Posted on 05/18/2006 12:50:34 PM PDT by Robe
The ex-Oriskany, a decommissioned aircraft carrier, was sunk 24 miles off the coast of Pensacola, Fla., on May 17 to form an artificial reef. The 888-foot ship took about 37 minutes to sink below the surface.
U.S. Navy photos
The bottom of the ocean is mostly flat and sandy. You put any relief such as a single concrete block and you've made a home for marine life.
You'd be absolutely amazed at how much life can exist due to a single concrete block. Much less a 1000 foot long aircraft carrier.
The expenses of a reef like this are enormous due to the fact that it is scrubbed. No oil or fuel and any and all objects left are secured and rendered safe.
There will be no oil slick or debris of any kind from this reef.
If you look at the economic side effects they are enormous. How many fishermen will go to this to catch fish? How many scuba divers will go to see this? Even if it is sunk in 200 feet many divers can get to the flight deck. And you have the dive of a lifetime.
The fact that Cuba can drill and we can't irritates the beejeezus out of me...
A co-worker asked the same question at lunch. Why not recycle the steel? It seems to me that it would be mighty valuable.
Actually, I think they can sell these things for a small fortune in scrap metal.
The carrier my father was on 40 years or so ago (USS Bennington CV-20) was recently towed to the far east (at a fuel cost of something like $27,000/day for a six week trip, or so) to be dismantled as scrap metal. There must be pretty good money in it to justify that kind of towing cost.
She was a modified Ticonderoga-class. Building on her was suspended at the end of WW2, and resumed in 1947 I believe.
They did that with USS America. Partly to dispose of her; partly to test some theories on ship design. They wanted to know exactly how an aircraft carrier reacts when hit with a modern anti-ship missile so that they can design the new CVN's accordingly.
They chop them up.
I'll be diving this wreck...
It'll be much easier to get to than the Saratoga.
"Also, I believe they are required to remove all toxic materials"
Not asbestos, as it is harmless in water.
I would suspect the cost of asbestos removal was greater than the scrap steel value.
"yes - a combined sub,surface gunnery, fa-18,a-10,p-3 w/harpoons, and b52 have-nap strike would have been awesome."
And expensive.
We have plenty of target practice elsewhere these days.
Riding in that little boat would have been a blast.
Lower radiation levels, too. OTOH, the Sara has aircraft embarked. More to see...
they saved $3 million by sinking her instead of scrapping her
Excellent diving opportunity bump
it costs a fortune to get a ship ready to sing.
He, he. In this case undoubtedly the Navy Hymn.
I figured there was a logical reason.
Thanks for the amazing pictures! Better the ship be returned to the sea than be sliced and diced for scrap.
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