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

Chapter 5: Operations
Ship Island, south of Gulfport, MS. Seacor Marine OSV, JOHN COGHILL, was assigned to
SUPSALV to perform the booming operations. She was outfitted at Gulfport and could lay 2 to 4
1000-foot lengths of 42” ocean boom in one day.
On 6 May, booming operations began in Venice, LA with the survey of two areas for boom
installation, West New Harbor Island and East Bay. 6000' of 26" boom was rigged on OSV WES
BORVELON for deployment around West New Harbor Island. Following that task, the ship
operated out of Venice, deploying and, when needed, repairing containment boom at four site
sites (West New Harbor, East Bay, Breton Island, and North Pass) until engine failure on 17
June. OSV CASPIAN SEA was identified as the replacement vessel on 27 June and was used
to conduct southern Louisiana booming operations.
Figure 5-15. June 6 2010 image of crews on OSV WES BORVELON
preparing boom for deployment in vicinity of Half Moon Island, LA where
pilings were driven as boom attachment points.
5-4.3 Challenges
High Current Deployment Strategy - Responding to Alabama State official concerns, SUPSALV
committed 19,000 feet of 42” ocean boom to protect Mobile Bay from oil contamination. Using a
barge and OSV JOHN COGHILL, SUPSALV began operating out of Theodore, AL on 12 May
and began to set the moorings and boom at Mobile Bay entrance near Dauphin Island. Figure 5-
16 shows the employment plan for this boom. Despite observations by SUPSALV that the plan
was flawed due to high current, the booming began. Boom was employed perpendicular to the
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