Wired has an amazing story about a salvage crew rescuing a car carrier off the coast of Alaska (Warning:  includes language you would expect from a salvage crew off the coast of Alaska). 

Having been in the Navy, I am semi-familiar with what they do, but I did not realize how much they rely on computers and 3d modeling.  The salvage team takes a computer expert with them to the salvage site in order to build an exact 3d replica of the ship so that they can model the effects of pumping out water, or moving water around in the tanks.  This way they can re-float the ship with the least amount of work possible.

As the Ship's Diving Officer on a submarine, I was responsible for making sure that the sub had the proper amount of ballast on board.  Ideally, a sub, once submerged, should have neutral buoyancy, meaning it does not tend to sink or float.  This can be very difficult if the sub has been in port for a while, taken on stores, added more people, pumped out tanks, loaded weapons, or anything else that can change the weight of the boat.  Now I'm jealous - all I had to calculate all this was an Excel spreadsheet.

Posted by: jcallery at 08:29 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 213 words, total size 1 kb.