Oriskany Aircraft Carrier Sinking

[Tiki36695]

I plan on going to see it. Anyone else?

http://peoships.crane.navy.mil/reefing/oriskanyimages.htm


http://www.pensacolachamber.com/armedservices/images/oriskany1.jpg


an 888 foot long reef. Wow!
http://www.info-strategies.com/articles/climate39.htm

[tredland]

Tiki,

Man, this is great news! I had not heard anything about it at all. I think this will help take some of the pressure off of the AL reefs and rigs, and benefit everyone.

BTW, I think that I saw you the other day (three weeks ago, Saturday the 21st?). You were at the Dauphin Island Marina fuel dock when I was leaving the marina, I was the guy in the beat up looking CC that asked if you were a diesel or 351. Sweet looking boat that you have there.

Regards,

Tim

[tredland]

Tiki,

Do you have any information on when this is supposed to take place?
This is the latest news I could find. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2749333
I hope that it happens sooner rather than later.

Regards,

Tim

[skipperbrown]

She is supposed to come to Pensacola sometime this fall. Last I heard, she will probably be docked at the Navy base for final prep. Pensacola Port would be overwhelmed by 888 ft of steel. Once in Pcola, she will go through additional detox and diver safety fixes before the drop.

Right now, they are pulling the oak decking off as well as completing asbestos and PCB removal. We don't want our divers breathing any bad fumes!

They pulled a few oak planks off the deck to see if there would be a problem w/ them floating off and creating a nav hazard. Once they pulled off a few, they found PCBs under the wood so now there is another round of cleanup to remove the wood and underlayment. The EPA and Navy and Corp and state and county are still arguing what additional cleanup needs to done and who will pay for it.

She was supposed to arrive here (Pcola) in June, then July, and then August. I'll be surprised if she gets here by Nov. I'm sure it will be next year b/f the drop. I don't remember how many millions it is costing to get a free ship.

The planned drop area is about 24 mi SSE from Pcola pass in 200 ft putting the flight deck at about 110-120 ft and the top of the tower at about 70 ft.

I sure wish they'd put her down much closer to the pass. That's a stretch for most of the rec fleet here and I worry that the navy will bungle the drop and put her down on her side. They dropped a freighter here in the early 90s and used so much explosives they split the ship in half.

My bet is the first diver fatality will be in the first 8 mo. For the dive community, this borders on the edge of tech/deco diving and we have a lot of inexperienced divers from all over the country who want to dive on the world's biggest artifical reef.

I plan to watch the sinking if the weather is comfortable enough for a several hour offshore cruise.

[AQUAHOLIC]

Man you Florida boys get it all...

If it comes by NC...I will try and sink it myself... :lol: :D :D :lol:


Sean

[easytimes455]

Hey Sean,
You have seen the layout of artificial reefs that we have, haven't you? Theres one within sight of New River Inlet, where I normally go.

http://www.ncfisheries.net/reefs/areef/map7d.jpg
http://www.ncfisheries.net/reefs/areef/lok2fear.jpg
http://www.ncfisheries.net/reefs/areef/ar355.JPG
This one is AR-355. It's puny, but you can scare some species up on it, every now and then.
CB