Navy divers detonated explosives Wednesday aboard the USS Oriskany, sending the retired aircraft carrier on a 212-foot plunge to bottom of the Gulf of Mexico to create the world's largest intentional reef.
Hundreds of Korean and Vietnam War veterans on charter boats watched as the carrier slowly sank about 24 miles off Pensacola Beach.
The 888-foot-long ship, known as the "Mighty O," was commissioned in 1950 and was home to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., when he served in Vietnam. It was also among the ships used by President John F. Kennedy as a show of force during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
The Oriskany was decommissioned in 1976 and now becomes the first ship sunk for reefing under a new Navy program to dispose of old warships.
Clouds of brown and gray smoke rose in the sky after more than 500 pounds of plastic explosives went off about 11:30 a.m. EDT. The ship took about 45 minutes to go down.
The Environmental Protection Agency in February approved the sinking of the ship with chemical toxins in electrical cables, insulation and paint still aboard. EPA officials said the toxins will slowly leach out over the estimated 100 years it will take the carrier to rust away and should pose no danger to marine life.
Local leaders hope the carrier reef will bring a long-awaited economic infusion from sport divers and fishermen. A 2004 Florida State University study estimated Escambia County would see $92 million a year in economic benefits from an artificial reef. |