Post by corsair67 on May 15, 2006 14:52:45 GMT 12
From The Times.
Aircraft carrier to be an underwater Everest
Jacqui Goddard, Miami
May 15, 2006.
USING strategically placed explosives and a lot of water, the US Navy is to perform a feat that its Cold War enemies longed to achieve: sending the 32,000-tonne USS Oriskany to sleep with the fishes.
The decommissioned aircraft carrier will be towed 40km off the coast of Florida tomorrow, scuttled and sunk 65m to the ocean floor to create the world's largest artificial reef.
Crewmen who served aboard the warship during its 26 years in service gathered at the weekend in Pensacola, Florida, to toast fallen comrades and say farewell to the rusting vessel they knew as the "Mighty O".
"Seeing that ship go under will be like saying goodbye to an old friend," said George Thomann, 57, who worked on radar and navigation duties on the Oriskany from 1970 to 1974. "Some people might say that it would be better to scrap it. But this way it's going to endure."
The Oriskany was commissioned in 1950. Capable of carrying 80 aircraft and 3460 personnel, she entered the Korean War two years later, after becoming the first aircraft carrier to round Cape Horn.
During the Vietnam War, its pilots set records for the highest number of combat sorties flown from a single carrier and participated in some of the war's most significant air raids.
It has undergone years of work to strip it of tonnes of toxic materials to make it safe before it is sent to a watery grave.
Underwater explorers say that it will become "the Mount Everest of diving" and provide a haven and breeding ground for fish and plant life.
Aircraft carrier to be an underwater Everest
Jacqui Goddard, Miami
May 15, 2006.
USING strategically placed explosives and a lot of water, the US Navy is to perform a feat that its Cold War enemies longed to achieve: sending the 32,000-tonne USS Oriskany to sleep with the fishes.
The decommissioned aircraft carrier will be towed 40km off the coast of Florida tomorrow, scuttled and sunk 65m to the ocean floor to create the world's largest artificial reef.
Crewmen who served aboard the warship during its 26 years in service gathered at the weekend in Pensacola, Florida, to toast fallen comrades and say farewell to the rusting vessel they knew as the "Mighty O".
"Seeing that ship go under will be like saying goodbye to an old friend," said George Thomann, 57, who worked on radar and navigation duties on the Oriskany from 1970 to 1974. "Some people might say that it would be better to scrap it. But this way it's going to endure."
The Oriskany was commissioned in 1950. Capable of carrying 80 aircraft and 3460 personnel, she entered the Korean War two years later, after becoming the first aircraft carrier to round Cape Horn.
During the Vietnam War, its pilots set records for the highest number of combat sorties flown from a single carrier and participated in some of the war's most significant air raids.
It has undergone years of work to strip it of tonnes of toxic materials to make it safe before it is sent to a watery grave.
Underwater explorers say that it will become "the Mount Everest of diving" and provide a haven and breeding ground for fish and plant life.
