tide gauges were installed at various points throughout the ship. A clinometer was constructed to record the angle of list of the ship. A movement gauge was installed to indicate the movement of the ship toward Pier 88. The compartment testing was completed by the 2nd of August and after thorough preparation, an overall pump test was made for a 48-hour period, during which time divers applied sawdust to all patches and seams where binary leakage might exist with the result that the ship was nearly bottle tight. Pumping operations were under the direct supervision of Captain B. E. Monzo, USM, Supervisor of Salvage and Captain Tucker. Because there was no particular reason for speed and because it was extremely important to build up no forces or develop leakage which could not be controlled, pumping continued cautiously and each rising tide was utilized to supply the additional buoyancy necessary to move the ship. Air and water jets installed in various patches on the port side and along the port edge of the promenade deck were started and maintained continuously in order to relieve any mud suction that might exist. At 800 on the 6th of August, there was a 16-foot negative head. With the rising tide, the buoyancy increased and at about one half tide, the vessel started to roll slowly and steadily. During the pumping operations, readings were taken every 15 minutes on the movement gauge, draft gauge, and clinometer. These readings were all transferred to the control office on the ship for the recording and plotting of the movement of the ship. In its initial capsized position with all decks above the promenade deck removed, the center of buoyancy was about two feet farther from the keel than the center of gravity. This gave the Lafayette the initial tendency to right itself. As water was pumped from the ship, the buoyancy increased with a corresponding decrease in the weight of water in the ship. Also, the distance between the center of gravity and the center of buoyancy increased. The result was an increased tendency of the ship to right itself, pivoting about the turn of the bilge. It became apparent that each time the water in the ship was lowered relative to the outside water level, the ship started to rotate, and the instant pumping stopped, the ship's movement stopped. It was felt that absolute control could be maintained over the vessel's every movement. During the writing operations, rear admirals E. L. Cochran and J. J. Brochek inspected the ship. As the promenade deck rose above water, the patches became visible. The patches on the underwater or port side of the promenade deck covered openings similar to those on the high or starboard side. Measurements for the underwater patches were obtained by checking the openings on the high side and further checking by divers the underwater openings. Total weight of all these patches was 350 tons. The largest single patch weighing 52 tons. It was 54 feet long, 22 feet wide, and 3 feet deep. During the process of removing all decks above the promenade deck to lower the center of gravity and to facilitate patching, it was found impossible to remove all of the boat deck. The last 10 feet of this deck being so deeply buried in the mud that the divers couldn't reach it. Consequently, when the writing operations had progressed until this remaining portion of the boat deck appeared above water, this section was removed using torches to further lighten the weight on the port side of the ship. Approximately 500 tons were removed. In order to secure the fore and aft movement of the vessel in the slip, special mooring arrangements were designed and installed. Forty horsepower, two drum winches supplied the hauling power for each set of mooring lines. The hauling part of the standard nine-park beach gear tackle was led to the drum of the winches. As the stern came afloat during the early stages of pumping, a steady pull was maintained on the cables leading to pier 90. So that by the time the vessel approached its 45-degree position, the stern was well clear of the safety fender pile clusters along the north side of pier 88. Early on the morning of the 9th of August, as the Lafayette reached an inclination of 49 degrees, the pumps in compartment 16 were unable to lower the water beyond the existing level. A leak of extremely serious nature had developed in the way of the rock ledge. The damage occurred just under the turn of the bilge on the port side between frames 224 and 244. Due to the movement of the ship on the bearing rock, the hull plates had been cracked. The cracks extending 54 feet long and 27.5 feet wide. After the approximate position of the leak was known, divers attempted to stop the leak by using bags of rags. This attempt was unsuccessful. A second attempt was made to stop the leak by pouring 100 cubic yards of concrete on the tank top. The concrete pump was used to pump the concrete into place, and pouring was accomplished by the Trimi process. The area indicated is the first pour in compartment 16. At first this method seemed successful, but suddenly the water commenced to rise rapidly with all pumps going. Subsequent inspection by divers indicated that a rupture in the tanks had opened abat the concrete dam which had been previously laid. Following considerable study and search between the 22nd and 30th of August, it was decided to again attempt to stop the leak by filling all the double bottom and wing tanks in the way of any of the ruptures with 800 tons of concrete. In the meantime, by further pumping in compartment 16 and adjacent compartments and ballasting of the starboard side, the list was reduced to 25 degrees. The greater surface covered by the second pour was in the double bottom and wing tanks. Pumping was again started, raising the ship by parallel rise. And on the morning of the 15th of September, the Lafayette floated clear at both high and low tides. The old water lines left by surface oil could clearly be seen. Divers could now reach the damaged area from the outside, and several thousand bags of rags were stuffed into the cracks. From the 16th of September, work was directed toward removing the tremendous amount of timber and concrete construction from the port side of the ship. All port side patches were removed, the removal being a much easier task than the placement. To reduce the list, the starboard wing tanks and double bottom tanks were ballasted with fresh water and further work continued, removing the remaining water and the large quantities of mud and debris. A collision mat was placed over the damaged area to secure the leak in order that the Lafayette could be taken to a dry dock. This mat was one of the largest ever constructed, being approximately 65 feet square, made by sewing standard Navy collision mats together. It was placed and secured by hogging lines attached to the bottom and the top of the mat. Along with the final cleaning operations and the removal of salvage gear, work was begun preparing the ship for transfer from Pier 88 in the slip where she'd lain so long to the dry dock. Towing eyes were welded along the side of the ship to handle lines from the tugs, and all towing and securing lines were stowed aboard. On November 3rd, the USS Lafayette was transferred from the control of the supervisor of salvage and placed under the cognizance of the commandant of the 3rd Naval District. On the morning of November 3rd, Captain Monzo and Captain Tucker congratulated each other on a job well done. Behind them, busy tugs bustled in alongside the Lafayette and made fast to her huge fire-scarred oil-streak bulk. At 10-hundred, she was scheduled to move from the pier, and at exactly 10-hundred, the great ship began to slide out into the Hudson River. Twenty months and 24 days after the first flames had roared from those Bay of Life preservers, the Lafayette was again underway. On the whole, the entire salvage operation from the initial development of the plan through the preparation to the final floating and cleaning of the ship was considered extremely successful. Successful completion of the salvage at an estimated cost of $4,500,000 is complete justification of the committee's recommendation of salvage. In that a hull greatly exceeding the salvage cost was recovered, and by removal of the ship, two 1,000-foot piers were again made available for use. Three tugs were bridled at the bow, two tugs worked at the stern, while fifteen others crowded along her hull as she slowly moved down the river in the bright November sunshine. When one considers the hazards that attended the salvage work, it is amazing and of credit to the United States Navy that not one single casualty occurred, and comparatively few accidents, despite the fact that the daily average of men employed on the project was 700. Her entry into the dry dock was accomplished without a hitch. Light messenger lines were past the shore, and the heavy manila mooring lines were brought down and carried along the docks by crews carefully trained for the occasion. The operation was directed by loudspeakers and radio telephone, and just a few hours after leaving Pier 88, the Lafayette was securely berthed. Just 17 months and 19 days after the supervisor of salvage was directed by the secretary of the Navy to conduct the salvage operations, the task had been done. To Commodore W. A. Sullivan, U.S.N., Captain B. E. Monzo, U.S.N., Captain J. I. Tucker, the supervisors, the divers and other workmen who were responsible for devising means for and the actual accomplishment of the many details of construction and other preparatory work on which the success of the salvage depended goes the credit for one of the greatest engineering feats of the century.