| Career (United States) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Oriskany |
| Namesake: | Battle of Oriskany, 1777 |
| Ordered: | 7 August 1942 |
| Builder: | New York Naval Shipyard |
| Laid down: | 1 May 1944 |
| Launched: | 13 October 1945 |
| Commissioned: | 25 September 1950 7 March 1959 |
| Decommissioned: | 2 January 1957 30 September 1976 |
| Reclassified: | CV to CVA 1 October 1952 CVA to CV 30 June 1976 see SCB-27 and SCB-125 for conversion information |
| Struck: | 25 July 1989 |
| Fate: | Sunk as part of a pilot program to create artificial reefs 17 May 2006 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Essex-class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | As built: 30,800 tons |
| Length: | As built: 904 ft (276 m) overall |
| Beam: | As built: 129 ft (39 m) overall |
| Draft: | As built: 30 ft 6 in (9.30 m) maximum |
| Propulsion: | As designed: 8 × boilers 565 psi (3,900 kPa) 850 °F (450 °C) 4 × Westinghouse geared steam turbines 4 × shafts 150,000 shp (110 MW) |
| Speed: | 33 knots (61 km/h) |
| Range: | 20,000 nautical miles (37,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Complement: | As built: 2,600 officers and enlisted |
| Armor: | As built: 2.5 to 4 inch (60 to 100 mm) belt 1.5 inch (40 mm) hangar and protectice decks 4 inch (100 mm) bulkheads 1.5 inch (40 mm) STS top and sides of pilot house 2.5 inch (60 mm) top of steering gear |
| Aircraft carried: | As built: 90–100 aircraft 1 × deck-edge elevator 2 × centerline elevators |
USS Oriskany (CV/CVA-34) – nicknamed Mighty O, The O-boat, and Toasted O – was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the third US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the Revolutionary War Battle of Oriskany.
The history of Oriskany differs considerably from that of her sister ships. Originally designed as a "long-hulled" Essex-class ship (considered by some authorities to be a separate class, the Ticonderoga class) her construction was suspended in 1947. She eventually was commissioned in 1950 after conversion to an updated design called SCB-27 or "27-Charlie", which became the template for modernization of 14 other Essex-class ships.
She operated primarily in the Pacific into the 1970s, earning two battle stars for service in the Korean War, and five for service in the Vietnam War. In 1966 one of the worst shipboard fires since World War II broke out on Oriskany when a magnesium flare was accidentally ignited; forty-four men died in the fire.
Oriskany's post-service history also differs considerably from that of her sister ships. Decommissioned in 1976, she was sold for scrap in 1995, but was repossessed in 1997 because nothing was being done (lack of progress). In 2004 it was decided to sink her as an artificial reef off the coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. After much environmental review and remediation to remove toxic substances, she was carefully sunk in May 2006, settling in an upright position at a depth accessible to recreational divers. As of 2008 the Oriskany is "the largest vessel ever sunk to make a reef."[1]
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The name "Oriskany" was originally assigned to CV-18, but that hull was renamed Wasp when the keel was laid in 1942. CV-34 was laid down on 1 May 1944 by the New York Naval Shipyard, launched on 13 October 1945, and sponsored by Mrs. Clarence Cannon. Construction was suspended on 12 August 1947, when the ship was approximately 85% complete. Oriskany was redesigned as the prototype for the SCB-27 modernization program. To handle the new generation of carrier aircraft, the flight deck structure was massively reinforced. Stronger elevators, more powerful hydraulic catapults, and new arresting gear were installed. The island structure was rebuilt, the anti-aircraft turrets were removed, and blisters were added to the hull. Blistering the hull (also known as adding bulges) increases the cross-sectional area of a ship's hull, thereby increasing its buoyancy and stability. It also provides increased bunker volume. In the case of the Oriskany, this would have been for aviation fuel. These features would have been crucial to a ship that had so much topside weight added after its original design. Oriskany was commissioned in the New York Naval Shipyard on 25 September 1950, Captain Percy H. Lyon in command.
Oriskany departed New York on December 6, 1950, for carrier qualification operations off Jacksonville, Florida, followed by a Christmas call at Newport, Rhode Island. She resumed operations off Jacksonville through January 11, 1951, when she embarked Carrier Air Group 1 for shakedown out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
After major modifications at New York Naval Shipyard from March 6 to April 2, she embarked Carrier Air Group 4 for training off Jacksonville, then departed Newport on May 15, 1951, for Mediterranean deployment with the 6th Fleet.
Having swept from ports of Italy and France to those of Greece and Turkey, from there to the shores of Tripoli, Oriskany returned to Quonset Point, Rhode Island on 4 October 1951. She entered Gravesend Bay, New York on 6 November 1951 to offload ammunition and to have her masts removed to allow passage under the East River Bridges to the New York Naval Shipyard. Overhaul included the installation of a new flight deck, steering system, and bridge. Work was complete by May 15, 1952, and the carrier steamed the next day to take on ammunition at Norfolk, Virginia from May 19–22. She then got underway to join the Pacific Fleet, steaming via Guantanamo Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Horn, Valparaíso, and Lima, arriving San Diego, California on 21 July.
Following carrier qualifications for Air Group 102, Oriskany departed San Diego on September 15, 1952, to aid UN forces in Korea. She arrived Yokosuka on October 17 and joined Task Force 77 off the Korean Coast on October 31. Her aircraft struck hard with bombing and strafing attacks against enemy supply lines and coordinated bombing missions with surface gunstrikes along the coast. Her pilots downed two Soviet-built MiG-15 jets and damaged a third on November 18.[2]
Strikes continued through February 11, attacking enemy artillery positions, troop emplacements, and supply dumps along the main battlefront. Following a brief upkeep period in Japan, Oriskany returned to combat on March 1, 1953. She continued in action until March 29, called at Hong Kong, then resumed air strikes on April 8. She departed the Korean Coast on April 22, touched at Yokosuka, and then departed for San Diego on May 2nd, arriving there on May 18th.
Following readiness training along the California coast, Oriskany departed San Francisco on September 14 to aid the 7th Fleet watching over the uneasy truce in Korea, arriving in Yokosuka on October 15th. Thereafter, she cruised the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, and the area of the Philippines. After providing air support for Marine amphibious assault exercises at Iwo Jima, the carrier returned to San Diego on April 22, 1954. She entered San Francisco Naval Shipyard for overhaul; the overhaul was completed on October 22nd, when she stood out to sea for the first of a series of coastal operations.
Oriskany arrived at Yokosuka on April 2, 1955, and operated with the Fast Carrier Task Force ranging from Japan and Okinawa to the Philippines. This deployment ended on September 7th, and the carrier arrived NAS Alameda, California, on September 21st.
She cruised the California Coast while qualifying pilots of Air Group 9, then put to sea from Alameda on 11 February 1956 for another rigorous Western Pacific (WestPac) deployment.
Oriskany returned to San Francisco on August 13, 1956, and entered the shipyard to undergo the SCB-125A modernization program on October 1. She was decommissioned there on January 2, 1957. Oriskany received a new angled flight deck, aft deck edge elevator, enlarged forward elevator, and enclosed hurricane bow. Powerful new steam catapults replaced the older hydraulic catapults. The wooden flight deck planking was also replaced with aluminum planking.
Oriskany recommissioned at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard on March 7, 1959, Captain James Mahan Wright in command. Four days later she departed for shakedown out of San Diego with Carrier Air Group 14 embarked. Operations along the West Coast continued until May 14, 1960, when she again deployed to WestPac, returning to San Diego on December 15th. She entered San Francisco Naval Shipyard on March 30, 1961, for a five-month overhaul that included the first aircraft carrier installation of the Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS).
Oriskany departed the shipyard on September 9 for underway training out of San Diego until June 7, 1962, when she again deployed to the Far East with Carrier Air Group 16 embarked. She returned to San Diego on December 17th for operational readiness training off the West Coast.
The carrier was again stationed out of San Diego on August 1, 1963, for Far Eastern waters, with Carrier Air Group 16 embarked. She arrived at Subic Bay on August 31, 1963, and from there steamed to Japan. She was at the port of Iwakuni, Japan, on the morning of October 31, en route to the coast of South Vietnam. There, she stood by for any eventuality as word was received of the coup d'état taking place in Saigon. When the crisis abated, the carrier resumed operations from Japanese ports.
Oriskany returned to San Diego on March 10, 1964. After overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, she steamed for refresher training out of San Diego, followed by qualifications for Carrier Air Wing 16. During this period her flight deck was used to test the E-2 Hawkeye, the Navy's new airborne early warning aircraft. She also provided orientation to senior officers of eight allied nations.
Oriskany departed San Diego on April 5, 1965, for WestPac, arriving at Subic Bay on April 27th. By this time more United States troops had landed in the Republic of South Vietnam to support ARVN (Army Republic of South Vietnam) troops against increased communist pressure. Oriskany added her weight to the massive American naval strength supporting South Vietnam. In combat operations that brought her and embarked Carrier Air Wing 16 the Navy Unit Commendation for exceptionally meritorious service from May 10 to December 6, 1965, she carried out over 12,000 combat sorties and delivered nearly 10,000 tons (9,100 tonnes) of ordnance against enemy forces. She departed Subic Bay on November 30, and returned to San Diego on December 16th.
Oriskany again left San Diego for the Far East on May 26, 1966, arriving in Yokosuka, Japan, on June 14th. She steamed for "Dixie Station" off South Vietnam on June 27th. Wearisome days and nights of combat shifted to "Yankee Station" in the Gulf of Tonkin on July 8th. In the following months there were brief respites for replenishment in Subic Bay, then back into the action that saw her launch 7,794 combat sorties.
The carrier was on station the morning of October 26, 1966, when a fire erupted on the starboard side of the ship's forward hangar bay and raced through five decks, killing 44 men. Many who lost their lives were veteran combat pilots who had flown raids over Vietnam a few hours earlier. Oriskany had been put in danger when a magnesium parachute flare exploded in the forward flare locker of Hangar Bay 1, beneath the carrier's flight deck. Subsequent investigation showed the flare functioned as designed and the cause of the fire was human error. A seaman accidentally ignited the flare, and in a panic, threw it into the weapons locker where the flares were kept for storage, instead of throwing it over the side into the water; this ignited all the flares in the locker and caused horrific damage. Some of her crewmen jettisoned heavy bombs which lay within reach of the flames, while others wheeled planes out of danger, rescued pilots, and helped quell the blaze throughout the next three hours. Medical assistance was rushed to the carrier from aircraft carriers Constellation and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Later investigation by Captain John H Iarrobino of the Oriskany and analysis by the Naval Ammunition Depot in Crane, Indiana, showed that one in every thousand flares could ignite accidentally if jarred. Five crew members were court-martialed as a result of the incident but were acquitted. After this incident and others, the flare design used by the Navy was changed to a safer design immune to accidental ignition, and crews were increased to stabilize numbers so all activities could be properly supervised.[3]
Oriskany steamed to Subic Bay on October 28th, where victims of the fire were transferred to waiting aircraft for transportation to the United States. A week later the carrier departed for San Diego, arriving on November 16th. San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard completed repairs on March 23, 1967, and Oriskany, with Carrier Air Wing 16 embarked, underwent training. She then was stationed out of San Francisco Bay on June 16th to take station in waters off Vietnam. Designated flagship of Carrier Division 9 in Subic Bay on July 9, she commenced "Yankee Station" operations on July 14th. On July 26th she provided medical assistance to the fire-ravaged attack carrier USS Forrestal.
On October 26, 1967, then-Lieutenant Commander John McCain flew off Oriskany in an A-4 Skyhawk on his 23rd bombing mission of the Vietnam War. He was shot down that day and was a prisoner of war until January 1973.
Oriskany returned to Naval Air Station Alameda on January 31, 1968, and entered San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard on February 7th for an eight-month overhaul. Upon completion of work, the carrier underwent refresher training and flight qualifications before deploying to the Far East in April 1969.
Following 25 years of service, Oriskany was decommissioned on September 30, 1976, and laid up for long-term storage in Bremerton, Washington, where the carrier was maintained as a mobilization asset. Reagan Administration proposals to reactivate Oriskany were rejected by the United States Congress on the basis of the ship's poor material condition and limited air wing capability. The cost of reactivation was estimated at approximately $520 million for FY 1982 ($1 billion in 2012[4]).[5] At the end of the Cold War and the subsequent reduction of the U.S. Navy's active force, Oriskany was recognized as being obsolete and was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1989. Her hull was stripped of all equipment that could be reused or recycled. The ship's bell (removed during decommissioning in 1976) is now on display in Oriskany, New York, and various parts were scavenged to support the USS Hornet museum in Alameda, California and other Navy ship museums.
Oriskany received two battle stars for Korean War service and five for Vietnam War service.
Proposals were made in the early 1990s to refurbish ex-Oriskany and display her in Tokyo Bay as part of a planned "City of America" exhibit. Congressional legislation was initiated to transfer Oriskany, but the project failed due to lack of financing.
Oriskany was sold for scrap by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service on 9 September 1995 to Pegasus International, a start-up company at the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, CA. The contractor towed the ship from Bremerton to Vallejo, but the contract was terminated for default on July 30, 1997, because of lack of progress. While berthed at Mare Island in rusted and decrepit condition, ex-Oriskany was used as a setting for the Robin Williams film, What Dreams May Come (1998) as part of the representation of Hell.
The Navy retook possession of the ship and after a few more years at the former Mare Island Navy Yard, the ship was towed in 1999 to the Maritime Administration's Beaumont Reserve Fleet in Beaumont, Texas, for storage pending availability of funding for its disposal.
The Navy announced on April 5, 2004, that it would transfer the former aircraft carrier to the State of Florida for use as an artificial reef. In September 2003 the Navy awarded a contract to Resolve Marine Group /ESCO Marine Joint Venture for the environmental remediation work necessary for sinking the ship as an artificial reef. The contractor towed the ship to Corpus Christi, TX in January 2004 and completed the environmental preparation work in December 2004.
Oriskany was the first United States warship slated to become an artificial reef, under authority granted by the fiscal 2004 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 108-136). Oriskany was towed to Pensacola in December 2004 and was originally scheduled to be sunk with controlled charges 24 mi (39 km) south of Pensacola by June 2005. Exhaustive ecological and human health studies were conducted by Navy scientists in consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to demonstrate no adverse impact from reefing the ship. Failure to gain EPA approval caused a delay, so Oriskany was then towed back to Texas in June to ride out the 2005 hurricane season.[6] Completion and peer review of a complex Prospective Risk Assessment Model developed in consultation with EPA, the first for any ship reefing project, was necessary to support EPA's February 2006 decision to issue a risk-based PCB disposal approval for the estimated 750 lb (340 kg) of polychlorinated biphenyls contained in solid form, mostly integral in the insulation layers of the electrical cabling throughout the ship.
Based on EPA's approval, after a public comment period, the ship was towed to Pensacola, FL in March 2006 for final preparations for sinking under a Navy contract. A team of Navy personnel accomplished the sinking of the ship on May 17, 2006, supported by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Escambia County Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Pensacola Police Department, and several sheriff departments of Escambia County and surrounding counties. A Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal team from Panama City, FL detonated C-4 explosive charges of approximately 500 lb (230 kg) net explosive weight, strategically placed on 22 sea connection pipes in various machinery spaces. The ship sank stern first 37 minutes after detonation in 210 ft (64 m) of water in the Gulf of Mexico.
As was intended, the ship came to rest lying upright. The flight deck was at a depth of 135 ft (41 m), and its island rose to 70 ft (21 m).[7] Following Hurricane Gustav, the ship shifted 10 feet deeper leaving the flight deck at 145 feet (44 m).[8] The island structure is accessible to recreational divers, but the flight deck will require additional training and equipment.[8] It is now popularly known as the "Great Carrier Reef",[9] a reference to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
The Times named the Oriskany as one of the top ten wreck diving sites in the world.[10] The New York Times Web video Diving the U.S.S. Oriskany explored the Oriskany wreck two years after its sinking.[11]
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
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