Reefing the USS Oriskany
The reefing process covered several years, millions of dollars, and sheer fortitude by a group of dedicated people to complete. We are grateful to those that helped to get her here and get her deployed as the largest artificial reef in the world.
Special recognition goes out to Admiral Jack Fetterman who spearheaded the effort from the start and was truly a motivator for us all throughout the process. Without his leadership along the way, the Oriskany project would likely have never been completed. Sadly, Admiral Fetterman passed away just weeks before the deployment was complete.
A very special thanks goes out to the thousands of USS Oriskany veterans that came out in support of the reefing project (though some of them took a lot of convincing), and have become not only some of the strongest supporters of the project, but also have become great friends.
Many of the displays that cover the walls of the dive shop have been generously provided by former crew members, and they have been a priceless resource for technical information and some great "sea stories".
The initial phase of the preparation of the ship for deployment saw her towed to Corpus Cristi Texas where workers removed all fuels and oils, all chemicals, glass, and all hazardous solid materials.
The work was thorough to the point that they removed the wooden flight deck because of the fuels, hydraulic fluids, and more that had contaminated the deck over 30 years. The back portion of the flight deck is decked in aluminum
Oriskany was towed to the Port of Pensacola in late December of 2004, where she sat while the county, state, federal government, and the Navy crawled through what seemed like endless red tape. The Oriskany project, being the first of a planned long list of projects to use obsolete ships as reefs, was scrutinized heavily by environmental groups and government agencies alike, and the project required specific research to be conducted to determine to what degree the ship needed to be stripped. Her first stay in Pensacola was largely overshadowed by this process, and very little material work was done to prepare the ship.
In June of 2005, with no short term end to the red tape in sight, and with hurricane season upon us, Oriskany was towed back to the better protected location of the reserve fleet in Beaumont TX to wait for a decision that would allow the project to go forward.
In early 2006, the Navy finally got the approval from the EPA to continue with the project, and the preparation of the ship was begun without delay. On March 22nd, Oriskany returned to Pensacola, this time to the carrier pier at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. With another hurricane season approaching, the Navy set an ambitious target date of May 15th for the deployment, and work continued at an impressive rate.
Special preparation was made to make the ship as safe for divers as possible, including the removal of all entanglement hazards above the flight deck, cutting large access holes through the Island, and the removal of nearly every hatch and door throughout the ship, all the way down to the engine rooms.
As the deployment date approached, MBT Divers was fortunate to be chosen to provide dive support for Parallax Films in filming for the Discovery Channel documentary "The Sinking Of An Aircraft Carrier". MBT's pirmary mission would be the recovery of four cameras that would be placed in various locations on the ship in hopes of getting video from the ship during the sinking. Two of the cameras got some truly incredible footage, including the now famous "wall of water" rushing up inside the hangar bay. The camera mounts are still in place.
On May 15th, 2006 Oriskany left the pier for the last time, amid cheers and tears from thousands of onlookers, and was towed 24nm offshore into position for deployment. Appropriately, on May 16th, the last landing approach to the carrier by an aircraft was made by a former Navy pilot that had been stationed aboard Oriskany during the 60's.
On the morning of May 17, 2006, the scuttling charges were detonated and almost immediately Oriskany began to settle lower in the water. After a tense 37 minutes, during which she rolled to port, and then to starboard, Oriskany was at rest on the sea floor, perfectly upright and intact just as planned. Remarkably and as a proud testament to the efforts to clean Oriskany, very little debris was left on the surface, and there was no oil slick following the sinking. The sinking of the Oriskany was the single biggest news story that day world wide.
The next morning, divers from Resolve Marine, the US Navy, the state of Florida, and MBT Divers conducted the first dives on Oriskany in rough conditions and building seas. Visibility was excellent, and not a complaint was heard.
For trivia sake, Travis Allinson of Resolve Marine was the first person to dive Oriskany after her deployment.
Ken Beasly made these dedication plaques and arranged to have them placed on the Oriskany before the deployment. We had been told about their placement on the ship, but we were surprised and humbled to see them so prominently displayed on the Island at flight deck level. The plaques, as with all aluminum on the ship, corroded quickly and are no longer recognizable.
Charter Boats and the general public visited Oriskany for the first time on the morning of May 19th, 2006.
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