Salvor

The USNS 'Salvor' has removed the Indonesian registered, expeditionary cruise vessel 'Voyager' (IMO: 6523925) from Guam, ending a two-year ordeal that followed the grounding in typhoon Mawar in May 2023 on a coral reef near the Piti Channel, a protected harbour just north of Naval Base Guam. The ship was towed away from the island on Oct. 2, 2025. The Indonesia-flagged vessel had arrived in 2021 at the Port of Guam, where the owner planned to sell it, but a Coast Guard inspection found structural deficiencies, and the sale collapsed. The owner abandoned the ship and its nine Indonesian crew members, who remained on board for months without pay. They survived on donated food and welfare checks before being repatriated. Legal disputes delayed the removal efforts until the grounding. The 'Voyager' posed a navigation hazard and threatened sensitive marine environments. Cleanup crews removed hazardous materials, including 51,000 gallons of oily waste, at a cost of about $800,000. Despite consensus that the ship had to go, regulatory hurdles slowed progress until the USNS 'Salvor' arrived on Guam and proposed using the operation as a training mission. Funded through the Defense Department’s Innovative Readiness Training program, the 'Salvor' towed the 'Voyager' about 25 miles offshore, where it was scuttled at an Environmental Protection Agency-approved site. Sinking the ship proved to be the most environmentally responsible and cost-effective solution, given Guam’s remote location. It took nearly 200 people from numerous agencies to remove the ship. Report with photos: https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2025-12-19/abandoned-ship-naval-base-guam-20142648.html

The U.S. Navy has successfully recovered the F/A-18F Super Hornet and the MH-60R Seahawk that crashed just 30 minutes apart on Oct. 26 during routine flight operations from the USS 'Nimitz'. Both aircraft were recovered by the USNS 'Salvor (T-ARS 52)' from a depth of 400 feet on Dec. 5, a little over a month after the two aircraft were lost. This was in contrast with the three Super Hornets lost in the Red Sea, which the service has not yet recovered. Leaving the two aircraft in the South China Sea, even if badly damaged, might have provided China with valuable insights about the two U.S. platforms, thus making their recovery a priority. The Navy first acknowledged the ongoing salvage operation in mid-November. The 'Salvor', a Safeguard-class salvage ship operated by Military Sealift Command, arrived on location on Nov. 12 to conduct the recovery efforts, conducted by Commander, Task Force 73 (CTF 73); Task Force 75; the Naval Sea Systems Command’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV); and CTG 73.6’s Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit. The Navy employed a contracted Vessel of Opportunity, equipped with a government-owned, contractor-operated unmanned system, to lift and recover the aircraft. The recovery was a Navy team effort across CTF 73, SUPSALV, Task Force 75, HSM 73, VFA 22, and the Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit. Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Andersen led the salvage mission.

The US Navy was working to recover the wrecks of two aircraft that fell off the USS 'Nimitz' aircraft carrier into the South China Sea. Within 30 minutes, an F/A-18 Super Hornet and an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter had crashed into the sea in late October 2025. The US Navy has confirmed that the salvage ship was operating in the South China Sea to recover the two sunken aircraft. The exact location has not been disclosed. Commander Matthew Comer, who is a spokesperson for the Navy’s 7th Fleet in Japan, stated, “USNS Salvor (T-ARS 52), a Safeguard-class salvage ship operated by Military Sealift Command, is on-scene conducting operations in support of the recovery efforts.” The reason for the double incident remained unclear.

The USS 'Salvor' arrived on Dec 30 at the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni carrying wreckage from one of the nation's Osprey transport aircraft, which had crashed on Nov 29, in waters near Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, killing all eight people on board. The U.S. military is expected to fully investigate what has been salvaged from the aircraft. The wreckage had been pulled out of the sea and placed onto the salvage vessel's deck board on Dec 27. The vessel was on a mission to recover the plane's fuselage. The aircraft's black box has also been recovered and will allow the U.S. military to look into what caused the crash. The recovered wreckage is part of the fuselage of the CV-22 transport aircraft, which was assigned to Yokota Air Base in the western suburbs of Tokyo. The fuselage was found underwater in early December near the island. So far, the bodies of seven airmen have been recovered, and the U.S. Air Force has declared all eight crew members dead. The U.S. military has suspended all of its Osprey flights worldwide, including non-Air Force flights, after finding that the crash may have been due to a malfunction. Japan's Ground Self-Defense Forces have also suspended flights of its V-22 Ospreys, which have been temporarily deployed at Camp Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo. Report with photo: https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2023/12/1761c7b9cd85-us-forces-ship-carrying-osprey-wreckage-arrives-western-japan-base.html#google_vignette

A Canadian navy warship that was badly damaged in U.S. waters by a massive fire at sea in February is on its way back to Canadian waters, under tow by a U.S. tug, CBC News has learned. HMCS Protecteur departed Pearl Harbor on Thursday morning under tow from USNS Salvor, beginning a slow voyage across the North Pacific back to its home port of CFB Esquimalt near Victoria, B.C. There are four Royal Canadian Navy sailors aboard Salvor for the sail home. "She's making six knots right now, which is good," said navy spokesman Lt.-Cmdr Des James. "From our perspective, everything looks promising." The trip under tow is expected to take as long as three weeks, depending on the weather, but it could be Protecteur's last trip.

While the "Salvor" reached the grounding site of the USS "Guardian" on Jan 27, the U.S. Navy said it will cut up the trapped minesweeper and take it away piece by piece. The only supportable option is to dismantle the damaged ship and remove it in sections, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said on Jan. 29. The decision keeps salvage equipment in deeper water and minimizes further damage to the coral reef. The salvage plan aims to safely remove individual sections of the ship without causing the release of harmful materials. The dismantling operation is expected to take more than a month to complete. After all the ship’s fuel has been removed, teams continued to take off more materiel. The Navy has safely transferred approximately 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel, 671 gallons of lubricating oil, dry food stores, paints and solvents contained in storage lockers, and the personal effects left behind by the crew from the ship after it grounded on the Tubbataha Reef, about 80 nautical miles east-southeast of Palawan island. Report with photos: http://blogs.defensenews.com/intercepts/2013/01/trapped-u-s-navy-minesweeper-to-be-broken-up/