USS Oriskany returns to Pensacola
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The Ledger
By Melissa Nelson
March 22, 2006
A famed Vietnam-era aircraft carrier returned to Pensacola Wednesday where the Navy plans to sink it this May as the world's largest intentionally created reef.
USS Oriskany veterans and tourists with binoculars mingled among the sunbathers on the beach at Pensacola Naval Air Station as they watched tow boats bring the ship into port.
"We are going to sink this sucker," said Ret. Lt. Cmdr. Dan White of Minneapolis, a World War II Navy pilot from Minneapolis who wanted to see the historic ship's return.
The Oriskany was first towed to Pensacola in December 2004, only to be towed back to Beaumont, Texas, in June to ride out the 2005 hurricane season. Hurricane-weary Pensacolans are counting on the ship's long-delayed sinking to resurrect the city's slumbering tourism industry by brining in sport divers and fisherman.
If the Oriskany is sunk according to plan on May 17, it would become the first Navy ship scuttled under a pilot program to reef old warships.
"There's no greater dignity for a Navy vessel than to be buried at sea. We should all be celebrating that it wasn't scrapped. If that had happened, we would be using it as razor blades," said Bob Swievel, who served as the division officer on the Oriskany in Vietnam from 1975 to 1976.
U.S. Sen. John McCain flew off the Oriskany before he was taken captive in Vietnam. The Oriskany, which also saw combat in Korea, was featured in movies "The Bridges of Toko Ri" and "The Men of the Fighting Lady."
Today, the famed aircraft carrier looks more like an eerie ghost ship than a U.S. Navy vessel because of its rust-streaked exterior and largely dismantled bridge and decking.
"She's an old rust bucket now," said Navy port operator Brad Long as he watched the ship pull up port side.
Navy crews and contractors will spend the next two months cutting holes in the Oriskany's bulkhead and securing its doors hatches to prepare for the May sinking when explosives will placed on board and the ship will go down in 210 feet of water about 22 miles off the Pensacola coast.
The Environmental Protection Agency allowed the sinking to go forward last month when it issued long-delayed final permit for disposal of chemical toxins known as polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs aboard the ship.
"We have no time to waste. Everything we do is targeting to getting the sinking done before the start of hurricane season," said Harry White, spokesman for Pensacola Naval Air Station.
The Ledger
By Melissa Nelson
March 22, 2006
A famed Vietnam-era aircraft carrier returned to Pensacola Wednesday where the Navy plans to sink it this May as the world's largest intentionally created reef.
USS Oriskany veterans and tourists with binoculars mingled among the sunbathers on the beach at Pensacola Naval Air Station as they watched tow boats bring the ship into port.
"We are going to sink this sucker," said Ret. Lt. Cmdr. Dan White of Minneapolis, a World War II Navy pilot from Minneapolis who wanted to see the historic ship's return.
The Oriskany was first towed to Pensacola in December 2004, only to be towed back to Beaumont, Texas, in June to ride out the 2005 hurricane season. Hurricane-weary Pensacolans are counting on the ship's long-delayed sinking to resurrect the city's slumbering tourism industry by brining in sport divers and fisherman.
If the Oriskany is sunk according to plan on May 17, it would become the first Navy ship scuttled under a pilot program to reef old warships.
"There's no greater dignity for a Navy vessel than to be buried at sea. We should all be celebrating that it wasn't scrapped. If that had happened, we would be using it as razor blades," said Bob Swievel, who served as the division officer on the Oriskany in Vietnam from 1975 to 1976.
U.S. Sen. John McCain flew off the Oriskany before he was taken captive in Vietnam. The Oriskany, which also saw combat in Korea, was featured in movies "The Bridges of Toko Ri" and "The Men of the Fighting Lady."
Today, the famed aircraft carrier looks more like an eerie ghost ship than a U.S. Navy vessel because of its rust-streaked exterior and largely dismantled bridge and decking.
"She's an old rust bucket now," said Navy port operator Brad Long as he watched the ship pull up port side.
Navy crews and contractors will spend the next two months cutting holes in the Oriskany's bulkhead and securing its doors hatches to prepare for the May sinking when explosives will placed on board and the ship will go down in 210 feet of water about 22 miles off the Pensacola coast.
The Environmental Protection Agency allowed the sinking to go forward last month when it issued long-delayed final permit for disposal of chemical toxins known as polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs aboard the ship.
"We have no time to waste. Everything we do is targeting to getting the sinking done before the start of hurricane season," said Harry White, spokesman for Pensacola Naval Air Station.
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