USS Clamagore Artificial Reef Project for Palm Beach County,

[ScubaJCBS]

So are they needing man power and funds or just funds?

 

[The Chairman]

First, the Grove had been pre-cleaned by the Navy and it was done right at the turn of the century. Lots more laws as well as inflation since then.

Joe is a personal friend and I trust him implicitly. None of the ships he's sunk have gone sideways. He's done this more than anyone so it will be done right.

 

[tekkydiver]

Where are they thinking of putting it? And how deep?

The plan was to drop it 90' of water off the Juno Pier.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

First, the Grove had been pre-cleaned by the Navy and it was done right at the turn of the century. Lots more laws as well as inflation since then.

That's probably a chunk of it. Gutting ships is a nightmare from what I've heard; I read that due to issues with asbestos and other hidden fun stuff on older warships the Navy was planning on compiling master lists of everything that goes into new-build ships so that 30, 40, 50 years down the road the folks at the scrapyard won't have similar unpleasant surprises.

The proposal involves building a cradle for the sub, which I imagine is another chunk of change. Sounds like they also want to preserve some of the equipment that's currently on the boat for the land-based museum, which if included in the price tag would also be a factor.

 

[Tom Winters]

I thought you made up the name of that sub. Maybe doing shots of tequila while reading Kurt Vonnegut and your chunky fingers and autocorrect on your phone couldn’t handle “Tralfamadore”.
But nope...it is indeed “Clamadore”. Apologies for the chunky finger reference.

 

[The Chairman]

But nope...it is indeed “Clamadore”.

Nope. Your chunky fingers just got it wrong. It's tha Clamagore. Oh the irony!

 

[Tom Winters]

Ah, yes, Clamagore... Oh, that makes all the difference. Boy, they just couldn’t call the boat “Blue Parrotfish.”
Well, I’m done typing with my elegant, long, slim fingers that had nothing to do with typing “Clamadore” instead of “Clamagore”.
Hmmm...I just thought of a product name for a device to store tasty Bivalvias. This is going to be yuge on Shark Tank...

 

[HalcyonDaze]

The U.S. built a total of 120 Balao-class subs during WWII, along with 77 of the earlier Gato-class subs and 29 of the follow-on Tench-class (most of the latter were canceled at the end of the war). At the time USN practice was to name subs after marine animals; with the exception of ballistic missile submarines this continued until the 1970s with the Los Angeles-class (Admiral Hyman Rickover was reportedly trying to win funds from Congress and named the first 12 subs for the hometowns of representatives he was trying to sway, proclaiming "Fish don't vote!"). With a total of 226 subs authorized during WWII plus about 50 older boats still in service there were a lot of bilingual names thrown in - examples being my hometown museum sub, USS Requin, and the ill-fated USS Cochino.

 

[Compressor]

Exciting news for Palm Beach area divers. Thanks for posting. I will look into contributing.

 

[The Chairman]

I've actually been in this sub with my son on a Cub Scout trip to Patriot's Point in Charleston Harbor, SC. We stayed on the USS Yorktown (CV-5) in the pilot's quarters. I was walking on the huge deck with my son when my mom called to talk. Of course, she asked me what we were doing and I told her. Her response was "Oh. That's the carrier you father flew off of." Wow. I had no idea and you could have knocked me over with a feather as the connection sunk in. According to her, my dad flew off of the original Yorktown as a Marine when it was sunk in the Battle of Midway. I believe he landed on the USS Enterprise. When the new USS Yorktown (CV-10) was completed he and a Navy pilot were asked to make the inaugural flights off of it. The USS Clagamore is mired in the mud on the Starboard side of the Yorktown. At the time you were allowed to board her and make a one way trip through her, coming out the other end. I could never understand how anyone could wage war in an iron coffin like that. My hat is off to the sailors that manned her, both in peacetime and especially in war.

Edit=> If you ever get the chance to go, be sure to tour Ft Sumter while you're there. The first person to fire a volley in our Civil War was none other than the Union officer Abner Doubleday, who is traditionally credited with inventing baseball. Although the Ft was almost leveled by bombing from both sides, no soldier lost their life during combat. Two Confederate soldiers died when they blew themselves up by smoking in one of the magazines, but there were no deaths from enemy fire. If you look at the shape of the fort from the air you'll immediately recognize the unique shape as "Home Base". Truth is stranger than fiction.

Fort Sumter as she stands today

A much taller Fort Sumter before the Civil War​