In this photo released by the Florida Keys News Bureau, tugboats tow the decommissioned U.S. military missile-tracking Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg Tuesday, May 26, 2009, past the historic Custom House in Key West, Fla., to a point about seven miles south of the island city.
The 523-foot-long ship, that once tracked space launches off Cape Canaveral, Fla., and also monitored Soviet missile launches during the Cold War, is scheduled be intentionally sunk off Key West Wednesday, May 27, to become an artificial reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
AP Photo/
Florida Keys News Bureau,
Andy Newman
WWII-era ship to become sunken reef off Key West
Wed May 27, 2009
KEY WEST, Fla.
– A ship last used by the U.S. Air Force to track missiles and spacecraft will soon become the world's second-
largest intentionally sunk artificial reef.
Crews plan to sink the decommissioned Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg on Wednesday morning about seven miles off
Key West. Officials hope it will attract fish and divers and relieve recreational pressure on nearby natural reefs.
Explosives will be detonated to flood the 17,000-ton, 523-foot-long ship that was first built as a cargo ship in
World War II. It's expected to settle on the sandy bottom in 140 feet of clear water.
Officials in the Florida Keys expect it to generate up to $8 million in tourism-related revenue, mostly from divers
and related businesses.
