“Hit the 57!” “Hit the 57!” Hit the 57!”
That’s what you’d bark at someone while sitting at a diner, as you cringed and watched them struggle to get the ketchup out of the glass Heinz bottle back when diners and restaurants didn’t use gravity and modern squeeze technology.
That’s how you would dislodge a condiment from its “stuck” position.
But how do dislodge a riverine patrol boat stuck in rocks near a United States military installation — after it ran aground a few days prior?
No one knows, really. Not even the U.S. Navy. Because, at the time this was posted, they’re still trying to figure out how to get such a watercraft from its wrecked position, stuck in a bunch of stones in Mayport, Florida.
Thankfully, there were no injuries in the accident. Just a busted boat with a rock through its hull and a flooded engine that doesn’t want to leave/get repaired.
This from the Navy Times:
The Navy has dispatched Mobile Diving Salvage Unit 2 to find a way to free PB-414 from a rock jetty near the inlet that leads to the base, according to a Navy report obtained by Navy Times.
An initial side-scan sonar reading shows the boat resting upright against the jetty.
A five-person crew with Coastal Riverine Squadron 10 were returning from a mission at about 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11, but overshot the entrance to the St. Johns River, which is flanked on both sides by rock jetties. The coxswain then attempted to bank a u-turn but ran into the rocks, the report said.
The Coast Guard arrived and helped the sailors and their gear off the boat.
Stay tuned to the blog for more on this developing story (find out what happens to the boat).