Instead of abandoning what was left, the remaining crew quickly developed a plan in the hopes of somehow saving their vessel. They then strapped their improvised section to the New Orleans and set course to Australia—but there was yet another issue. On December 24, a heavily modified USS New Orleans managed to arrive at Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney, Australia, where it received a full repair. Earlier this month, however, the Ocean Exploration Trust began a 21-day, noninvasive archeological survey of cultural heritage sites in Iron Bottom Sound. A portion of the bow wreckage superimposed onto its original location on the USS New Orleans.