How do you make a 1,340 tonne, 300-feet long frigate, grounded on the Cherbourg coast and impossible to move, disappear? Thanks to innovative and environmentally friendly methods, the dismantling of the Lucifer II was made possible, on site. A first in the field.

The site in a few figures | Le Lucifer II, toute une histoire

The site in a few figures
500m³ of water ballast
1,396 tonnes of scrap iron
40m³ of asbestos-related waste
33m³ of wood 8 tonnes of electric wiring
375 tonnes of steel ballast
430 tonnes of concrete ballast … were evacuated during the Lucifer II dismantling operation

Lucifer II, quite a story
Navigating initially under the British flag, the Windrush joined the Free French Naval Forces in 1943. A few months later, it was renamed the Découverte, and took part in the D-Day Landings on the 6th of June 1944. The vessel was retired from service in 1959; however, it was deemed still to be seaworthy and consequently joined Querqueville in 1967. Rebaptised the Lucifer II, the French Navy used the ship as a fire safety training school for 35 years, before permanently withdrawing it from service in 2002. Key steps in the dismantling process 1/ Querqueville beach before work began 2/ Construction of a watertight sea wall around the ship 3/ Installation of confinement locks to remove asbestos 4/ Then cutting out the hull and waste evacuation 5/ Soil treatment before dismantling the sea wall

By next summer, the Querqueville foreshore, opposite the Fourriers military school, will have totally recovered its natural appearance… from sand to turf. “Grass sowing will be our very last operation. It’s part of the contract,” smiles Serge Quaranta, Director of ACE. In September 2006, this EIG (Economic Interest Group), founded by ENDEL (Suez group) and CMN (Normandy Mechanical Construction), was entrusted by the Direction des Travaux Maritimes de Cherbourg (Cherbourg Maritime Works Directorate) ⁽¹⁾, with the mission of dismantling the Lucifer II.
After having sailed the seas for over fifteen years, this anti-submarine frigate was converted in 1967 into a fire safety training school and continued to be used as such up to 2002 (see boxed article). The question of the vessel’s future was then posed, as it lay berthed before the Centre d’Instruction de Querqueville (naval school). A plan for the dismantling and the cleaning of the Lucifer – including site rehabilitation - was developed in 2005 by the French Naval Command and the Direction des Travaux Maritimes. And the job already promised to be a major challenge: damaged by spring tides, the ship, in danger of literally splitting in two, could be neither towed nor set afloat. There was no choice but to tackle it on site! “Dismantling a ship that is grounded on the shore, within the natural harbour: we were struck by the uniqueness of the project,” admits Serge Quaranta. “And into the bargain, a salmon farm only a few metres away, a nearby marina and housing estates; the project’s environmental and social stakes were high.” Even for ACE, precisely specialised in such unique operations – dismantling the Lucifer II was a genuine challenge. All the more so since the French Defence Ministry was looking to accomplish an exemplary achievement, with its total, and “clean” removal. Total cost of the project: 3.3 million Euros.

Just part of the sustainable development process

The preparatory phase, conducted in 2007, enabled an inventory of waste to be prepared and, even before dismantling began, the final desitnation of such waste to be determined: rrecycling, storage within certified centres - asbestos in particular, or reprocessing, for water with a high hydrocarbon content for example. Step-by-step progress was essential, in order to limit co-activity and to ensure both worker safety and environmental protection. Work began in May 2008, with the construction of a 7-metre high clay watertight sea wall around the ship. This temporary structure was built with re-usable materials. Once the Lucifer was out of the water, ballast water with high hydrocarbon content could them be pumped – a total of 500m³ – and the fire drill zones could also be cleaned.
Asbestos was then removed from the ship, confinement zones implemented and its 40m³ of asbestos evacuated. “We applied the same philosophy as we do to a nuclear site, involving several confinement barriers: zoning locks inside the ship’s hull, which is in turn protected by the sea wall,” stresses Serge Quaranta. Cables and wooden flooring were then installed and the ship’s steel ballast removed, before cutting out the hull (from top to bottom and from the stern to the bow), and disposing of all remaining waste. “Waste traceability was recorded in real time,” indicates ACE’s director. “First of all listed and weighed on site, it was then controlled once more at its final destination.”
The entire operation was supervised by Tecnitas, a specialised consultancy commissioned to monitor work and procedural compliance. The operation’s final phases, involving the demolition and evacuation of concrete ballast, and the cutting out and evacuation of the base of the hull, are complete. ACE is now tackling the verification of underlying soil and the application of any required treatment before dismantling the sea wall. The Lucifer II site could well serve as an example of how to work with genuine sustainable development in mind. In particular, within the framework of the creation of a French ship dismantling sector - an idea retained during the country’s “Grenelle de la mer” maritime forum. “The dismantling methodology employed throughout is an example to be developed,” believes Serge Quaranta. “However, infrastructures, such as the sea wall, will be more difficult to reproduce: isolating the vessel on dry ground, within the confines of a specifically designed barrier , remains the best solution for this type of operation.” Moreover, since the success of the Lucifer site, ACE has been approached to take part in the dismantling of the Clémenceau aircraft carrier…

(1) To become, in 2008, the Direction d’Infrastructure de la Défense de Cherbourg – Cherbourg Defence Infrastructure Directorate (decree dated 25th September, published in the Official Journal on the 3rd of October 2008).

Les grandes étapes du chantier

> Serge Quaranta Sole Administrator of ACE
Tel: 02 33 08 81 11

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