CaptFlyingDutchman
Contributor
Count me in too. Does Atlantis need more reefs?
The USS New Orleans LPH-11
- Thread starter justleesa
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
If you could get them to turn the NO into a reef it would be an ideal dive opportunity. The ship design is based on a race track layout with main pways down the port and starboard sides. There are two large access trunks which used to be double ladders on both sides just forward of the hanger bay which go from the 02 level (first level below the flight deck) down to the 2nd deck (which is the last deck before you get into cargo holds and magazines.)
On one of the New Orleans crewmembers sites it is mentioned the man who was leading the effort to make the NO a musuem contacted his congressman who said the NO is still in HI being cleaned/sanitized so it can be sunk as a reef. So I hope you guys get your wish.
BTW if you dive her, I think I left my watch in 02-19-04L.
Seriously if anyone does dive her I would enjoy some pictures.
Corey
decom crew 1994 -1997
On one of the New Orleans crewmembers sites it is mentioned the man who was leading the effort to make the NO a musuem contacted his congressman who said the NO is still in HI being cleaned/sanitized so it can be sunk as a reef. So I hope you guys get your wish.
BTW if you dive her, I think I left my watch in 02-19-04L.
Seriously if anyone does dive her I would enjoy some pictures.
Corey
decom crew 1994 -1997
If I was a Millionair I would put up the money to make it happen, unfortunatly uncle SAM doesn'y pay in 7-figures 
Like I said, if someone leads I shall follow and provide whatever I can to make it happen.
Like I said, if someone leads I shall follow and provide whatever I can to make it happen.
ThatsSomeBadHatHarry
Guest
If they use it as a target, don't they have to get the oil tanks and everything out anyway? Just put in that little extra effort to make it a little safer...voila...reef and dive site.
CaptFlyingDutchman
Contributor
Can we start a petition? If not for the NO, there are a bunch of other ships that are smaller in the mothball fleet.
Dive shops, dive boats, Atlantis, the Hawaii tourist organization????? Environmentalist?????????????? If they were piss that the superferry was going to kill some whales, wouldnt they jump for a change to make a huge artificial reef for thousands of sea creatures.noI hope the whole clean up thing is a nightmare)
.Dive shops, dive boats, Atlantis, the Hawaii tourist organization????? Environmentalist?????????????? If they were piss that the superferry was going to kill some whales, wouldnt they jump for a change to make a huge artificial reef for thousands of sea creatures.
noI hope the whole clean up thing is a nightmare)
My understanding is that the difference in cleanup between a target and an artificial reef lies in the details such as removing the smaller solid PCB's (small capacitors, etc). On a target the liquid PCB's (transformers, etc) are removed but not much attention is paid to solid PCB's that will end up in the deep ocean where the already mimimal release over a long period of time is not regarded as a concern.
The thing is, I don't think it is a concern in shallow water either given the very slow release that occurs. We are getting way more contaminants raining on us from coal fired plants in China and in any event anything taken off the boat still needs to be disposed of on land whether it is scrapped, reefed or sunk as a target.
The other cleanup issue for an artifical reef invovles removal of wiring, some easily removable equipment and other entanglement hazards as well as adding additional access points - all mostly designed to protect the subset of really stupid divers out there from themselves.
The thing is, I don't think it is a concern in shallow water either given the very slow release that occurs. We are getting way more contaminants raining on us from coal fired plants in China and in any event anything taken off the boat still needs to be disposed of on land whether it is scrapped, reefed or sunk as a target.
The other cleanup issue for an artifical reef invovles removal of wiring, some easily removable equipment and other entanglement hazards as well as adding additional access points - all mostly designed to protect the subset of really stupid divers out there from themselves.
It is very very expensive to clean up the ships to make them divable. It cost 30 million just to get the Mighty O in dive condition and that was just to get it cleaned up and did not include the towing and sinkex. The fuel tanks, lube oil tanks and other tanks on the ship are cleaned with special cleaners, they aren't removed they are a part of the ship.
The ship is about 2/3's the size of the Mighty O. So figure costs about 2/3's that and a spot would be needed to sink her in waters that are deeper than 150 feet.
There are some PCB's but not much, the bigger concern is the heavy metals on the ship including lead and mercury, there is also abestos (I know its in water but its still a hazardous material) and a myriad of other hazardous materials that are in the ship.
I also think the sinkex exercise for the ship is a done deal.
It would be great to have another wreck here though even more so with a ship that big.
There are a ton of ships in inact (mothball fleet), couple here in Hawaii but far more in Washington state and on the east coast of all sizes.
Best bet would be to contact the people that got the Mighty O sunk and see how they went about it. I know the process took years.
The ship is about 2/3's the size of the Mighty O. So figure costs about 2/3's that and a spot would be needed to sink her in waters that are deeper than 150 feet.
There are some PCB's but not much, the bigger concern is the heavy metals on the ship including lead and mercury, there is also abestos (I know its in water but its still a hazardous material) and a myriad of other hazardous materials that are in the ship.
I also think the sinkex exercise for the ship is a done deal.
It would be great to have another wreck here though even more so with a ship that big.
There are a ton of ships in inact (mothball fleet), couple here in Hawaii but far more in Washington state and on the east coast of all sizes.
Best bet would be to contact the people that got the Mighty O sunk and see how they went about it. I know the process took years.
I've noticed that Hawaii has a way of shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to situations such as these. I've searched for about an hour but I can't find where the state had the Navy tow a WWII submarine from 130feet to over a thousand because a couple of people got bent on it in the early 80's.
With that being said, there is nothing I would love more than to return to Hawaii and dive a decent military shipwreck.
With that being said, there is nothing I would love more than to return to Hawaii and dive a decent military shipwreck.
CaptFlyingDutchman
Contributor
Similar threads
