USS Oriskany: First USN Aircraft Carrier to be sunk as a reef THIS MONTH!

The USS Oriskany is an Essex class carrier that has served the Korean and Vietnam war, It was retired in the late 1970s. I read on some site that it will be sunk off pensacola FL at the end of 2005 or next year maybe?.

Does anyone know when its going to be sunk?

www.divemiami.com...

members.tripod.com...

www.navsource.org...

www.fortunecity.com...










[edit on 5-12-2005 by Browno]

[edit on 6-12-2005 by John bull 1]

[edit on 6-5-2006 by Browno]

I would also like to know when it will be sunk. It would neat to see a carrier go down especially since now one will be hurt or killed in the process (hopefully)

Too bad a carrier with so much history is going to be sunk...

I even had a A-4 Skyhawk model with USS Oriskanny on it

Originally posted by GrOuNd_ZeRo
Too bad a carrier with so much history is going to be sunk...

yeah, but not every thing should be turned in to a museum.

Besides, this will help out the military, they will use different methods to take it out, that are "real life" scenerios. No modern day carrier has being attacked, so theres no data on what exactly would happen, how quick it would sink, how much damage do such N such weapons do to it, etc.

Besides, She aint exactly a treat to look at.


[edit on 6-12-2005 by Murcielago]

There is one thing i'd like to point out here, this is NOT the first carrier the US navy has sunk, one of the carriers, USS america, or one of the others was used as a test bed of sorts for various weapons to be fired at, a sorta scenario to see how much damage a carrier could take, this ship was also sunk.

The way things are going with the EPA don't count on this one sinking anytime soon. They're at 4 times the budget that was allocated, and a year overdue, and no sign of it happening anytime soon.

Given that she's going to be sunk as an artificial reef I'm pretty sure you can bet that no weapons will be tested on her.

They like these ships to sit upright, which means the sinking has to be carefully controlled.

The RAN has done a couple of these operations. Divers like to be able to swim inside the ship's spaces and in an up right position the ship, apparrently, is more attractive/more conducive to being taken over by marine life. I have no source for that other than a mate talking!

www.michaelmcfadyenscuba.info...
www.diveshow.com.au...

and this one is really cool:

www.abc.net.au...

USS America was an explosives test. They wanted to see how much damage a carrier could take before she sank, and test new explosives at the same time.

Perhaps my country (Netherlands) should buy a carrier along with some F/A-18E's...we used to have carrier capability.

I believe we sold our Carrier to the Surinames or something...gah...

They actually did sink carriers in a A bomb test, the old USS Saratoga was one of them. These 'Essex' class Attack carriers are one of my favourite ships. They were slightly bigger than our HMS Ark Royal(when we had it)and the old French Foch carriers. I suppose they would be useful to other NATO countries if they were sold off but a ship is christened by the nation so afterall they shouldnt becouse it done its duty for that particular country.

If the carrier was exported, it would be like turning its back on its former users.

If the Ark Royal could house the F-4 Phantom, im sure the Essex class attack carriers could. Our country is promising to have 2 CVF Carriers at the start of next decade, they look about the size of the Essex/Charles DeGaulle class carriers just with a wider deck maybe.

I wonder how they will sink the USS Oriskany?. It is quite away from the town of pensacola and will be about just less than 500 ft deep not sure.
I think they should not sink it that deep but about 250-100ft at least. It will be used as an artificial reef for the most sensitive waterways.

Here are some more US Attack Carriers.

www.usslexington.com...

www.state.sc.us...

www.ussyorktown.com...

And the most famous one that lives in NY

www.intrepidmuseum.org...

Check this site for USN Carriers.

navysite.de...








[edit on 6-12-2005 by Browno]

Originally posted by Browno
HMS Ark Royal(when we had it)

We lost it???

He must be reffering to the old Ark royal, that launched phantoms, wasnt that one sold to india?

HMS Ark Royal R09 is the one that launched the Spey Phantoms. That is the one i meant. R09 is the designation for that one, not the old WW2 one we lost to the Germans. It was actually HMS Hermes we sold to India, That was better than the Invinceble we had now i suppose but im not bothered so much since we are supposed to be getting two CVFs.

Just think if we had the R09 for at least 5 years longer, it would have well came useful to us in the Falklands war but on the other side, it would have been a nice target for those Argentinean Exocet missiles.

www.pineridge-images.com...

Looks like a 'Beefed up' Invinceble carrier from the behind if you see images of it!.

Did you know the WW2 Germans had a Carrier called the Graf Zeppelin but it was abandoned some time after it was built.

www.fds.px.pl...

I quite like the French Foch carriers but the only good plane it carried was the F-8 Crusader that lasted in FN Service till 1999. I think Brazil or some South American country is its new owner.

Well i wonder how this USS Oriskany will be sunk?. A Plane may come and bomb it or it may be torpedoed. I dont really think they would go to that extreme but they may send some UDT SEALS to place small charges on to it so it will blow small holes in the side so the water rushes in and the ship will sink safely.

Not sure but just a thought.



[edit on 8-12-2005 by Browno]

Originally posted by Browno
The USS Oriskany is an Essex class carrier that has served the Korean and Vietnam war, It was retired in the late 1970s. I read on some site that it will be sunk off pensacola FL at the end of 2005 or next year maybe?.

Does anyone know when its going to be sunk?

[edit on 5-12-2005 by Browno]

[edit on 6-12-2005 by John bull 1]

Yes the EX-USS Oriskany will eventually be sunk 24 miles SSE of the Pensacola Pass in 212' of water. If she sinks upright, the top of the 'island' portion of the superstructure will be within 50' of the surface. Prior to sinking her, there have been enormous efforts to rid the vessel of hazardous materials such as PCB's, Asbestos, Lubricants, Lead, etc.

The EX-Oriskany was towed from the port of Beaumont, TX to Pensacola almost exactly one year ago. Final 'de-tox' of the vessel continued at an enormously slow pace due to extremely inept inspection responses from the EPA when each 'de-tox' milestone was reached. Then as hurricane season approached, all involved in the project including the Navy, wanted the EX-Oriskany towed back to Beaumont, TX to sit it out for Hurricane Season - good thing too since Hurricane Dennis struck Pensacola in July '05.

There is still some debate on what will happen now that Hurricane Season is officially over. It's mostly a matter of finding appropriate dock space to make the final preparations. We're hearing from various local sources here in Pensacola that April '06 is now the targeted sinking date. I will certainly make a post on here far in advance when I know for sure. Also, I plan to be on my boat video taping the sinking and you can count on an MPEG of it being posted too.

In the meantime, here is a pic of the Mighty-O I took from my boat while it was still at the Port of Pensacola last spring.





W.E.S.B

Well the ship has had a lot of history, Its well beyond repairs so it may as well be sunk off

[edit on 6-5-2006 by Browno]

Now its May 2006, Whats going on with the USS Oriskany? Will it be sunk THIS MONTH?

Well, the BBC are annuncing that it was sunk yesterday (local time here across the dateline) but they don't have it up on the World Service website yet.

CNN, however, are calling it

Great Carrier Reef

Yup, she is gone. She took only 37 minutes to sink.

It's there now.

With video!

I saw the Oriskany every day for a couple of years when stationed in Bremerton, Washington at the shipyard, and we even had a change-of-command ceremony onboard her for another ship. She sat next to the Bonhomme Richard (Bonny Dick) and a couple other ones (Hornet -CV18 and ????) while I was there. We went onboard and took some old equipment off of her and the rumor was (in 1991) that she was gonna be razor blades before long.

She completed her purpose and more by acting as a war ship and now an artificial reef.

RIP Oriskany.

JDub