Oriskany is sunk

From Navy Times

May 17, 2006

Oriskany is sunk

By Larry Wheeler

Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal

Oriskany has sunk. The last tip of the vessel’s hurricane bow disappeared into the Gulf at approximately 11 a.m.

Local officials in Pensacola are hopeful the Oriskany settled on the sea floor in an upright position. But no one would know for sure until Navy divers check the vessel later Wednesday.

Navy engineers predicted the Oriskany would sink evenly in a process that would take up to five hours. Instead, the old aircraft carrier went down in approximately 35 minutes, sinking sharply by the fantail.

“I thought it went down as planned, but it is hard to say,” said Bill Dickson, Escambia County, Fla., commissioner and retired Navy captain, who watched Oriskany’s sinking from aboard the 85-foot yacht Nyhaven.

As an artificial reef, the Oriskany is more valuable if it settled upright. That would place its vertical command tower well within the limits of recreational divers. If the ship is leaning on the bottom, the tower will be deeper and harder to reach.

“We’re all hoping as it settled on the bottom, it flattened out,” said Edwin Roberts, former chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. “Either way, the wreck will be a huge attraction to sport fisherman,” Roberts said.

Navy divers are expected to inspect Oriskany this afternoon to determine if all the explosive charges ignited. Their return to the surface will offer the first eyewitness account of the carrier’s resting position.

The hundreds of spectator boats surrounding the carrier marked the sinking by sounding their horns.

As the carrier went down, its bow stuck up, straining the heavy metal anchor lines. The port side bow line appeared broken early in the process. Clouds of debris could be seen billowing from the hangar deck, and water churned and bubbled heavily at the submersion point. Towlines strained at the bow.

The 50-foot boat with the explosive generator and electronics gear appeared intact on the flight deck surface. The boat was expected to float away from the carrier after the Oriskany was fully submerged.