Mighty Servant 3 Sinks – A Look Back

In December 2006, Dockwise’s heavy lift vessel, Mighty Servant 3 was offloading the semi-submersible drilling rig Aleutian Key in the port of Luanda, Angola when disaster struck.

The vessel was ballasting down to offload the rig when the vessel began to develop excessive stern trim and subsequently sank in 203 feet of water.  She was salvaged by SMIT International the following spring and has since returned to service.

The following four images are republished with permission from the photographer:

For a technical analysis of what went wrong (water ingress in the 7 center tank through a broken bottom valve), read the report from the Hamburg University of Technology HERE

The 1,200 ton sheerleg crane Taklift 7 was used to lift the vessel off the seafloor, in conjunction with compressed air pumped into closed compartments within the sunken vessel. The following pictures were sent into us by Vince Denis and republished with permission: