PEARL HARBOR, Oahu, Hawaii -- The Navy announced Wednesday that it is halting current efforts to place a lifting plate under a Japanese fishing vessel that was sunk by a U.S. submarine in February.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet said that a high-pressure drilling machine failed to penetrate what was expected to be soft sediment beneath the Ehime Maru (pictured, right).

"We've had difficulties in getting the messenger wires underneath, so we are going to a slightly different method," Navy Capt. Bert Marsh said.

The coil-tube drilling being conducted by the Rockwater Two recovery ship was to drill holes in the soft sediment beneath the Ehime Maru to run cables. Those cables were to provide support for lifting the 830-ton vessel from the 2,000-foot deep waters where it now rests.

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The new method being used will lift the Ehime Maru's stern for a few hours using a crane from the Rockwater Two while remote-controlled submersibles string a thinner messenger wire under the sunken ship.

After the ship is set back down on the ocean surface, a crane will pull the wires as jet drills push the lifting plate under the ship.

The Navy hopes to move the Ehime Maru to shallower waters, where divers can search for the bodies of the nine men and teenage boys who were killed when the USS Greeneville rammed the ship on Feb. 9.

The Rockwater Two was brought back to Honolulu Harbor for a couple of days to load the new lifting equipment. Despite the setback, Navy officials said that the operation remains within the planned time frame and within budget.

They expect the actual lifting portion of the operation to take place in mid-September.

"You always try to bring everything you can imagine you would need to get to that point, then you take about 50 percent more," Marsh said.