PEARL HARBOR, Oahu, Hawaii -- Salvage vessels successfully accomplished the first phase of the delicate and difficult operation to lift the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime Maru in preparation for its move to shallower water.

The ship Rockwater 2 (pictured, right) was able to move the Ehime Maru to a level spot on the ocean floor in order to place it on a lifting plate. The operation involved lifting the sunken vessel 10 feet off the surface, then moving it 16 feet forward and 110 feet to the left of its original position.

The Rockwater 2 started the operation at about noon and completed it shortly before 3 p.m., according to the U.S. Navy.

The goal of this new phase, according to the Navy, was to place the lifting plate under the Ehime Maru's pilothouse. Another lifting plate is already in place under the engine room, toward the stern of the ship.

Once the second plate is confirmed to be in place, the Ehime Maru (pictured, left) will be lifted about 100 feet off the ocean floor and moved to a location about one mile south of the Honolulu Airport reef runway (see map, below).

Nine men and boys are presumed dead after the Ehime Maru was struck from underneath by the submarine USS Greeneville, which was conducting an emergency surfacing drill at the time.