Just after 5:30 a.m., personnel at the Navy's Manchester Fuel Depot discovered a valve on an underground storage tank had failed and almost one million gallons of fuel had spilled into Puget Sound.
Or rather that was the "worst-case scenario" envisioned in a drill the Navy conducted last Thursday.
The fuel depot, which is a part of Naval Base Kitsap, borders 1.5 miles of Kitsap County shoreline. The depot provides military-grade fuel, lubricants and additives to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels, and to those from allied nations like Canada.
The fuel depot has capacity to store 79 million gallons of fuel -- the equivalent of approximately 1,200 gas stations, according to Glenn Schmitt, regional fuels manager with Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Puget Sound.