Talk about dropping anchor.
More than 8,000 pounds of anchor, chain and heavy rope from a 226-foot fleet ocean tug went crashing to the seafloor near the Pearl Harbor entrance during recent Rim of the Pacific war games, the Navy revealed.
The Military Sealift Command ship USNS Navajo, currently operating out of Pearl Harbor, was conducting routine training July 28 with Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 1 during RIMPAC when the Navajo lost its anchor, the Navy said.
One of the mooring lines holding the anchor parted when the 10-inch-circumference polyester double-braid line was cut due to chafing, Navy Region Hawaii said in an email.
Ninety feet of anchor chain and 546 feet of the polyester line followed the 4,500-pound anchor 150 feet to the bottom.
There were no injuries, and the anchor and 4,250-pound chain were recovered Aug. 9 from "a sandy ocean bottom," the Navy said. Officials said no coral was damaged.
Divers with MDSU-1 helped the Navajo recover its anchor by tying a line to the parted line on the ocean bottom and passing it to the Navajo, which was able to haul up the chain and anchor.
"It is uncommon for Navy ships to lose an anchor," Navy Region Hawaii said.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources said Monday that it had not been contacted by the Navy about the mishap.
At the time, the DLNR said it was concerned the anchor might have landed on state submerged land and caused damage.
The Navy on Tuesday said its environmental office was "in contact with DLNR."
The anchor was lost "near the Pearl Harbor entrance at an approved training area within the Naval Defensive Sea Area," where ships anchor for operations including training, the Navy said.
The Navy said the Navajo did not lose its anchor anywhere near where the cruiser USS Port Royal ran aground.
The Port Royal’s Feb. 5, 2009, grounding in 14 to 22 feet of shoal water off Honolulu Airport’s reef runway resulted in the 567-foot warship being stuck for four days as wave action rocked the vessel on the reef.
It turned out to be an expensive mistake. The repair bill was $40 million, which followed an $18 million refurbishment immediately before the ship ran aground.
The Navy spent more than $7 million on coral stabilization, reattaching nearly 5,400 coral colonies.
In 2011 the Navy agreed to pay its largest settlement ever for reef damage — $8.5 million to the state — for the Port Royal grounding.
