artificial reef
Oriskany Ready for Final Mission
The Oriskany is in place... Explosives ready for detonation at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning.
You can see it, 22 miles south- southeast of Pensacola Pass.
Hundreds of veterans who served aboard the Mighy "O" have told their stories to our Dan Thomas, who joins us now in the studio...
Dan, they have mixed emotions about the sinking, don't they?
It is a bittersweet event for them.
As we've seen over the past few days the Oriskany touched, and in many cases changed the lives of everyone who served aboard the ship.
It was the height of the Vietnam War and Jack Kenyon was headed into action at the helm of the U.S.S. Oriskany.
Jack Kenyon/Former Oriskany Commander: "There was something special about serving in Oriskany."
He found himself responsible for pilots making the same maneuvers he had made decades before, when he was a fighter pilot in World War II.
Kenyon: "You sweat every landing. I think the ones that the young guys are making more than you sweated your own years before."
It was a frustrating time for Kenyon, commanding a ship in a war that he felt could have been fought better.
Kenyon: "Under President Lyndon Baines Johnson with some recommendations from a perhaps not too popular Secretary of Defense by the name of MacNamara had things going not necessarily the way all of us military guys would liked to have seen them go."
Death was a part of life on the Oriskany, though it's not the lives lost in combat that haunt Kenyon the most.
It's a young man who took his own.
Kenyon: "I knew he was in such trouble that I had him put in protective custody in the brig. I was concerned about him."
But the first chance the man got, he jumped over the side of the Oriskany... Kenyon says it was the toughest letter he ever wrote.
Kenyon: "He had a young wife, young baby, parents As someone once said war is hell."
Now with the sinking of the Oriskany near. Kenyon is getting together with people he hasn't seen in years, trading stories with those who also served on the ship.
Kenyon: "It represents an extremely important part of my life because commander of that carrier was the most rewarding Naval experience I ever had."
He plans to watch the sinking first hand but admits it will be tough to watch his ship go down.
Kenyon takes solace that as an artificial reef it will continue to serve the public that it helped protect.
Kenyon: "You just have to realize that like people, ships wear out. Ships get old. Cycle of life if you will. Been there, done that."
Kenyon is believed to be one of just three former Oriskany commanders still alive today. He's also believed to be the only one who will watch his former ship sink.
As we said, the Navy is scheduled to set off the explosives at 10 a-m.
The sinking itself is expected to take anywhere from 90 minutes to five hours.
Channel 3 News will follow the process every step of the way... Bringing you live reports throughout the day.
And our sister station, WFGX, will have our beachcam shot of the Oriskany up live, beginning at 9:58 am... Until the carrier disappears beneath the waves.
here is video of it http://video.ap.org/v/en-ap/v.htm?f=113 ... 6&p=&t=s60
U.S.S Oriskany sunk in Pensacola, worlds largest
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Let The Diving Begin starting today at noon (central time)Janice wrote:Oh, that would be great for ship hunters and anyone who loves to dive.
Thanks
video and article
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/app ... ll/article? AID=/20060519/NEWS01/605190327/1006
Published - May, 19, 2006
Oriskany is sitting pretty
Divers can start enjoying reef today at noon
Troy Moon
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
Let the diving begin.
The Oriskany is sitting upright on the Gulf of Mexico bottom, facing north and south just as planned, state and Navy divers reported Thursday.
A Navy demolition team sunk the decommissioned aircraft carrier Wednesday about 24 miles southeast of Pensacola to produce the world's largest man-made artificial reef.
Divers can start enjoying the reef today at noon, state and local officials said.
"It appears the Oriskany went down in the sand and is sitting perfectly," said Stan Kirkland, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, which, along with the other state agencies and the Navy, sent divers down Thursday.
"It appears it went down in the sand a little deeper than we expected. But the overall report is good."
Robert Turpin, chief of Escambia County's marine resources division, dived the Oriskany on Thursday. He reported 80 feet of visibility and said the experience was spectacular.
"It was perfect, and the Oriskany went down exactly where we hoped," he said. "And the fish are already out there. There are pinfish, bait fish, and it's going to get better."
Gene Ferguson, an owner of Scuba Shack in Pensacola, said his company will take its first divers to the site on Saturday, and weekend trips through the end of the year are being booked.
"People are excited," he said. "We had 100 phone calls today. Normally, we just have 10 or 12."
The ship was sunk in 212 feet of water. But reports on Thursday said the ship actually was 5 to 21 feet deeper than that.
Regardless of the final depth, the diving should be top-notch, Ferguson said.
The maximum depth for recreational divers is 130 feet, and even if the flight deck were at 129 feet, it probably would be too deep for most divers, he said.
"We don't want people going to the flight deck anyway," Ferguson said.
He said the plan always has been for local dive outfits to concentrate mainly on the top "island" structure of the Oriskany, which is at a depth of between 67 and 80 feet, according to various measurements taken Thursday.
"We're in good shape," Ferguson said. "The (island area) is huge. It's so huge, you wouldn't be able to cover it in three dives."
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