BUFFALO, N.Y. — Kelly Sullivan, the granddaughter of one of the five Sullivan brothers for whom the USS The Sullivans ship is named, says there should be an investigation into the handling and maintenance of the ship.
That's according to a report from The Buffalo News.
Sullivan told the paper, in part, "It's been taking on water since the '90s. People don't understand that this is a long time coming."
The hull of the ship suffered multiple breaches back in April, causing it to list starboard and take on water, which could have sank it.
After weeks of around the clock work from expert repair crews, pumping out water and patching holes, the ship is finally upright.
In recent weeks, crews managed to pump out 585,000 gallons of water and also contained and removed residue oil contamination from the World War II veteran ship. They have also been able to remove save some precious historic artifacts from inside the ship.
Mayor Byron Brown has said before that this project would be very expensive and noted again that it was "in the range of millions of dollars," even without a total accounting of items like extensive salvage including use of divers.
Brown did say, "We are going to look to federal and state government, particularly federal government, for support and addressing the needs of what we've done, what we will do. It is going to be expensive. The city does have a rainy day fund. It's not for these purposes, but we are thankful for the commitments that we have received at the federal level."