USS Oriskany to be a Man Made Reef off Pensacola, Florida
Diving and historical ship tours are coming together as the USS Oriskany will be sunk in the Gulf of Mexico off of Pensacola, Florida to serve as a man made reef for diving. This is a great combination of using what otherwise would be scrap as a ecological and tourism magnet, not to mention how much the fish will enjoy the addition.
If all goes according to plan, explosives will be placed throughout the largely hollowed-out shell of the USS Oriskany in May and it will plummet 210 feet to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.
The ship, featured in the films “The Bridges of Toko Ri” and “The Men of the Fighting Lady,” will become the world’s largest intentionally created man-made reef, drawing divers and sport fisherman worldwide.
Eileen Beard, who owns the Scuba Shack, a local dive shop, said she and many other divers are making plans to explore the Oriskany underwater this year.
“From the moment she goes down, she’ll create sounds in the water and the sandstorm that she will cause will draw fish that want to see what it is. It will begin to attract life immediately,” Beard said. “We have had calls from England, Germany, Japan, Thailand. They are all ready to dive the Oriskany.” via CNN.com
March 7th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
210′ seems prety deep to draw divers from all over the world. Most divers will not be able to ga past 80′ or even 120′ for advanced divers. Does any body know if what the benifits to every day divers would be?
May 8th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
My father was on The Mighty O. I hate to see it be sunk. I wish I could watch as they sink her. So I could say that I was a part of it. It hurts to know that she will go down knowing that my father had served on her for bout 1963 to 1967. Maybe she will be in a better place.