Earlier today the ship USNS Hoyt S. Vandenberg, was sunk about 7 miles off the coast of Key West making it the world’s second-largest intentionally sunk artificial reef. The vessel was originally built during WWII for troop transport but wikipedia sheds light on her subsequent, more interesting, mission:
On 1 July 1964, General Hoyt S. Vandenberg was acquired by the Navy and designated T-AGM-10, as a Missile Range Instrumentation Ship, one of ten such ships transferred from the Commander, Air Force Eastern Test Range, to MSTS. “Equipped with extremely accurate and discriminating radar and telemetry equipment,” she tracked and analyzed “re-entry bodies in the terminal phase of ballistic missile test flights,” carrying out those missile and spacecraft tracking duties in both Atlantic and Pacific waters until her retirement in 1983.[2] She was ultimately stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 29 April 1993.
In 1998, some scenes of the horror/sci-fi film Virus were filmed aboard the ex-General Hoyt S. Vandenberg. The ship substituted for a Russian vessel known as the Akademik Vladislav Volkov, and some of the Cyrillic lettering applied for the film is still visible on the hull today.
Today’s sinking of this historic cold war relic was caught on film by the team at SinkTheVandenberg.com. Here is a preview of the event:
The vessel now sits in 140 feet of clear water and will serve to attract fish, divers and relieve recreational pressure on nearby natural reefs. Officials expect it to generate up to $8 million in tourism-related revenue for Key West and the state of Florida. The following image will give you an impression of the vessels size:
The following vessel drawing sheds light on the various missile tracking systems found aboard the ship. Click on the photo for the full size image.
More photos of the ship can be found HERE and HERE but we have also attached additional video below.
By Wilfried Eckl-Dorna Nov 15, 2024 (Bloomberg) –Thyssenkrupp AG is planning an initial public offering of its naval shipbuilding unit within a year after plans to sell a majority stake to...
by Captain John Konrad (gCaptain) American shipyards, the Merchant Marine, ports, and waterways have undeniably suffered from decades of neglect. This context explains why some American shipping experts are celebrating...
Nov 11 (Reuters) – Russian and Indonesian ships practiced freeing a vessel captured by terrorists and fought unmanned boats during the first joint naval exercises between the two countries in the Java...
November 10, 2024
Total Views: 909
Why Join the gCaptain Club?
Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.