Another Spru-can chops into Davy Jones’ AOR
August 20th, 2009 | Diving Historical Science and technology Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
The destroyer Arthur W. Radford, seen here underway in 2002, is to be sunk as an artificial reef off Delaware // Navy
Naval Sea Systems Command announced Thursday it’s transferring one of the fleet’s best-known Spruance-class destroyers to the state of Delaware so it can be turned into an artificial reef. It’s the beginning of the end for the destroyer Arthur W. Radford, also known as “The Finger.”
Although final details for the transfer still must be ironed out, the basics are in place: The Radford will be sunk in the Atlantic at a spot equidistant from Cape May, N.J.; Ocean City, Md.; and Indian River Inlet Del. The ship will rest on the bottom in about 120 feet of water, NavSea said, which will make it a relatively easy dive.
The Radford is one of the last Spruance-class destroyers, ships that were a mainstay in the surface fleet of the 1970s and 80s, before the arrival of the Aegis-equipped Arleigh Burke class. Almost all of them have been sunk as targets or otherwise disposed of. Radford’s career took it around the world for 26 years and included a series of adventures and misadventures detailed on its surprisingly comprehensive Wikipedia page.
The ship earned its nickname “The Finger” after it was outfitted in 1997 with an experimental composite mast, to test the technology later used in the enclosed masts of the Navy’s San Antonio-class gators. In the view of some observers, this made it seem as though the destroyer was flipping you the bird. It won’t take that feature to the bottom, though; the Radford’s composite mast was removed when the ship was mothballed, and other topside features also likely will be cut away before it goes to its final resting place.
What lurks beneath?
July 21st, 2009 | Aviation Carriers Diving Historical | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
SB2C-4 banks over USS Hornet in the China Sea in January 1945 . Navy photo.
Local fishermen in search of some record large-mouth bass in a San Diego-area lake last winter found something else on their electronic fish finder: A World War II carrier bomber.
A cursory look determined the airplane is a Curtiss SBC2 Helldiver, a daring dive-bomber that apparently had made an emergency landing into Lower Otay Reservoir, southeast of San Diego, during a bombing test run on May 28, 1945, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The Navy had bought more than 7,000 of the Helldiver, which joined with the better-known Douglas SBD Dauntless on bombing runs during the Pacific theater campaigns in the latter half of World War II. The Helldiver found in the lake’s depths has been identified as a Variant 4 model.
The Texas-based Commemorative Air Force maintains a restored SB2C, often flying it at air shows and demonstrations. It’s not known yet if the airplane can be safely recovered and salvaged, perhaps as a vintage museum display. A dozen Navy divers in San Diego on July 23 will take to the lake for a site survey and a closer look at the airplane, said Lt. Katherine Raia, a spokeswoman with Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 1 in San Diego.
Yer welcome, fishies
June 3rd, 2009 | Diving | Posted by Phil Ewing
MC 2 Christopher Perez/Navy
So ye need a cruiser pulled off the reef, do ye? Yer lookin’ fer downed World War II aircraft, eh? And now ye got some fish doors what needs closed? Here’s yer answer: Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 1
Just when ye thought ye’d seen Navy divers pitching in for some of the unlikeliest jobs imaginable, try this one on for size: Divers from MDSU 1 helped the Army Corps of Engineers close some 10-foot high screen doors on a set of locks in Washington State, to keep salmon from swimming into the drainage system. The underwater doors must be closed before the fish migration season starts in mid-June, so the salmon don’t get stuck.
Now don’t say the Navy never did nothin fer ya, fishies.