date set for Oriskany sinking

[Spectre]

The guy running the show stated, in no uncertain terms, he wasn't going to tow it again. If he didn't have 100% confidence from his group that they could get the necessary work done from the time they got EPA approval to hurricane season, he wasn't going to tow it back. So the fact that it's heading back to pensacola means it's definitely going to be sunk before June 1st.

 

[H2Andy]

The guy running the show stated, in no uncertain terms, he wasn't going to tow it again. If he didn't have 100% confidence from his group that they could get the necessary work done from the time they got EPA approval to hurricane season, he wasn't going to tow it back.

yep, i saw that too

hopefully he's right. but you know, brown stuff can happen

 

[Spectre]

hopefully he's right. but you know, brown stuff can happen

My guess is that if the fan gets spattered, it's going to be that it went down where it wasn't intended....

 

[StSomewhere]

given the depth, it will be an "advanced dive," which means the charters
will probalby ask for an AOW card minimum

is this a PADI conspiracy????

(just kidding)

Of course, the problem is that AOW doesn't necessarily mean you are ready for an advanced dive. All kidding aside, that logic is being used in other parts of Florida to sell a lot of AOW cards, so why should the panhandle be any different?

Honestly, IMO, this isn't necessarily a PADI thing, it is driven by certain dive ops who OBTW just happen to be in the business of selling AOW cards from a number of agencies.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

My guess is that if the fan gets spattered, it's going to be that it went down where it wasn't intended....

...or at an orientation not intended

 

[mike_s]

mike, not to be anal, but to be fair to the guys doing this, they will begin
towing her out of port on the 15th, get her in place, and sink her on the 17th
if all goes according to plan

The dates I saw were stated right after the EPA annoucement said it was to be sunk on the 15th. Then a week or two later I saw that it had changed to the 17th. But I never saw it previous that said "towed out" on the 15th and sunk on the 17th.

Maybe they just real clear about the difference in the dates or something.... But I wasn't trying to be anal about it. That was just what I saw in their releases.

I still have some doubts it'll actually go under on the 17th though. Maybe I'll be wrong and it'll run exactly on schedule though. However, if it is late sinking, I don't think it'll be "real late". I think it'll still be sunk within 30-45 days max of the intended sinking date.

-mike

 

[Nemrod]

"My guess is that if the fan gets spattered, it's going to be that it went down where it wasn't intended...."

Yeah, we can hope that it will accidently sink in closer and in water more suitable for diving.

My bet, given years of trying to dive the Panhandle region is that diver operators will not go out there, they will always have an excuse. There are numerous excellent dive sites already similar distances and depths and they are never dived.

That is OK, Nemrod will take the good Whaler Nemrod to the Oriskany. GPS solves everyhing, with good coordinates, I can put the anchor on the center flight deck. You will know it is me, there is a Confederate Naval Battle flag on the VHF and Skull and Bones on the bow. It will be a long highway tow down there though. N

 

[ScubaLuke]

Here's an interesting article from the Pensacola paper on how the local hospital is preparing to deal with diving related injuries on the Oriskany:
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060228/NEWS01/602280321/1006

Luke

 

[Spectre]

Yeah, we can hope that it will accidently sink in closer and in water more suitable for diving.

I actually disagree on multiple points. Should it sink in shallower water most likely it will be destroyed somewhat, as it would pose a naviation hazard should it not be deep enough to prevent it from getting hit by deep draft ships. Also, the depths that it is being sunk at makes it much less likely that recreational divers will explore beyond the superstructure, and are less likely to decide to go into the hanger deck or the lower decks. Given the stories I've heard about the ambient light coming through holes in the flight deck, it would be extremely easy for a diver that isn't an expert in overhead diving to mistakenly go the wrong way into dead end areas thinking that the ambient light means there is a way to get out. at 150+, those areas are unlikely to be visited by recreational divers; but should the sand be 130 feet from the surface, I'd be willing to bet money that we'd be going in there much more frequently in search of a body to bring back to their family.

 

[mike_s]

Well. We can hope that....

but this ship is being sunk deep for fishermen, not divers. Economically, the charter fishing industry outnumbers the dive-charter industry in the panhandle of Florida by 100-200 to 1. So it's being sunk for them, not us.

Don't get me wrong here though... this will put Pensacola on the map for diving and people will come. But fishing charters just outnumber diving charters easily down there, expecially in economic impact.