HMC(DSW⁄SW⁄FPJ) Michael Rodrigues installs a hurricane mooring buoy. USNA photo by MC3 Chris Lussier.

The 39 hurricane buoys, located in Weems Creek, Luce Creek, Clements Creek, Saltworks Creek and Brewers Creek, serve as an anchorage for Naval Academy sailboats during hurricanes and tropical storms.

‘‘During a hurricane, one sailboat can tie off to each buoy,” said NDC(SW) Robert Kerr, Naval Academy diving officer. ‘‘The mooring systems are designed to keep a sailboat anchored while still allowing it to swing during a storm. If the boats were left in the basin the possibility of damage caused by the pier or other boats is greatly increased. ”

To replace the buoys the dive team must first descend to the bottom and locate the anchor. In some cases the anchor is buried in up to five feet of mud. The diver must then cut the old rusty chain, haul it out of the water, and attach a new chain and buoy to the anchor.

Since there is zero visibility this must all be accomplished by touch.

‘‘When we dive in these creeks the water is just too murky to see anything,” said Kerr. ‘‘There isn’t even enough visibility to see your hands. To make things worse the diver might have to dig up the anchor out of the sand and muck, making it that much harder to see.”

Each anchorage consists of a 300-pound, mushroom-type anchor on the sea floor, tied off to a buoy by half-inch steel chain that is more than twice the average water depth.

‘‘We leave the extra chain because of the storm surge that the hurricane causes,” said Kerr. ‘‘A hurricane can cause the water to rise up to 10 feet above normal and we must leave enough extra chain to allow for that situation.”

The dive locker is nearly halfway through the project, and is waiting for the additional funding needed to replace the rest of them.

‘‘Replacing these buoys hasn’t been an easy task,” said Kerr. ‘‘Because of the visibility and the deteriorated condition of the existing moorings we are only able to replace two or three buoys each diving day.”

Kerr estimates the total cost of the buoy replacement at approximately $14,000, a massive cost savings to the Navy. According to Kerr, a private contractor would cost as much as $200,000 for a project of this size and magnitude.