Why sink a historic ship?
Posted on 11/16/2007 4:04:32 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas — A World War II ship that served for decades as a training vessel for Texas A&M University sea cadets started its final journey Friday into the Gulf of Mexico, where it'll be sunk to become an underwater habitat and diving destination.
The 473-foot, 7,000-ton Texas Clipper left its dock in Brownsville, towed by a tug boat, and headed out the ship channel toward South Padre Island at mid afternoon. By nightfall, it was to be in the open waters about 17 miles offshore, then was scheduled to be sunk Saturday and become an artificial reef.
"We're under way," said Bob Murphy, a Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife reef specialist.
The more than $4 million operation, 10 years in the making, was delayed by a couple of days because of high winds and rough seas.
"We're not going to jeopardize it and take any chances," said Dale Shively, the department's reef project coordinator.
The Texas Clipper is the largest vessel in the care of the department to be sunk. Over the past year, it was moved from the U.S. Maritime Administration National Defense Reserve Fleet in Beaumont to Brownsville.
Shively said the biggest challenge, and a $600,000 expense, was dealing with polychlorinated biphenyls, man-made chemicals in such things as hydraulic fluids, plastics and adhesives that have been found to be hazardous to health. To comply with federal rules governing artificial reefs, more than 237,000 pounds of PCBs were removed from the ship.
Rectangular holes 8 feet wide and 5 feet tall have been cut into the side of the ship to allow water to circulate through it once it's under water and to give divers access. Hatches and doors have been welded shut or open to keep divers safe. Valves installed by a contractor will be opened to help fill it evenly with sea water. And once the holes on the side of the ship reach the water line, it should sink quickly.
The ship is expected to become an attraction for divers and also bring fishermen because undersea structures like this in the Gulf of Mexico lure sealife. It's also expected to be an economic spark for the South Padre Island area.
"We are very very excited," Melissa Zamora, with the South Padre Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, said. "Although the Clipper is out of sight, we'll make sure everyone knows."
The ship was decommissioned in the mid 1990s after almost 30 years as a classroom at sea for about 200 Texas A&M-Galveston students each summer.
Before that, it was SS Excambion, carrying cargo and passengers between New York City and the Mediterranean from after World War II until 1958.
It began as the USS Queens, with its hull laid March 2, 1944, the 108th Texas Independence Day. It was commissioned late that year as a Navy troop transport ship and was among vessels in the Pacific at the battle of Iwo Jima. It then was used in the American occupation of Japan before being decommissioned in 1946.
Steven Curley, a Texas A&M-Galveston English professor writing a history of the vessel, said it was the first fully air-conditioned ship in the world and among only five of some 230 former Navy attack transport ships remaining in existence.
"This is a veteran going down," he said. "It's in a good place."
It doesn’t mention if the Aggies plan on strapping Coach Fran to the ship.
Why sink a historic ship?
Why didn’t they sail it to Asia and sell it for scrap? At least that way they make money on the deal.
Two things. First of all, the sinking of naval vessels at sea may seem a dreadful waste, but in truth, they are performing one last mission: to create more sailors.
Much of the ocean is an underwater desert, or too deep for life to prosper. Shallower waters often have few rock outcroppings, and those are usually densely covered with life. When a ship is sunk in the right place, it provides a great opportunity for all kinds of sea life to promulgate.
This means that new generations of divers and fishermen will be drawn to the sea, and from them, sailors.
In a related situation, there are now ongoing tests to see if an underwater cable grid can be used to create a new reef. It was discovered that by running a small current through the cable, that an unexpectedly large amount of coral deposits formed faster than normal.
In future, this might mean that once a ship has been sunk, a large cable net will be placed to cover it, with a large battery powered by sea water to provide it with current for several years. This could mean that in a few decades, a ship of this kind could create a substantial coral reef, growing outward from the ship.
“Why sink a historic ship?”
1. There is a difference between being old and being historic.
2. There are *lots* of historic ships.
3. This one ain’t *that* historic.
Other than the fact that it was the Texas Clipper, it is a pretty average C-3 cargo ship. Thousands were built. Preserving a ship runs into big bucks. If you cannot preserve it you have two choices: scrap it or sink it. If you scrap it it is gone. Sinking it gives it a second useful life as a maritime habitat.
ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Relieved to read that if was not “heads” being shipped to sea!
“Why sink a historic ship?”
Because of the damned tree huggers and their “artificial reef” crap. The ship should either be a museum, reconditioned for further use, or be broken up for scrap. Turning it into garbage on the ocean floor is a horrible idea. If you want an artificial reef, dump a bunch of concrete fragments or something.
Texas Clipper Ship Project
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/water/habitats/artificial_reef/texas_clipper.phtml
In WWII, thousands were sunk—at depths too remote for the kind of marine life that matters to humanity.
Which part of the ship?
belated ping!
I guess that 'splains why those liberty ships keep getting in the way when I try to photograph a pretty, new, fiberglass, sailboat.
From the DANFS entry:
(APA–103: dp. 13,200 (f.); l. 473’1”; b. 66’; dr. 25’; s. 17 k.; cpl. 476; a. 2 5”, 8 40mm.; cl. Windsor; T. C3–S–A3)
Queens (APA–103) was laid down 2 March 1944 as MC hull 1677 by Bethlehem Steel Corp., Sparrows Point, Md.; launched 12 September 1944; sponsored by Miss Jeanne L. Fogle; acquired by the Navy from the Maritime Commission on loan charter 16 December 1944; and commissioned 16 December 1944, Capt. John J. Mockrish, USNR, in command.
Following shakedown and amphibious training in Chesapeake Bay, Queens reported for duty at Queens, N.Y., to Commander, Task Force 29, 15 January 1945. Sailing via Norfolk, Va., and the Panama Canal, she arrived Pearl Harbor 7 February.
After training, she departed Pearl Harbor 2 March, carrying 1,250 Army and Navy troops. Arriving via Eniwetok, she debarked troops at Iwo Jima 26 March. She began medical treatment for Iwo Jima casualties 30 March. Departing Iwo Jima 12 April with 1,500 Marines, she proceeded via Guam, Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor to Hilo, Hawaii, where she debarked troops 25 April.
Following amphibious training, she left Pearl Harbor for San Francisco 23 May, and proceeded to Everett, Wash., for repairs. Sailing back to action via Pearl Harbor, she delivered troops and cargo to Saipan 11 July. After steaming non-stop from Saipan to San Franciso, arriving 25 July, she delivered troops to Pearl Harbor 11 August. Loaded with 5th Amphibious personnel, she debarked occupation troops at Sasebo, Japan 22 September, and then embarked Army infantrymen in the Philippines, before returning to the United States.
Assigned to inactive status in September 1945, Queens arrived Norfolk, Va., 29 April 1946, decommissioned 10 June, and was redelivered to the War Shipping Administration 11 June. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register 19 June 1946.
"in 134 feet of water " per Dallas Morning News article. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/111607dntextxclipper.84c3f87.html
The masts and funnel have been cut to ensure that there is at least 50' of water over the highest point of the ship. The DMN article has more detail.
To make us more equal with the Mexican Navy’s Water-Wing Float Patrol.
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