Ship sunk in gulf to become artificial reef
The USS Oriskany sank to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico today after the Navy set off explosions on the retired aircraft carrier to make the world’s largest intentionally created reef.
The rusting ship completed its 64-metre plunge about 45 minutes after the detonations. That was quicker than the five hours first predicted.
Clouds of brown and grey smoke rose in the sky after more than 500 pounds of plastic explosives went off and could be heard up to a mile away.
Hundreds of Korean and Vietnam War veterans watched their 270-metre former ship from charter boats 24 miles off the coast of Pensacola Beach, Florida.
The Oriskany is the first ship set for reefing under the Navy’s pilot program to dispose of old warships.
“The Navy and Florida team performed flawlessly to execute today’s sinking,” said Glen Clark of the Navy’s Inactive Ships Program Office.
After nearly two years of delays due to hurricanes and environmental permitting problems, local leaders hope the vessel will provide a long-awaited economic infusion from sport divers and fishermen. The sinking cost £10million.
A 2004 Florida State University study estimated Escambia County, Florida, would see around £50million a year in economic benefits from an artificial reef.
The US Coast Guard said it would establish a one-mile safety perimeter for boaters around the Oriskany today.
Marine wildlife experts planned to monitor waters near the sink site.
Clark had earlier said the explosions would occur in the ship’s intake valves and water would slowly flow upward from the Oriskany’s lower decks.
“Spectators won’t hear any explosions, but their should be a flash from the hangar deck,” he said before the sinking.
Sport divers won’t be allowed on the Oriskany site for at least 48 hours after the sinking, Clrk said. Navy divers will first examine the ship and determine its final position, he said.
The Oriskany was commissioned in 1950, served through the Korean and Vietnam wars and was decommissioned in 1976. The ship was among those used by former President John F. Kennedy as a show of force in 1962 during the Cuban missile crisis.
Twelve Oriskany pilots became North Vietnamese prisoners of war, including John McCain, now a Republican senator from Arizona.
