Underwater ultrasonic equipment confirmed that the plate thinning in the immediate surrounding area precluded the insertion of a new section of plating as per UMC's Class approved 'permanent' repair procedure. Critical time was thus not wasted once the initial diagnostic dive had been completed. With the plate being uncomfortably thin, overhead underwater welding, itself a very specialised procedure, was going to prove even more difficult due to the associated risks of blowing through the parent metal. The team therefore set about contriving a method of fixing a plate to the hull. Over the following two days, all within the vessel's scheduled visit to port, the divers carefully manipulated the plate into position and managed to get fusion of plate to hull.

The watertight integrity was subsequently restored as the dive team had the professional skills and flexibility to adjust to the 'on site' situation as they found it.

MJ Information No: 16931