Merlin Orr Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 RIP USS Oriskany Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moverfive Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 RIP USS Oriskany Awesome pictures.....now let the diving begin! Well, for those that have some tech training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 Wreck diving is cool. Artificial reefs are cool. Very few will ever dive to see this ship. Recreational divers do not go below 130 ft. That won't get you to the flight deck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 It's going to be a great dive! And it will save me the hassle of going to Bikini Atoll to dive the Sara! Cool... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L9X25 Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 This sinking has been in the works for a long time. Originally, the plan was to sink the ship close enough to shore, in shallow enough water, that it would be a popular dive spot. The original plan was for divers with an AOW certification to get you just below the flight deck and then tech divers could reach the majority of the boat. I guess navigation fears forced them to go farther offshore. Terrible shame for recreational divers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberneck Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 I don't know. I know all good things must come to an end but it is hard for me to see such an important part of our history end up as a reef. Don't get me wrong it is better then being sold to India for scrap metal, I just wish it could have been turned into something else. Would make a really nice dive sight though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Ellis Posted May 26, 2006 Share Posted May 26, 2006 The attached photo is of the Oriskany berthed at NAS Pensacola taken 14 May 2006, the day before she was towed to sea for reefing. I'm looking forward to the honor of diving her. The scuba community is abuzz about it. With deep dive and Nitrox certifications it will be accessable. If you scuba you should have these certs anyway. It did settle about 5' to 15' deeper than planned but in the big scheme of things it's not a big deal. Those diving it will have to do their homework. Go on air and you can go to 130' but your bottom time at that depth will only be 9 minutes. Go with various Nitrox mixtures and balance max depth, PO2 levels, and bottom time to get the dive you want. Even with EAN28 and a 1.5 PO2 your bottom time is still only 11 minutes at 130'. Getting to the flight deck isn't the end all anyway. The view from 20' above the deck will be grand. Your generic EAN32 and 1.4 PO2 will get you to 100' for 27 minutes. Good enough for me. Personally I can guess I'll be going through a lot of tanks and never go past 100' and still see plenty. Tech divers are positively getting a woody over the newest artificial reef. For more diving info: http://www.mbtdivers.com/ Seeing the Mighty O before her reefing topped off a day touring the Naval Aviation Museum. Seeing and touching the little Grumman Widgeon that sunk a German U-Boat in the Gulf of Mexico outside of Houma, LA during WWII tied together a piece of history for me. I work at the former Houma Air Base and the remnants of the base are still visible including the pilings for the blimp hangar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted May 26, 2006 Share Posted May 26, 2006 Cool. I've never been into the deep diving thing, so the deck at 135 and tons of stuff to see <120' rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyin40 Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 Great Pics Flyin40 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Suber Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 Wasn't the Oriskany the one John McCain almost sank? I saw it when I was in doing Hurricane duty in Pensacola last year. It was weird seeing it moored in the dark. It looked like a ghost. It was also moving to see all the veterans who crewed her coming by taking pictures, etc. At that time, the crunchy people were trying to prevent it from be sunk as a reef because of the environmental hazards it would cause. I thought it was supposed to be sunk in shallower water, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTOSHootr Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 Very cool. I'm not into diving but I just read Shadow Divers (highly recommended) and have a whole new respect for the sport and wrecks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 Wasn't the Oriskany the one John McCain almost sank? Nope, McCain was on the USS Forrestal in 1967. His A-4 was hit by a Zuni rocket that launched from an F-4 if I recall correctly. You can see him tip-toe down the refuling probe and jumping to the flight deck in the deck camera film. The Oriskany had a fire a year earlier caused by mishandling of a flare. Back to the Honorable John McCain's less than desirable career as a Naval Aviator. He launched from the Oriskany the day he was shot down over Viet Nam. 1967 was not a kind year for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Ellis Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 (edited) -snip- It was also moving to see all the veterans who crewed her coming by taking pictures, etc.Vets have a deep love for their ships. "Turning it into razor blades" is their term for cutting it up for scrap metal. Many would rather give up a kidney than see their ship given the blow torch. Although reefing isn't the first choice it is far better than most of the alternatives.-snip- At that time, the crunchy people were trying to prevent it from be sunk as a reef because of the environmental hazards it would cause. I thought it was supposed to be sunk in shallower water, too.The enviro hazards was legit. A year or so ago a large amount of PCBs were discovered and had to be cleaned up. Lead based paint had to be removed. The list seemed endless. Can't point a finger too hard at the 'crunchy people'. No one doubted that the benefits of reefing, they just want to make sure it was done right and as clean as practical. It was the first one the Gummit did and there was a learning curve for all involved.-snip- I thought it was supposed to be sunk in shallower water, too.The plan was to sink her upright so that the top of the island is at 60' so it wouldn't be a marine navagation hazard. That would put the flight deck at 130', the max depth for recreational divers. The depth to the bottom is 212', would give the techies and Navy divers a huge playground to work with. That they sunk a 900' long, 150' tall ship and it go right is one for the textbooks. Upright and pretty close to the planned depths. Good job Navy.Be prepared for more reefings in the future. The Gummit has taken a clue from the Canadians and has started a reef program to be a cost effective solution to obsolete warships. There are few wreck spots I want to visit before they slam the lid on my face. Bermuda for the multitude of natural shipwrecks. Truk as a war grave. Bikini Atoll to see first hand the effects of a nuclear blast. Yes, radiation levels have dropped and Bikini is open for diving. The equipment and skill requirements are rather stiff for Bikini however. Edited June 1, 2006 by Hank Ellis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now