Sunken SS United States Set To Become World's Largest Artificial Reef (pbs.org) 45
An anonymous reader quotes a report from PBS: The historic ocean liner SS United States will be intentionally sunk Wednesday off the coast of the Florida panhandle. Live coverage of the sinking of the SS United States is expected to start at 1 p.m. EST, with the sinking expected at 2 p.m. EST. Watch live in the video player above. In its heyday, the SS United States crushed the trans-Atlantic speed record, which it still holds. The luxury ocean liner took only three days to cross from New York to Europe on its maiden voyage in 1952. Carrying presidents and Hollywood stars, the nearly 1,000-foot vessel was a technical marvel of its time. However, the rise of air travel and high operating costs sunk its economic viability, and the ship was pulled from service in 1969. The ocean liner sat at Philadelphia's Pier 82 for nearly 30 years.
After a contentious back and forth with a pier landlord over rent and docking fees, Okaloosa County in Florida eventually stepped in to purchase the ship and bring it to the Gulf of Mexico to become the world's largest artificial reef. The multi-million dollar project is also aimed at creating an economic development opportunity as a major diving attraction. "It was our goal to make sure that she wasn't lost forever," said David Lawrence, a member of the board for the SS United States Conservancy, the group that sold the vessel to the Florida county.
Like the ship's unconventional life, it will also have an unconventional sinking. Federal environmental and explosives rules prevent the county from using explosives. Instead, tanks inside the ship have been removed and large holes were cut into the decks. Once the valves are opened, water will flood the hull, sinking the ship. Resting at 180 feet below the surface of the water, the SS United States will join more than 500 artificial reefs in Okaloosa County, which the county relies on to support the underwater ecosystem.
After a contentious back and forth with a pier landlord over rent and docking fees, Okaloosa County in Florida eventually stepped in to purchase the ship and bring it to the Gulf of Mexico to become the world's largest artificial reef. The multi-million dollar project is also aimed at creating an economic development opportunity as a major diving attraction. "It was our goal to make sure that she wasn't lost forever," said David Lawrence, a member of the board for the SS United States Conservancy, the group that sold the vessel to the Florida county.
Like the ship's unconventional life, it will also have an unconventional sinking. Federal environmental and explosives rules prevent the county from using explosives. Instead, tanks inside the ship have been removed and large holes were cut into the decks. Once the valves are opened, water will flood the hull, sinking the ship. Resting at 180 feet below the surface of the water, the SS United States will join more than 500 artificial reefs in Okaloosa County, which the county relies on to support the underwater ecosystem.
Capsized? (Score:1)
Re:Capsized? (Score:5, Insightful)
You know artificial reefs are supposed to be places where ocean wildlife are supposed inhabit and thrive, right? To prepare a ship for this is a ton of work because they have to clean the ship of all the stuff that would poison wildlife.
And explosives leave lots of residual chemicals that impact wildlife.
Anyhow, there's nothing wrong with settling on the side. Maybe if you're diving to see it's not pleasant, but I'm sure the fish and such don't really care.
Re: Capsized? (Score:1)
Re: Capsized? (Score:5, Interesting)
It was my understanding that the main economic reason to pay for the sinking was to attract divers. Not as many will be interested in a ship upside down or on its side.
Speaking as a diver, no. A wreck on its side is more interesting. Something is going to be buried in the sand. If upright that's propellers and rudders. If on its side what gets buried is pretty much a mirror image of what is facing upwards. So you get a complete viewing on its side.
Re: Capsized? (Score:4, Informative)
Any dive to 180' is considered a technical dive and beyond standard recreational limits.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
Any dive to 180' is considered a technical dive and beyond standard recreational limits.
Correct. But recreational divers can go to 40m or 130'. The original (upright) plan, put the smokestacks at 55'. They had plans to put identifiers on or near the ship to mark the limits for each range of diver skill. Recreational diving might have to be scrapped from that plan now.
Not sure what the financial impact is of that yet, but Worlds Largest Artificial Reef doesn't exactly scare divers away. That is likely going to be a destination dive spot in the end for many.
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That is likely going to be a destination dive spot in the end for many.
Certainly easier to get to than the USS Saratoga (CV - currently Bikini Atoll), but sadly no hangar deck with a full complement of aircraft. :-)
Re: Capsized? (Score:1)
So they would have been able to explore 5' of smoke stack?
Wow, just admit you were wrong, you're making an ass out of yourself.
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So they would have been able to explore 5' of smoke stack?
Wow, just admit you were wrong, you're making an ass out of yourself.
Hold that thought there, donkey.
The SS United States will be sunk in about 180 feet of water off the coast of Destin, Florida. This depth will make it an accessible destination for recreational scuba divers. The recreational diving depth limit is 130 feet, but divers can exceed this limit with technical diving skills.
There are several places documenting exactly what the plan was for all levels of diving. The upper decks were supposed to rest in 55' of water. That's less than half the depth limit for recreational divers. Meaning plenty to see at that level of skill, even from an external view only. From the local investor standpoint, it also meant trying to include the ninety-five percent of the dive market today who are not advanced or tech divers.
Yes. That is a lot of potential risk
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Unfortunately you may be speaking on behalf of advanced and tech divers only now.
Correct on both, but my technical diving is still within recreational limits. So its deep and they wanted the bridge within recreational? I assumed an artificial reef would be in relatively shallow water, a bottom within recreational. Sunlight is kind of weak below that.
Re: Capsized? (Score:2)
Speaking as a diver, I think the larger expected economic benefit is from fishing â" the reef brings all kinds of life to what would otherwise be empty sand with no reason for fish to hang around.
Personally Iâ(TM)d prefer diving on it if it sat upright, but fortunately for Florida, the fish donâ(TM)t care.
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What on Earth gives you that idea? I'm a diver, the damned thing could be upside down and it'd be still interesting. On its side is arguably optimal.
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You dive with a sidemount don't you ;-). I don't think it's optimal for most, especially when going through doors but I certainly find non-upright wreaks the most interesting.
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Clearly you have no idea about diving or what interests divers. As a wreak diver myself I actually find tilted / capsized ships more interesting.
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And explosives leave lots of residual chemicals that impact wildlife.
WW2 wrecks show that this is a very short term and localized issue. For the WW2 wrecks fuels is more of an issue, and that won't be an issue here.
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Re:Capsized? (Score:5, Informative)
The insulation was removed decades ago. It's an empty hulk that had been scraped down to the steel.
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The insulation was removed decades ago. It's an empty hulk that had been scraped down to the steel.
Down to the paint you mean, you can see that it's mostly still painted in the video. And the paint itself is likely contaminated with a variety of materials.
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Maybe if you're diving to see it's not pleasant
I actually completely disagree. I've done a bit of wreak diving and I actively love the view you get going through something not upright. It creates a whole different feel to exploring a shipwreak.
The only downside is when it's on your side you have to take extra care going through doors not to bump your tank. I usually just swim sideways through, but some people with buoyancy issues find that difficult. Capsized shipwreaks are easier to explore with a side mount air tank.
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Anyhow, there's nothing wrong with settling on the side. Maybe if you're diving to see it's not pleasant, but I'm sure the fish and such don't really care.
They want to sink this ship to a depth of 180 feet. Given the distance from keel to sun-deck is about 115 to 125 feet, an upright ship would have its sun deck at a depth of about 65 to 55 feet, well within a typical sport-diver's range. But if the ship is on its side, then with a ship width of about 101 feet, the uppermost part of the sun-deck would be at about 80 feet, and everything interesting would be well below that depth. 80 feet is roughly the max depth for a sport-diver without extra planning.
TL/DR:
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They wanted it sitting upright so the upper deck would be shallow enough that recreational divers could reach it easily and have a decent amount of time on site. It would also be safer sitting upright because the superstructure creates a minimum of overhangs that way. Diving in an overhead environment is much more dangerous. Finally, ships are designed to sit upright. They deteriorate and collapse faster when they're on their sides, which would put the
Re:Capsized? (Score:5, Informative)
Looks like the sinking did not go as planned, and the ship will settle on its side. Probably would have been easier to control if they would have been allowed to use explosives.
Not really. What you saw was the ship taking on water and listing to the side. That has very little influence on how the ship will sink and settle to the bottom.
If you want to see an example of how thinks sink, drop a quarter into a glass bowl and watch it tumble to the bottom. It slides sideways, sometimes tumbles, and sometimes travels sideways a fair distance from where you dropped it into the water.
The main factors that determine how the ship settles on the bottom are the keel shape and the flatness of the bottom. Most of the wrecks sunk in that area are purposely put in vast sandy "deserts" where there are no other rocks or items to attract coral or fish, hence the advantage of putting artificial structures to create a place for fish to congregate and predators to feed.
I've made dives on the Duane/Bibb and Eagle in Florida's Keys and the fish population is wondrous to see. You can see some pictures and descriptions of the sunken ships in the keys here on Quartz [qz.com] and other sites.
Re: Capsized? (Score:2)
Fitting metaphor? (Score:2, Insightful)
Guessing this will get voted down pretty quick...
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America is still great, it never wasn't.
Donald Duck will be dead or out soon and in 10 years we will look back and say what the hell was that about..
I am hoping it will be a lesson to the American people to value democracy more seriously and take an interest. As lessons go, its been and I hope remains a relatively painless one compared to some bloody coups and revolutions.
I also hope it brings into focus the power wealth has over politicians, and it is soundly rejected on both sides of the house. Donald w
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I'm an expat living in the USA. Not voting of course, but still a keen observer.
I'm more hopeful about the voters, after seeing pre-midterm polls such as this one [gallup.com] and of course the midterm results themselves.
What I am concerned about now is the medium-to-long term reputation of the USA, and the damage to democratic norms and public discourse. Problems will linger long after the Trump administration is history.
Re: (Score:3)
America is still great, it never wasn't.
The question isn't whether it's great. The question is whether it's good.
Um, Gulf of what PBS? (Score:5, Funny)
Okaloosa County in Florida eventually stepped in to purchase the ship and bring it to the Gulf of Mexico ...
Good for you, now let's re-check your federal funding and access to the White House Press Pool ... /s
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What federal funding? At least right now, there is none.
Ah, the Unites States is it? (Score:2)
Welcome to Davey Jones' Locker. We've been expecting ye. Yaar.
N00bs (Score:2)
An upright wreck is a delight, but all wrecks are delights in their own way. In shallow water, upright is relatively rare unless the process is managed. But in any event, the significance here is the depth to first contact. Upright it's readily accessible to n00bs. On its side, only officially accessible to "advanced" divers (who are not necessarily advanced in any way, other than having paid for the tick in the box). All things considered, I think it's best on its side and let the n00bs do their n00bing el
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Why doesn't he?
Seems to be plenty that Donald hates. The scrutiny of a free press for one.
I've never seen a more hateful president calling journalists losers.
Like for like. Hate for hate.
Your team lost, get over it and demand a better team.
Competition from air travel? (Score:2)
No one has used ocean liners as nothing more than point to point transport since the 1960s so that reason doesn't wash. I guess the ship was just too tired and probably rusting for it to be profitable to refurbish because its not like people wouldn't pay top dollar to cruise on a historic ship with retro style.
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"No one has used ocean liners as nothing more than point to point transport since the 1960s so that reason doesn't wash."
"the ship was pulled from service in 1969"
Too lazy to read TFS? Just pull anything out of your ass and post it!
Re: (Score:2)
Do you have a problem with comprehending basic english? So what if it was mothballed in 69, wtf does that have to do with refurbing it? The queen mary left service in 67 and has been an upmarket hotel in Long Beach since then. Oh , whats that, you didn't know? What a surprise.
Re: Competition from air travel? (Score:2)
It was mothballed in the sixties due in part to competition from airlines, dickass. You are worse than worthless every time you post. Replacing you with Gemini would be an improvement.
What a waste (Score:3)
We are still digging up Iron Ore and turning it into steel. How much carbon is that putting into the atmosphere when that could be recycled.
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I'm guessing the whole create-a-reef thing is just greenwashing and its cheaper to sink it than recycle it , possibly due to the current price of iron ore, even though recycling the steel would ultimately create far less CO2 than transporting and refining ore.
Iron (Score:3)
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Yeah my guess would be the difficulty in getting a vessel not seaworthy to the scrappers. Do any of those places exist outside of India?
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Do any of those places exist outside of India?
Yes, scumbag; Bangladesh.
The end of a long, and for me, sad vigil... (Score:5, Interesting)
I was five when my family travelled on the SS United States from New York to Germany.
I have a whole variety of "Flash Memories"--little blinks of the past: putting on the life vest with my father during the lifeboat drill; watching a Disney film with him in the theater, "Tiko and the Shark"(...it took me years of searching with various phrases to find this movie--I started to look for it when I turned 36, age my Father died); my mother buying Hershey's chocolate bars at the gift shop, breaking them up by pounding on them and stirring them into warm milk, because I wanted chocolate milk and they did not have any onboard!
My Father died two years later.
For 30 years I watched her age and rust as I drove past her on I-95 heading into Philly.
I am an American citizen who had his 1st view of the Statue of Liberty from the deck of a North Atlantic ocean liner.
I visited her once at the pier. It was in mid January, bitter cold, icy. The Security guard waved me past when he saw my SLR with its 420mm lens. I have an A3 print of one of my exposures on my office wall. The paint curling off of the rusting metal. I remember my Father and I think of the lives: mine, my daughter, my brother, he did not get to see...