Aircraft Carrier to Become Artificial Reef
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The retired U.S. aircraft carrier Oriskany will be sunk off the Florida coast near Pensacola this summer to serve as an artificial reef, the Navy announced.
The 888-foot Oriskany is the first vessel in a new program designed to dispose of obsolete warships by sinking them as a cheaper alternative to the scrap yard. The ship also will serve as an underwater memorial.
Much of the emotion associated with the ship stems from a magazine fire that killed 44 crew members off the coast of Vietnam in 1966. Some of the ship’s pilots were also lost in combat.
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