Navy gets final approval to sink retired aircraft carrier

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Daytona Beach News
February 16, 2006


PENSACOLA -- The U.S. Navy received final approval Wednesday to sink a retired aircraft carrier off the Florida coast and create the first of many planned artificial reefs from former warships.

The USS Oriskany, a famed Korean and Vietnam War ship, is expected to arrive in Pensacola in early March, and the target date for its sinking off Pensacola Beach is May 15, said retired Vice Adm. Jack Fetterman, president and CEO of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation and a longtime advocate for the Oriskany project.

The Oriskany is the first of more than 20 ships the Navy hopes to dispose of through reefing, and it went through a lengthy permitting process with the Environmental Protection Agency.

The permit issued by the agency Wednesday allows the carrier to be sunk with toxic PCBs in its paint, insulation and other ship parts. The EPA said the chemicals would slowly leach as the carrier rusts, and would pose no danger to marine life or humans.

Hurricanes were among the reasons for delays in the Oriskany permitting process. The ship had been towed from Pensacola to Texas to ride out the 2005 hurricane season.


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