JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The USNS Apache, based out of Norfolk, was deploying Monday to begin searching for the El Faro in the Atlantic Ocean.
The National Transportation Safety Board asked the U.S. Navy to begin searching for signs of the sunken merchant vessel.
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The USNS Apache is equipped with a search and salvage team, as well as several pieces of underwater search equipment.
"The first thing we're setting down is called a towed hydrophone. It's an underwater listening device that the ship tows back and forth in a search box. It listens for the signal emitting from a black box." said Chris Johnson with Naval Sea Systems Command.
Johnson said it will slowly search back and forth, listening for those signals. If they hear something, it will give crews a better idea of where El Faro's wreckage may be located.
"Whether we do or do not hear that, the next thing we'll have in the area is underwater sonar. We'll create a map of the ocean floor and the area and that'll help us determine if there are pieces of wreckage down there to begin looking further," said Johnson.
Johnson said their mission right now is to find the wreckage and they're relatively confident they know the location. They will then work to remove the voyage data recorder as long as they can access it.
None of the remains of the 33 crew members were recovered after the ship sunk in early October.
Johnson said it's possible if they come across any remains while searching for the voyage data recorder, they may be able to bring them up, but he cautioned it's a complicated operation.