Great Lakes PWD and MWR Work Together to Save Mission Critical Watercraft

GREAT LAKES, IL, UNITED STATES

11.27.2019

Story by John Sheppard 

Naval Station Great Lakes

GREAT LAKES, Ill. (NNS) -- When a storm hit Naval Station Great Lakes (NSGL) on Oct. 27-28, teams from Great Lakes Public Works Department (PWD) and Great Lakes Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) worked together to save a trio of boats in the Great Lakes Marina.

With winds blowing at 30 to 40 miles per hour and sustained wave height on Lake Michigan of between 15 and 25 feet, and the lake level 36 inches above normal, “There were seven to nine foot waves in the inner harbor,” said Matthew Wollert, PWD-Environmental Operations Manager.

The Utility Boats (UBs) are 28 feet long. Skimmer and platform boats, used for on-the-water cleanup, are 36-feet-long and 38-feet-long, respectively. The boats are stored in the southeastern corner of the harbor.

If any vessel or the fuel storage facility at Great Lakes releases hazardous materials, the response boats are used for containment and collection. The response boats are a readiness requirement for the harbor and within portions of the Great Lakes. The watercraft are vital for Environmental Services’ mission to provide environmental compliance and pollution prevention to organizations and activities onboard the installation. At the request of the EPA, the response boats can also be called upon to support spill events on the Great Lakes. The boats are worth “easily over half a million dollars, between the three of them,” said Wollert.

“With the lake level being up, I had three-foot extensions put on three locations where we could get to them. That worked pretty well until this storm event,” said Wollert. “But with the pressure the storm was putting on them, the docks failed and separated from their piers.”

“I had one boat… the skimmer was afloat and still connected to the failed portion of the docks. The MWR folks called EV and then jumped in to lasso the skimmer and secured it while it was still attached to the failed portion of the dock to a wall of the harbor channel. Had MWR not acted so quickly, the skimmer may have been lost," said Wollert.

In all, 12 PWD and MWR employees helped save the vessels.
From PWD-Shops: Dave Dickens and Ryan Wagner.
From PWD-Environmental: Norman Lucas, Dan Callahan, Brent Witte, Taylor Bozman, John Haggerty, and Wollert.
From MWR: Matthew Wheeler, Roger Szczypta, A.D. Riddle and Megan Stadlman.

“When we had the skimmer secured, Lucas and Haggerty got the broken docks over as close as we could to shore and were able to make it across,” said Wollert. “Once on the docks we were able to get the engines up and running. We then came up with a way to get them off the docks and somewhere sheltered. That took a little figuring out.”

“I ended up using one of the Utility Boats to push the docks around out of the way so we could navigate around the failed piers to the other side of the harbor and got them secured on the MWR docks,” said Wollert.

The response boats sustained some minor damage. “They were bumped up,” said Wollert. “The skimmer took some damage on the back port quarter. However, they are still operational. If I had to put them in the water to pull boom, they would do it.”

“I appreciate the hard work and dedication our civilians bring to work every day here at Great Lakes,” said NSGL Commanding Officer Capt. Ray Leung. “In this instance, PWD and MWR went above and beyond while saving these boats that are critical to our harbor. Job well done!”

“Working together, PWD and MWR went the extra mile to save valuable, mission-critical equipment,” said NSGL Executive Officer Cmdr. Ken Williams.

• Date Taken: 11.27.2019
• Date Posted: 11.27.2019 09:02
• Story ID: 353727
• Location: GREAT LAKES, IL, US
• Hometown: GREAT LAKES, IL, US