The China-built ship that pulled a US Navy jet wreck from the South China Sea

The crashed stealth plane was brought to the surface using a specialist vessel constructed by a Chinese state firm

The use of the maritime technology shows the need for US-China cooperation, analyst says

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The Chinese-built, Singaporean-owned Picasso was used to retrieve the jet wreckage from the bottom of the South China Sea. Photo: Handout

Published: 7:24pm, 7 Mar 2022

A Chinese-made ship was at the centre of the US Navy’s salvage operation last week to recover the wreck of an F-35C fighter jet from the South China Sea, according to Chinese media.

Personnel pulled the wreckage of the fighter jet from 3,780 metres (12,400 feet) below the surface on Wednesday using lift lines from the crane of the diving support construction vessel (DSCV) Picasso, the US Seventh Fleet said last week.

The Picasso, owned and run by Ultra Deep Solutions (UDS), a Singapore-based deep diving heavy construction vessel operator, was built by China Merchants Heavy Industries, one of China’s top three state-owned shipbuilders.

The DSCVs are a type of specialised vessel for deep water salvage, installation, inspection and repair.

The Picasso is one of the most advanced in service and is equipped with an advanced remotely operated vehicle known as the Curv-21, which can dive to more than 3,000 metres.

In last week’s salvage operation for the F-35C Lightning II, the Curv-21 attached special rigging and lift lines to the aircraft.

Then the crane’s lifting hook was lowered to the sea floor and connected to the rigging, and the aircraft was hoisted to the surface aboard the Picasso, according to the Seventh Fleet.

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