Retired U.S. Air Force missile tracking ship to become artificial reef in Florida

http://www.sportfishingmag.com/news/news/retired-ship-to-become-artifical-reef-in-florida-keys-may-15--1000008160.html

Retired ship to become artifical reef in Florida Keys May 15
By Fla-Keys.com
Tue, Jan 29, 2008
Project organizers, overseeing the transformation of a retired U.S.
Air Force missile tracking ship into an artificial reef off Key West have
set May 15 as the scheduled sink date.

"This is a major event for us, a great opportunity for the health of
the reef as well as an economic shot in the arm for the Keys," said Chris
Norwood, president of Artificial Reefs of the Keys. "Tens of thousands of
people have been waiting to hear this date."

Currently, the General Hoyt S. Vandenberg is in a Norfolk, Va.,
shipyard with workers removing environmental hazards, prior to its scuttling
in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Officials with Reefmakers, the project's facilitator, are planning to
coordinate towing of the 522-foot-long vessel to Key West sometime in March
for final preparations.

The Vandenberg project should provide additional marine habitat and
provide a new attraction for recreational divers, to relieve pressure on
natural coral reefs.

"Not only do artificial reefs divert recreational user pressure from
natural reefs, they also create a valuable habitat and new breeding grounds
for the marine environment", said Joe Weatherby of Reefmakers. "The
Vandenberg will provide tools and resources to create sustained educational,
social and cultural programs while also generating substantial revenues for
the community."

Before it was decommissioned in 1983, the Vandenberg also tracked
manned U.S. space missions, beginning with Mercury blastoffs in the early
1960s. The ship "played" a role as a Russian science ship in "Virus," a 1999
motion picture starring Jamie Lee Curtis.

Funding for the project is coming from several local government and
private-sector resources including the City of Key West and the Monroe
County Tourist Development Council.




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