page_title: USS Preserver (ARS-8)
section_title: Final operations
hierarchical_section_title: USS Preserver (ARS-8) / Final operations
caption_attribution_description: The U.S. Navy rescue and salvage ship USS Preserver (ARS-8) with the sunken tanker Ocean Eagle, in 1968. On the morning of 3 March 1968, the Liberian tanker Ocean Eagle grounded in the harbour of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The vessel broke in two several hours after the grounding, spilling 11,129,000 litres of Venezuelan light crude oil into the harbour. The aft section of the vessel drifted farther into the harbor and grounded, while the forward section was anchored in place. Three days later, U.S. Navy ships tried to tow the forward section out of the harbour. Adverse weather hindered the operation, and eventually drove the forward section farther into the harbour. On 10 March, the forward section broke open in heavy seas and released more oil into the water. By the first week of April, both parts of the tanker were lightered and towed out to sea where they were sunk. (text: NOAA)
context_page_description: USS Preserver (ARS-8) was a Diver-class rescue and salvage ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II. She was responsible for coming to the aid of stricken vessels.
  Preserver, a salvage ship, was laid down by Basalt Rock Company in Napa, California, 26 October 1942; launched 1 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Walter F. LaFranz; and commissioned 11 January 1944, Lt. Comdr. A. T. Ostrander in command.
context_section_description: Further Atlantic Ocean operations were followed by a Mediterranean deployment February–June 1964. In March 1968 Preserver pumped out of the bow of Liberian tanker SS Ocean Eagle a cargo of oil that threatened major pollution of San Juan, Puerto Rico, harbour. She also extinguished a fire aboard British merchant vessel SS Pizarro 11 April 1968 in San Juan Harbor. She then deployed to the Mediterranean 20 May 1968, returning to Little Creek, Virginia, 2 September. Into 1970 she continued to serve the Fleet as a salvage ship of Service Squadron 8 out of Little Creek, Virginia.
  In January 1986 she was tasked with leading the salvage and recovery efforts of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. During the transit to Port Canaveral the ship recovered the nose piece of the external fuel tank. The Preserver was on station through April 1986. On 7 March 1986, divers from the USS Preserver using sonar located what they believed to be the crew compartment (confirming it during a dive the next day) and commenced recovery operations of the fallen astronauts. John Devlin made the confirmation dive to verify that the wreckage was in fact the crew compartment. On 9 March, NASA announced the finding to the press. The ship received a Navy Unit Commendation for the operation. She was decommissioned on 30 September 1986, and recommissioned the following year.
  After Hurricane Hugo, the Preserver was sent to Puerto Rico to aid in recovery of a sunken ship.  The ship drove through Hugo en route to Guantanomo bay, Cuba where it picked up two barges loaded with telephone poles to take to Puerto Rico.  It performed the first tandem tow in 40 years of US Naval history.  The Preserver arrived safely at Puerto Rico and stayed there for nearly two months recovering a sunken vessel from the harbour.
caption: Preserver with the sunken tanker Ocean Eagle off Puerto Rico, 1968.
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