Oriskany (Re-Post)

I posted this a few years ago. At that time, it was a memory of a curiosity. 

While reading a post on Old NFO's blog, the ship became more than just a floating city of steel. 

A friend's father landed a jet on this carrier back in the early sixties. This is probably one of the last photos of the Oriskany as it was towed to final preparation before being turned into an artificial reef. Much of the ship had been removed, but it was still a magnificent sight as it passed our project location a few years ago.

It now sits on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. Due to it's size, the island structure is around 80 feet deep, which is at the limits of sport diving. The flight deck is around 145 feet deep, which makes much of the carrier beyond the depths of sport divers.

* I have to add how big it was. what's most amazing is that one of the reasons for decommisioning was it wasn't big enough for modern requirements.