Subic Bay - 17th Jul - 2 divers missing on USS New York

[DandyDon]

Very unfortunate and sad. Condolences to all who knew the divers. Perhaps they were looking for the third diver who may have bailed without letting the others know he was leaving. If I thought that one of my team were lost, I would look all over that ship, perhaps to my own demise.

Mentioned earlier...

Chow left the dive site first and said that he saw Tin stop and turned around as they were leaving USS New York, Brittian signaled to him that he would go back to go Tin.

 

[clgsamson]

A report with pictures....

"American diver found dead after exploring the USS New York shipwreck in the Pacific Ocean

• A Hong Kong tourist was also found dead

By Daily Mail Reporter

An American diving instructor, who had also worked with the U.S. Navy, has been found dead after exploring the USS New York in the Pacific Ocean.
Steve Brittain, a dive master who worked at Johan Dive Shop in Subic Bay in the Philippines, died - along with a Hong Kong tourist - when surveying the World War II wreak.
Police recovered the body of the American today after the two divers went missing yesterday evening, and the tourist's body was found, inside USS New York, last night, according to police officer Jose Llaves.

The body of U.S. diver Steve Brittain is found and rushed to shore, but he was declared dead shortly afterwards

Mr Brittain, a diver who worked at Johan Dive Shop in Subic Bay in the Philippines, died - along with a Hong Kong tourist - while on a ship wreak

Mr Brittain, who was believed to have settled in the Philippines and started a family there, took tourists Tin Shun-chuen and Chow Fung-lung diving at the popular wreck on Sunday, but only Mr Chow emerged from the expedition.
He told police he lost track of Mr Brittain and Mr Tin because of poor visibility as they swam through the wreck, forcing him to surface.


Nino Palmiano, a staff member for the Boardwalk Dive Shop in Subic whose dive masters took part in the search and rescue effort, said that Mr Brittain was a popular and experienced diving instructor in the area.

Divers search an area following the reported disappearance of the two divers in Subic Bay of Zambales province, northwest of Manila, Philippines

Rescuers prepare to search for the American diving instructor and the Hong Kong tourist who failed to surface after exploring the World War II shipwreck

'I know that he was previously with the U.S. Navy,' Mr Palmiano said.

The relatives of Steve Brittain weep after his body was pulled out of the water

Romeo Renojo, maritime security chief at the Subic Bay Freeport, said an investigation is under way.
He said he has recommended a suspension of dives at the USS New York, one of about eight U.S. and Japanese World War II shipwrecks in Subic Bay.
The USS New York was scuttled in 27 metres (90 feet) of water by U.S. forces based at the then U.S. naval base ahead of the Japanese World War II invasion, according to local dive shops.

The wreck is home to colourful sea creatures such as barracuda, lionfish, groupers, lobsters, octopus, and rays, according to local divers."


Rest in Peace Tin and Stvbrit...

 

[Matthew]

Conflicting report:

Bodies of 2 divers recovered - The Philippine Star » News » Nation

"Chong told probers that they had examined the sunken ship and were about to head to the surface with him on the lead, when he saw Tin heading back to the engine room where Brittian, who was lagging behind, seemed to be signaling for them to come back."

 

[martinskarin]

Conflicting report:

Bodies of 2 divers recovered - The Philippine Star » News » Nation

"Chong told probers that they had examined the sunken ship and were about to head to the surface with him on the lead, when he saw Tin heading back to the engine room where Brittian, who was lagging behind, seemed to be signaling for them to come back."

If that is true, what can have happened? Did Steve get stuck or something? How much air is it likely that they where down to at this time if they where to finish the wreck dive?

Steve was my OW instructor when I was to Subic during Christmas in the end of last year, I really feel sorry for his family and friends, he was a great guy!

 

[DevonDiver]

Guys, I am not going to offer any speculation on this incident, or pass on any unconfirmed info, but will attempt to add some facts for the benefit of those who haven't dived the USS New York....

From: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/07/18/11/missing-foreign-diver-found-dead-subic

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Rescuers finally retrieved the body of an American dive instructor who went missing along with a Chinese diver in waters off Subic in Zambales province.

Dive instructor Steve Brittian’s body was retrieved around 7 a.m. Tuesday.


Brittian and Chinese diver Shun Chuen Tin went missing last Sunday while conducting a diving course at the shipwreck of the USS New York.
On Monday night, the body of Tin was retrieved around 8 p.m. by rescuers from the 80-foot deep waters. However, the operations were halted at night in consideration of the rescuers’ safety.


The victims were trapped at the back part of the shipwreck’s canon near the engine room.


The rescue team said Tin entered the wrong part of the ship and got trapped, causing Brittian to come to his rescue. The American dive instructor, however, was trapped as well.


Another diver accompanying the two, Chinese Fung Long Chow, survived the incident.


The three divers left 3:30 p.m. last Sunday for a technical wreck diving course. Fellow divers declared them missing around 5 p.m.


They said the very poor visibility in the area aggravated the situation of the trapped divers.


Fellow divers added that Brittian, who is an expert of Subic’s ship wreck sites, is a big loss to the diving industry.


Johan de Sadeleir, owner of the dive shop where the 2 rented their gears, said it was supposed to be a fun dive.
– Report from Abner Mercado and Dominic Almelor, ABS-CBN News

This is a confusing report, because the primary access to the engine rooms isn't 'near' the rear gun turret...

There are two main guns (fore and aft) remaining on the USS New York. The nearest gun to the engine room is the aft (rear) gun. The gun itself is about 20m further down the vessel from the small engine room access point that most of the penetrations are conducted through. However, that doesn't mean that these divers were using that penetration point... there are other penetration points further down the length of the wreck.

The wreck is laid on its port side and is quite structurally intact, other than the mid-ships/bridge section which was blasted open. The top hull is very thickly armored and contains many open access hatches. Most of the interior walls of this deck were wooden, which have now long rotted away and left the entire deck open-plan. It's about 2-3m wide and 10m high. Very dark, but not a lot of silt inside this deck, unless you are at the very bottom. Many divers, including recreational divers, are taken through this deck section as it is quite unrestricted, low risk of silt and there are multiple exit points above and beside divers throughout its length (see below). There are several exit points at the top of the deck (direct ascent to surface), many hatches and holes along the sides... and the gun deck opens out into the broken area, allowing relatively easy exit if you swim forwards.

above: Two divers swimming aft, through the gun deck. Rear 8" turret is situated on the right side of the structure. Hatches on the left side go deeper into the wreck. Light from overhead exit points (smaller gun ports) can be seen illuminating the photo.


above: Example of exit hatches leading out from the gun deck. This exit is at the bottom of the shot line. It is just above the rear comms mast.

The primary entrance/s to the engine room/s are located just in front of the rear comms mast. There is a 3m wide access point just above the sea-floor, which opens into a relatively large space, consisting of 2 levels - the rear bridge superstructure and the gun deck. At the back of this space are two access ladder shaft into the engines. From this open area, divers can also turn right, all the way to the rear of the ship along the gun deck, or left through a short section of the gun deck before it opens out into the open area.

above: Diver exits the gun deck through the broken section in mid-ships. A very straightforward exit route.


Both of the access shafts to the engine are very restrictive (ladder shafts), silted and there is no penetrating ambient light. Permanent guidelines are in place for the first 10m of penetration into both shafts. A diver in doubles will only 'just' fit through the shafts and cannot turn-around without fully clearing the shaft in either direction.

above: Access ladder shaft to the engine rooms. This is where most technical penetrations normally commence. (See the video link in my earlier post for footage of a penetration through this passage).


I hope that description makes sense.

So, from the news report, it's unclear where in the wreck the two divers were. They had either entered the engine rooms via one of the ladder access shafts, or were somehow caught in the general gun deck area (nearer the rear 8" gun turret), which is about 20m further along the wreck.

 

[DevonDiver]

This news report contradicts the last report and seems to indicate that the divers were found in one of the access points to the engine rooms. This could have been the ladder access shafts in front of the mast, but there are also a few access points further down the gun deck to the rear (nearer the rear gun).

From: http://subictimes.com/2011/07/19/drowned-foreigners-found-inside-engine-bay-of-uss-new-york/

SUBIC BAY, Freeport: Divers here have recovered the body of the 2^nd foreign diver who drowned while diving the USS New York Sunday afternoon.Authorities identified the victims as Dive master Steven Brittain, 47 and Hong Kong resident Shun Chuen Tin, 30.

Tin’s body was recovered Monday night while Brittain’s body was recovered 8am Tuesday morning.

Rani Cruz, who supervised and provided assistance to the private divers said that the engine room of USS New York is the most deepest part of the ship as well as the most dangerous part to dive in. Divers who went to retrieve the body of the two victims said that they found the two in a path hole leading to the engine room of USS New York.

The two divers including another Chinese national identified as Fong Lung Chow dove to see USS New York at around 3pm Sunday.

Chow left the dive site first and said that he saw Tin stop and turned around as they were leaving USS New York, Brittian signaled to him that he would go back to go Tin.

Chow proceeded to surface, he added that the site was dark and muddy and that he lost site of the tow divers.

The PNP Scene of the Crime Operatives has already conducted their own investigation as to the cause of the drowning but official result has yet to be made available.

Don't hold your breath for any accurate or insightful reporting from the local media. Fingers crossed that the PNP investigation will be more insightful... and hopefully draw upon the experience of expert local divers to make sense of what happened.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Gentle reminder: This is the Accident thread, for analyzing the mishap. A condolences thread is located in the Passings forum. Please post condolences, memories, prayers, words for the family etc there.
Thanks,
Rick

 

[leonard_yu]

Actually there are at least 2 entrance to the engine room ( there is a third one but I can not put an arrow on it, it is somewhere a little bit in it)

The one near the bow is the usual entrance, get in there, you can see a ladder, with a permanent line leading to two directions: big engine room and the small one.

The one near the stern is also used a lot. Get in there, turn left, lower a bit, you will find the permanent line. Here the entrance is a bit smaller and the permanent line is difficult to find when the vis is poor and you are not familliar with that area. Also if you enter here, after a very narrow corridor, the line going a bit up on the left side, then down a lot, if someone turn right here, then he would lost the line and went into a very big and complicated area that easily get trapped. This is where I believe the accident happened.

I was there from Jul 13-17, when the accident happened, I was on my way back to Manila. Otherwise I would assist the search for sure. During my 4 days diving there, almost every dive I was in the engine room. The vis is not so good, but not that bad that an experienced diver like Steve would get lost.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

The wreck is laid on its starboard side and is quite structurally intact

View attachment 99202

Actually there are at least 2 entrance to the engine room... /QUOTE]

[Oops, can't get leonard_yu's illustration to repeat here, but it's in the post just above this one.]

I'm trying to visualize this, and all of your description is helpful. But could I check on something? To me, looking at the drawings, it looks like the vessel is lying on her port side.... or is it that what looks to me like the bow is actually the stern (which would make the "lying on her starboard side" fit)?

I want to clarify this for myself because it will make the "more forward" or "further aft" entrance descriptions work better for me.

Thanks,
Blue Sparkle

 

[RikRaeder]

Thanks for the visuals. Been on the New York near to a dozen times but never past the grim reaper sign. That ladder way is pretty tight.