U.S. NAVY SALVAGE REPORT DEEPWATER HORIZON ... - ESSM

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response
Chapter 5 - Operations
SUPSALV’s support for the DWH oil spill could be divided up into traditional OSR support -
booming and skimming, and engineering support at BP’s Houston headquarters and at the well
site. Section 5.1 addresses the traditional oil spill response which was accomplished on the Gulf
Coast and in the ocean waters at the Mississippi Canyon 252 (site of the well head).
5-1 Managing Beach and Gulf Water Operations
5-1.1 Gulfport Base of Operations
SUPSALV was allocated space to operate at the Mississippi State Port Authority at Gulfport
often referred to as the State Pier, Gulfport MS. This facility is a bulk, break-bulk and container
seaport which encompasses 204 acres and has nearly 6,000 feet of berthing space. The State
Pier facilities allowed for very effective management, maintenance, receipt, staging, and
allocation of Navy OSR equipment.
Other assets at the port included:
• Fenced and gated facility that provided excellent security and enabled CAC badge
access.
• Fixed and mobile cranes.
• Pier space for configuring and equipping the OSVs.
• Parking lot space for a SUPSALV Base of operations (Command Vans, Shop Vans and
other ESSM trailers).
An overhead view of the State Pier, Gulfport with an outline of the space allocated to the Navy is
provided as Figure 5-1 and an image of SUPSALV’s command vans used as a base of
operations at the Gulfport State Pier is provided as Figure 5-2.
5-1