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Present Course: 318
Degrees Northwest
Winds: Northeast at 20 Knots
Seas & Swells: Combined at 12 Feet
Barometric Pressure: 1012 Millibars
Air Temperature: 82 Degrees
Sea Temperature: 81 Degrees
Visibility: 10 Miles
Skies: Scattered Clouds
Sea Floor: Ocean depths beneath the USS New Jersey at this point are
4,293 Meters, or 14,083 Feet. Panama Canal
Transit: October 16 - 21 / Balboa Pier 14 - 15, Miraflores and Pedro Miguel
Locks, the Gaillard Cut, Gamboa, Lake Gatun, and the Gatun Locks, and Cristobal. USS
New Jersey's clearance into the Caribbean Sea / Atlantic Ocean was completed at 11:34
a.m., and her mark for the commencement of the Cristobal, Panama - Philadelphia, PA Third
Leg was passed at 11:42 a.m., Thursday, October 21.
Distance Of Second Leg:
September 21 -
October 15 / Long Beach, CA to Balboa Anchorage, Panama: 2,948.7 Nautical Miles, the
longest leg of New Jersey's homecoming voyage.
Total Average Speed Second Leg: 5.18 Knots
Distance Of First Leg: September 12 - 21 / Bremerton, WA to Long Beach,
CA: 1,193.6 Nautical Miles from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to Long Beach, CA
anchorage.
Total Average Speed First Leg: 5.54 Knots
Position: USS New Jersey continues this
evening on a northwest heading to Captain Kaare Ogaard's Yucatan Channel waypoint. Due
north of her position now is La Furnia and Cabo Frances, Cuba.
Special Advisory Position Report
Philadelphia Estimated Arrival Time Changes
Slightly...
Captain Ogaard Praises Crew For "Super-Human Effort"
Immediately after lunch in Sea Victory's galley this
noon, Captain Kaare L. Ogaard, Jr., spoke in formal terms about the effort that has been
uppermost in his mind for the past week.
It involves Sea Victory's main port engine, the plans now
underway to fix it, and the plans for the USS New Jersey in the meantime.
Meanwhile, the New Jersey continues on her course at this
writing to the Yucatan Channel, and according to the Captain earlier today, he intended to
maintain that trackline to his waypoint at the Channel: 21 Degrees, 30 Minutes North / 85
Degrees, 00 Minutes West.
The following is how Captain's Ogaard spoke about the
current situation with the Sea Victory and plans for the USS New Jersey, at noon today:
"For all those who have followed the progress of the
USS New Jersey's voyage to Philadelphia, and may have picked up on the reduction of speed
from October 23, this was due to the failure of a major component on the port main engine.
"The component that failed was changed out using
on-board spares, and was accomplished in under 72 hours of super-human effort by the Chief
Engineer, mates and deckhands, in extremely hot and uncomfortable conditions.
"The weather has been less than wonderful, which
caused pitching and rolling, and which hampered the installation of the 1,800-pound
component. The downside is, the new component also failed, which brings us to where
we are today.
"Every test that's been proposed to us by the engine
manufacturers, and our own in-house engineering people, has not solved our problem.
"So now the solution to our problem is the Sea
Victory will rendezvous with another Crowley Marine Services' tug, which will proceed at
full-speed from Lake Charles, Louisiana today.
"This tug, the Mariner, while smaller in size than
the Sea Victory, has exactly the same propulsion, with one minor difference. It has
the same 7200-HP / EMD engines. They are turbo-charged and have 5-bladed,
stainless-steel propellers. The difference being, it does not have Kort nozzles.
Therefore, its Bollard pull - its thrust while thrusting ahead - will be slightly
less than Sea Victory's.
"We anticipate rendezvousing with this tug Saturday
afternoon, hopefully in the lee of the western tip of the Island of Cuba, which should
afford us some lee from the weather. USS New Jersey's tow gear will be transferred
to the tug Mariner, then Sea Victory will proceed at full-speed on one engine to the Port
of Miami, Florida, to effect permanent repairs to the engine component in question.
"The Mariner is carrying two EMD (Electromotive
Division, General Motors) engine technicians to do preparatory work for the component
replacement.
"We anticipate being at Miami for approximately 24
hours. We should arrive there early Monday morning, departing by Tuesday morning, to
rendezvous with the tug Mariner, and resume the tow of the USS New Jersey to Philadelphia.
"Since this malfunction occurred at 10:09 a.m. on
Saturday, October 23, our forward progress has been due to the starboard engine only.
Considering what we're towing, it's a pretty commendable rate of speed."
Submitted by Bob Wernet onboard the Sea Victory.
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