Update: Old destroyer will help create East Coast's largest artificial reef 30 miles

[jrmiah]

Great news for diving in Ocean City - the East Coast's largest artificial reef is coming to Ocean City!! The USS Arthur W. Radford, a 563' Destroyer, is planned to be sunk 30 miles off Ocean City later in the summer or in the fall! This means some really awesome dive opportunities are coming aboard the Malama Kai (www.ocdiveboat.com) - soon!

Here is the article.. Old destroyer will help create East Coast's largest artificial reef 30 miles off Ocean City

 

[gsk3]

Here's where we've been discussing it in Dive NY. Exciting news!

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/dive-ny/330394-delaware-sink-radford-anglers-divers.html

 

[weaponeer]

Pretty cool. The Radford is/was a Spruance-class destroyer. I was never assigned to the ship but I did spend some in-port and underway time on it doing weapon systems testing and maintenance while on active duty at FTSCLANT, Norfolk. It's the only Spruance-class that received the modified superstructure that housed the MK23 Target Acquisition System (TAS) radar antenna. The superstructure was designed to have a low radar reflective profile (stealth-like).

 

[H2O 70]

Does anyone know if when they are going to sink this and if they are going to put mooring balls on it?

 

[ChainSaw0069]

this should be a fun dive.

 

[adambayam]

Looks awesome, looking forward to diving the "largest artifical reef" in the Atlantic.

Thanks for the update.

Adam

 

[waterpirate]

Word on the street is they are looking to reef it on a sandy bottom out near the moonstone. Mooring balls are highly unlikely due to their being a hazzard to navigation. It will be an interesting dive, later it will get better when the fish habitate. The down side, as with all large reefs in the reach of aluminum 80's is that Darwin will start enforcing his laws and we will get unwanted media and legislative attention. Let us all hope this is kept to a minimum and boosts the local diving economy.
Eric

 

[H2O 70]

I found out that mooring balls won't happen because fisherman will just cut them...something about their drift nets.

Where is moonstone? If you take what the media reported as close to correct (30 miles out of OC and 30 miles out of Indian River) it looks like it is roughly 15 miles off Bethany, DE.

I doubt you'll see too many folks with the AL80's out there if your closet inlet is 30miles and you're going to have to hook the wreck.

 

[waterpirate]

There is a chart on njscuba.net that depicts it's general location. Numbers are still secrets even today. The published numbers even from reef foundations are notoriously close, but not exactly. Due to the proximity to the philly,ny shipping channel hazzards is a real issue. Divers cut mooring balls. The last thing you want to do is show up to a dive site and find it covered up by hook and liners who otherwise would not have found it without assistance.
Being billed as the largest reefed ship will surely prompt a cattle boat operation to satisfy the general publics lust to dive it, which equals aluminum 80.

 

[H2O 70]

I've crawled all over the njscuba.net site and I can't find the chart you are referencing. Can you provide a link?