Oriskany, RIP

According to the Navy News, the 888-foot aircraft carrier no longer known as the USS Oriskany took 37 minutes to sink after explosives tore open her hull, to make a new reef 24 miles off Pensacola. The Oriskany was a celebrated ship, serving in Korea, Vietnam, and other operations around the globe for 25 years. It was also the ship that then Lt. Cmdr. John McCain launched from before being shot down during his attack dive, captured, and held in the infamous Hanoi Hilton for five and a half years.

Evidently explosive experts can direct the eventual place of rest and orientation of a ship with placement and timing of explosives, a considerable achievement if you consider how objects can slide in the water as they sink. The Navy worked with the EPA to clean the ship of hazardous materials and to study the scuttling area for over two years. The bottom of the ship lies in 220 feet of water, meaning the flight deck and superstructure will be attainable by recreational divers with special certification. Fish populations are expected to increase due to the sinking within months, and a viable reef should develop within 10 – 20 years; Escambia County in Florida expects to see millions of dollars generated annually by fisherman and divers (a 2004 FSU study estimates $92M, but that seems like a lot of fishing tours).


The first time I saw something underwater that 'shouldn't' have been was a medium sized fishing boat that had sunk in maybe 30 feet of water in Belize. It was completely unthreatening in the bright light and clear water, but its obvious misplacement was still creepy and a little unnerving - the same feeling was evoked looking at the picture of this ship sliding inexorably below the surface into the dark.