The syntactic foam blocks of the foam tower and on the low frequency 

 antenna were virtually unattacked. Hydroids covered the coatings on the 

 blocks. The coatings used to paint the identifying "E" on the foam tower 

 had flaked off but the underlying foam was unaffected. The main lifting 

 eye at the top of the foam tower was covered with a moderately adherent 

 reddish brown rust. 



Second Inspection 



After being towed at low speed to docks ide the tower was again 

 inspected in order to note any changes in the condition of the tower after 

 being exposed to surface waters for five days and to inspect the portion 

 of tower beneath the sphere which was at a shallow depth, the tower now 

 bei ng hori zonta I . 



The shock absorbers at the tower base were moderately rusted and were 

 covered with a loosely adherent film of flaky red rust. All four hardened 

 tips located at the bottom of the shock absorbers were missing. However, 

 since the holes at the bottom of the shock absorbers were either empty or 

 packed with coral sand it was inferred that the hardened steel tips had 

 fallen out and had not corroded away. Galvanic corrosion between mild 

 steel and alloy steel is known to occur, but the absence of corrosion 

 products from the holes in the bottom of the shock absorbers indicated 

 that galvanic attack had not occurred. The coatings on the shock absorbers, 

 where applied, were mechanically damaged in many areas and afforded little 

 protection. Uncoated areas and areas at coating damage were similar in 

 appearance. 



The base plate holding the shock absorbers and the universal joint 

 connecting the base plate to the main column were generally not rusted. 

 However, at areas of mechanical damage and at a few localized areas of 

 topcoat blistering there were loose flaky white corrosion products which 

 were sampled and shown to be primarily Zn(0H)2. Some minor rust bleeding 

 from the shafts of the universal joint was noted in spite of the heavy 

 coating of grease remaining at these areas. The main column up to the 

 level of the cable bellmouth was unattacked, only a few areas of paint 

 were blistered and no rust was noted at these areas. The coatings on the 

 interior and exterior of the cable bellmouth were severely damaged and 

 the topcoats of paint were gone from approximately 80^ of the exposed area. 

 White corrosion products later found to be Zn(0H)2 were found at the areas 

 of topcoat failure, however no red rust was noted. 



The main column from the bellmouth to the bottom of the buoyancy sphere 

 was unattacked. The topcoat of paint had blistered over about 5% of the 

 exposed area. These blisters were filled with white corrosion products 

 later found to be Zn(0H)2. There was no attack of the steel under these 

 blisters. It was noted that the yellow paint used to letter the main 

 column and buoyancy sphere was virtually intact, no failures of this 



