PEARL HARBOR, Oahu, Hawaii -- Problems connecting two lifting frames have delayed the U.S. Navy's operation to move the sunken Japanese fishing vessel Ehime Maru to shallow water, according to Navy officials.

The Navy had intended to begin the delicate operation Wednesday night, but high surf and gusty winds delayed the start. The surf is also causing the problems with the lifting frames, the Navy said.

In addition, the Navy says that it is having a technical problem with a remote-controlled submersible vehicle that connects the two lifting frames, requiring the vehicle to undergo repairs.

Once the procedure begins, the construction vessel Rockwater 2 will lift the Ehime Maru (pictured, right) about 90 feet off the surface of the Pacific Ocean and slowly move the ship toward a shallow-water area near the Honolulu Airport reef runway (see map, below). The movement of the ship will be at an almost inperceptible speed of 0.2 knot, according to the Navy.

Navy officials said that the 14.5-mile move could take as long as four days.

Adm. William Klemm, the recovery operation commander, said earlier in the week that he believes that the operation has a 90 percent chance of success. Once the ship reaches the shallow-water location, divers are scheduled to spend a month looking for victims and items that could be used for a memorial.

Nine men and teenage boys were presumed to have gone down with the vessel into 2,000 feet of water when the Ehime Maru was struck from underneath Feb. 9 by the submarine USS Greeneville.