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For the latest up-to-date information on what is happening to form sink groups in California and the US visit California Ships to Reefs. Information can also be found by visiting Ships 2 Reefs website. |
| NEW PRESS RELEASE - FEBRUARY 5, 2007 |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Southern California Contact: US Navy Offers Two Major Combat Vessels The Navy this week offered California Ships to Reefs two retired major combat vessels for reefing off of the California Coast: the former USS David R. Ray, DD 971, a 9,200 ton Spruance class destroyer, and the former USS Vincennes, CG 49, an Ticonderoga class vessel of 9,800 tons with an Aegis anti-air weapon system. Both of these vessels are approximately 565 feet long powered by gas turbine engines, among the cleanest marine power plants available. Both ships are currently held in the Bremerton, Washington State, Navy Yard for disposal. USS David R Ray is named for a Navy Corpsman who was killed in Vietnam while treating Marines under fire, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery. USS Vincennes anti-air cruiser unfortunately is best remembered for shooting down an Iranian airliner during the early years of conflict in the Persian Gulf. When properly prepared and sunk in designated spots, these vessels can provide recreational activities for divers and a boost to some of California’s overstressed fishing harbors and vessels by allowing them to transition to a sustainable industry, dive tourism. “Dive tourism is a good money making industry for the boat owners and harbors because it is sustainable and non-consumptive of the ocean’s resources,” according to Harvey Schmiedeke of the California Ships to Reefs (CS2R) organization. “It has a side benefit of providing living space and shelter for many marine species.” According to a Rand Corporation study published in 2001, and confirmed by new data published in 2004, cleaning and sinking surplus government ships saves millions of dollars for the United States government. The other, less attractive alternatives are: Foreign scrapping, which involves exorbitant towing costs, leads to extensive pollution and squalid, dangerous working conditions in places like Bangladesh. U. S Law, International Law and treaties prohibit the Navy from exporting vessels containing toxics. Domestic Scrapping: In addition to there being no shipyards on the West Coast capable of these projects, scrap prices are so low and so volatile that domestic scrapping is not viable. Continued storage: After paying hundreds of millions of dollars in storage and maintenance charges, in 100 years the result would still be several hundred old ships that must then be disposed of. Both the old (2001) study and the newer 2004 information confirms that sinking these ships as dive tourism sites adds millions of dollars to state and local tourist economies each year. According to the study, confirmed by experience in East/Gulf Coast States and California with the sinking of HMCS Yukon, a former Canadian frigate off of San Diego, the entire cost of a sinking can be recouped by local government within 12 years through taxes alone. All environmental and safety precautions will be observed by the local “sink groups”, as they are called, in each state region as they move forward with their projects, and full studies and Environmental Impact Reports will be prepared for each. Each ship will be prepared by being environmentally cleaned, to at least the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Best Practices” standard, which was adopted in May of 2006. It will then be “diverized” by cutting strategic holes throughout the vessel and removing as many entanglement hazards as possible. Once prepared, the vessel will be towed to the site and sunk under controlled conditions to its final resting place, there to continue to serve the people who will come to admire her or who will make all or part of their livings from her presence. California Ships to Reefs is a 501(c)(3) Public Benefit Corporation. CS2R is a coalition of local “sink groups” which will handle matters in their zones. These organizations are comprised of scuba divers, business people, professionals, marine biologists, scientists and academics. CS2R’s goal is to create cultured reefs through the sinking of environmentally cleaned ships in key regions of California, with at least two major sinkings in California within the next three years, each producing measurable tangible economic benefits to the community and incidental environmental benefits to ensure public benefit. Over the next ten years, they anticipate—as has been the case with Florida’s prosperous reefing program—the demand for dozens more ships along California’s coast. |
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NEW - Sinking of the Oriskany 17-May-2006. Click here for slideshow. Canadian Artificial Reef Consulting successfully placed HMNZS Wellington off Wellington, New Zealand on Sunday, November 13. Sink time was 1 min 46 seconds (in a 40 knot wind!). Wellington is square on her keel.
Deafening cannons on shore were followed by a series of explosions on the 113 meter vessel, now known simply as F69.
The organizers were worried 40 knot winds might turn the vessel on its side, but the scuttling went according to plan, taking under two minutes for the frigate to sink 26 meters to the sea bed. F69 spent 36 years' in the service of the Royal Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy. It was launched by the Royal Navy in 1969 as HMS Bacchante and then in 1983 transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy which renamed it HMNZS Wellington. Sinking F69 Trust chair Marco Zeeman said the Wellington's last voyage took two hours on Sunday morning, when it was towed by two tugs from its berth at the Taranaki wharf outside Te Papa. The scuttling was originally to take place on Saturday afternoon, but bad weather forced organizers to postpone it for 24 hours. A protest group took advantage of the scuttling to voice its concerns over plans to sell coastal land near the site of the sinking. The Southern Environmental Association wants to stop Wellington City Council selling part of the southern coastal park. Spokesperson Robert Logan says with attractions such as the frigate adding to the area's appeal, it would be wrong to privatize the land. He says the council needs to ensure the land stays in public hands so it may be used by visitors and tourists visiting the south coast. The vessel, which will become an artificial marine reef and dive attraction, will now be checked by police divers before being opened to public divers. |
The sinking of the HMNZS Wellington off the capital's coast has gone without hitch, in front of an audience of thousands. Wellington's south coast was filled with sightseers and Island Bay swarmed with boats watching the scuttling.