South Korea raises sunken warship

Salvage crews have reportedly raised the stern portion of the sunken naval corvette Cheonan in the Yellow Sea.

The New York Times brings us news on the raising of the sunken warship -

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea lifted its sunken warship Thursday in waters near the tense border with North Korea, about three weeks after it went down following a mysterious explosion with dozens of sailors believed trapped inside.

Bad weather and heavy seas have impeded efforts to locate the 44 missing crew and salvage the wreckage of the 1,200-ton Cheonan.

On Thursday, a huge naval crane hoisted the stern — where most of the missing sailors are believed trapped — a day after divers succeeded in tying the wreckage with chains.

Footage by TV broadcaster SBS showed the stern being hoisted about 10-13 feet (3-4 meters) above the sea surface. Salvage workers planned to board the stern later Thursday to search for the missing crew.

The stern was to be loaded onto a barge and moved to a naval base to investigate the cause of the explosion while the rest of the ship is to be salvaged as early as next week, military officials said.

Fifty-eight crew members were rescued shortly after the Cheonan split into two after exploding March 26 during a routine patrol. Divers have recovered two bodies.

No cause has been determined. There has been some suspicion but no confirmation of North Korean involvement in the sinking, which occurred near the two Koreas’ disputed western sea border — a scene of three bloody inter-Korean naval battles.

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A giant offshore crane lifting up portion of the sunken South Korean naval ship Cheonan, off Baengnyeong Island, South Korea, on Thursday. (Im Hun-jung/Yonhap, via Associated Press)

A floating crane prepares to hoist the sunken Navy corvette Cheonan yesterday by lowering metal chains to loop under the bow portion of the wreck. The operation took place near the western inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea. The Navy ship ripped in two and sank after an unexplained explosion on March 26. (Joint Press Corps)

The U.S. Navy has been actively involved in the both the search and rescue compenent of the recovery and the salvage efforts, primarily through the Military Sealift Command (MSC) vessel USNS SALVOR which is operated and crewed by civilian merchant mariners.

Once again, civilian U.S. Merchant Mariners are at the centerpoint of a global maritime response, with the most recent centerpoint being the work done in support of the Haiti relief effort.

Below are a few photos released on the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet Flickr photostream.

Video

You can view a video of the ship being raised at the BBC News site here.