WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Transportation Safety Board announced Wednesday that the mission to recover the El Faro voyage data recorder will be launched from Little Creek, Va., during the first week of August, and is expected to last about two weeks.

In a June 6 press release, the NTSB had indicated that the mission would launch in early July. The agency said June 29 that the new launch date was necessary because that was the soonest that all of the resources needed for the mission would be available.

The June 6 press release follows:

The National Transportation Safety Board will launch a mission to recover a voyage data recorder that was located on April 26 in about 15,000 feet of water near the Bahamas.

The voyage data recorder is from the cargo ship El Faro, a U.S. flagged cargo ship that sank during Hurricane Joaquin on Oct. 1, 2015. The El Faro wreckage was positively identified on Nov. 1, 2015, during the NTSB's initial mission to locate the wreckage.

Video gained from remotely operated underwater vehicles during the initial search revealed the El Faro's navigation bridge structure and the deck below it had separated from the hull. The missing bridge structure included the mast and its base to which the voyage data recorder was mounted.

The navigation bridge was found Nov. 11, but searchers were not able to locate the mast or the VDR.

The NTSB announced Feb. 11, 2016, that it would launch a second search mission to locate the VDR and document the wreckage and debris field.

That effort succeeded in locating the VDR and completing video- and photo-documentation of the accident site. Shortly after the VDR was located, the NTSB announced that another mission to recover the VDR would be launched.

After investigators collaborated in May with scientists and deep water recovery experts, to determine how the VDR could be recovered given its proximity to nearby obstacles, the NTSB contracted with the U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage to assist in the recovery effort.

The naval resources participating in the recovery effort include the USNS Apache and CURV-21, a remotely operated underwater vehicle. CURV-21 is the same equipment used to locate the El Faro wreckage in November.

Investigators from the NTSB and the U.S. Coast Guard, and engineers from the U.S. Navy and Phoenix International, the operator of CURV-21, will be aboard USNS Apache when it departs in early July for the accident site near the Bahamas.

The trip to the accident site is expected to take three to four days, followed by five days on scene to recover the VDR. After the VDR is recovered and USNS Apache returns to shore, the VDR will be brought to the NTSB laboratory here, where investigators will examine the VDR and download and analyze any information it may contain.

A fact sheet on the type of recorder that was on El Faro is available at: http://go.usa.gov/cuKW9

Related stories:

• Marine Board investigators told El Faro captain thought he could avoid storm
• NTSB: Specialized equipment needed to recover El Faro voyage data recorder
• NTSB locates voyage data recorder of sunken cargo ship El Faro
• NTSB to resume search for El Faro data recorder
• NTSB to launch second mission to search for El Faro evidence, clues
• Hearing set for U.S. Coast Guard Board of Investigation into El Faro sinking
• El Faro crew from Rockland not among group of 10 to settle with ship's owner TOTE Maritime
• UPDATED: NTSB releases public docket video, photos of El Faro debris field
• Lawsuits filed on behalf of Rockland El Faro crew members
• NTSB learns navigation bridge, data recorder missing from wreckage of sunken El Faro
• Flags in Knox County to half-staff in in honor of El Faro crewman, Dylan Meklin
• NTSB issues update on investigation into sinking of El Faro
• Update: Fifth Maine Maritime graduate among those missing at sea in El Faro sinking
• Flags in Knox County at half mast to honor El Faro second mate, Danielle Randolph

Reach Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com and 207-706-6655.