John Branning spent 16 years helping to maintain the USS The Sullivans, painstakingly patching holes in the hull underwater every summer, as well as taking care of the other ships at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park.
He retired as superintendent of ships in September, and when he saw photos of the destroyer listing heavily to starboard Wednesday night, he was heartbroken. He knew there was a catastrophic breach in the ship.
“It's a tragedy,” said Branning, a retired senior chief petty officer who spent 22 years in the Navy.
Diesel pumps worked throughout Thursday night and reached a point of “equilibrium,” in that they are pumping out as much water as is leaking into the vessel, said Paul Marzello, president and CEO of the park.
At one point Thursday afternoon, the Coast Guard estimated the ship had more than 3 million gallons of water inside.
On Friday, crews from an industrial diving company were attempting to get to areas of the ship that remain full of water and then seal up the areas once the water is removed, Marzello said. But they were cautious about what spaces they go into because they don't want the divers trapped, he said.
Then efforts to pump water out of the ship were temporarily halted Friday because diesel oil was leaking from The Sullivans into the harbor.
The Coast Guard and an environmental contractor are monitoring the water that's being pumped out of the ship and…
