VANDENBERG Project is on Track, Says Reef Advocates
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The ten year effort to acquire sufficient funds for the reefing of the former USNS Vandenberg has met its goal of $5.7 million, reef advocate Joe Weatherby said on Thursday. Represented in those funds is a grant of $1.25 million from the US Maritime Administration (MARAD). Given a November 15 deadline secure the needed funds, reefing advocates finally put the final piece of the puzzle into place when the Key West City Commission pledged $1.3 million.
Plans to tow the ship to a Norfolk shipyard are still incomplete. At the shipyard, the vessel will be cleaned of all toxic materials and prepared for the sinking. The 520-foot Vandenberg will eventually be sunk six miles off Key West, following shipyard preparations and cleaning operations. Joe Weatherby, founder of the Vandenberg reefing project, told MarEx today, “Right now, we’re planning to move the vessel to shipyard in January. But before that can happen, we’ve got a lot of paper to push. At this point, we’re fully permitted to proceed.” Weatherby also told MarEx that the EPA Region 4 had issued a permit to proceed to the State of Florida and MARAD spokespersons confirmed the issuance of that permit on Monday.
The Vandenberg Project is just one of several reefing deals that have occurred in the past year. Further west in the US gulf, the “Texas Clipper,” the former training ship of the Texas A&M Maritime School, is being readied for a similar fate. And not too long ago, the aircraft carrier “Oriskany” was also reefed in Florida waters. The trend is a welcome one at MARAD, where Shannon Russell, Director of Congressional and Public Affairs, remarked, “We’re pleased to be able to work with the individual states on these projects.” She went on to say, however, that MARAD cannot and does not deal with private non-profit groups or the general public when it comes to the reefing projects. As MARAD works to dispose of its three fleets of obsolete, aging hulls, the reefing option for some of these vessels appears to be gaining some traction.
As an artificial reef, the ship will not only be a recreational resource for divers and fishermen, but will serve as an underwater classroom for the Florida Keys Community College, and be a platform for ground-breaking research in reef monitoring as mandated by the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Management Plan. The ship's distinguished history will continue in its final disposition as a recreational, educational and scientific resource. Joe Weatherby explains, “The Vandenberg has commercial value to the Keys and its proposed reefing position will take recreational traffic pressure off of the only living coral reef in the country and take it onto the artificial platform.”
The ex-USAFS Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg was first commissioned as the troop transport USNS Gen. Harry Taylor. The ship saw service in WWII, the Hungarian Revolution, and the Cold War. After decommissioning, it even starred in a popular motion picture. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, it served as a missile tracker or “range instrumentation vessel,” stationed for much of that time in Port Canaveral, Florida. Its professional mariners were provided by the Military Sealift Command.
Visit the Vandenberg Reefing Site at: http://www.bigshipwrecks.com