The Sinking of the Oriskiny... (Page 1/2)
82-T/A [At Work] DEC 10, 07:37 PM
rinselberg DEC 10, 07:54 PM
Is this in honor of Boondawg? It's like you're trying to impersonate him.

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-10-2020).]

williegoat DEC 10, 08:00 PM

quote
Originally posted by rinselberg:

Is this in honor of Boondawg? It's like you're trying to impersonate him.





Your theory is full of holes, it won't hold water. That ship's done sailed.
maryjane DEC 10, 08:16 PM
There are a few errors in that narration just up to the point I stopped (about 1/2 way thru) . For one, it stated something to the effect of.. "after attempting several years to sell the ship for scrap, the Navy decided to sink her as a reef."
The Navy did in fact sell her for scrap in Sept 95 but the buyer failed to actually do anything with the ship, left it sitting and the navy repossessed Oriskany mostly because of environmental concerns, terminating the contract in '97.

There is a full 'room' devoted to Oriskany on board USS Lexington in Corpus. CV18 (USS WASP) was originally named Oriskany, but got a name change while still in the ship builders ways. Name change was a salute to USS Wasp CV7 that had been lost to Jap torpedoes Sept 1942.
Quite a bit of Oriskany's machinery was pulled off and installed aboard Lexington including one of the large shipboard cranes that sits just to the left of the main entrance.

The Essex class were all good ships but to say any of them were 'all but impossible to sink' is stretching it a little..or maybe a lot.

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 12-10-2020).]

randye DEC 10, 08:53 PM
"The Great Carrier Reef" has been a menace to recreational divers since it was sunk.

The top of the carrier's island is at about 70-80 feet deep but the carrier deck is at approx. 150 feet deep.

This has lured many unsupervised, novice divers to follow the island tower down to the deck, explore awhile, and then ascend resulting in very serious decompression sickness, ("the bends").

Many divers have died.

I'm PADI / NAUI certified for "technical diving". I'm also certified in wreck diving, so I have had the pleasure of diving on the Oriskany a couple of times down to the deck level and below into the interior.

The coolest thing I encountered on my 2nd dive on the wreck wasn't the wreck but a whale shark the size of a school bus that slowly circled us and then lazily swam away into the murk. I've never seen a whale shark while diving before or since.

Each time I have been on that wreck site there have also been at least 3-4 other private boats with minimally trained divers aboard that insist on stupidly risking their lives.

There are commercial recreational dive boats that also take tourists out to the site and their dive masters try to keep control over their untrained divers but I understand that's always a battle.

[This message has been edited by randye (edited 12-10-2020).]

cvxjet DEC 10, 09:21 PM
Two things.....Number one; The Oriskany was the first Carrier I was ever on (1967 Age 7)...Even rode the bow elevator up......(Later I was stationed on the USS Coral Sea (Sadly, she was cut up for scrap in 1999)

My Father built a wooden boat hull peddle car for me when I was 3......at the age of 8 ("I'm Too old for that peddle boat") I traded it for a model of the USS Oriskany (I would give my right arm to have the peddle boat back now (My Father was a real craftsman)

Number two; Randye, 20 years ago my Father loaned me a book on divers finding a German U-boat off the east coast- several Divers died. Do you happen to know the name of that book (It was a good read)
Jake_Dragon DEC 10, 10:44 PM

quote
Originally posted by cvxjet:

(Later I was stationed on the USS Coral Sea (Sadly, she was cut up for scrap in 1999)



My girlfriends father was stationed on the Coral Sea in 1962 - 1966 I think.
He was a BT
cvxjet DEC 10, 11:19 PM
Although I was an AT (Avionics tech) I find anything mechanical fascinating.....SO I was able to get one of the BTs (3rd class) to take me down to the engineering spaces and show me the Steam turbines (Approx' 10' Dia x 20' long) two of which (High and low pressure) turned each 35' Diameter prop thru a reduction gear box....That gearbox was approx' 20' by 20 x 18' high...I was on the upper (Grating) deck around the top of it...Noticed a plaque mounted on the gearbox.........(You ain't gonna believe this)...>>>>>"LEASED from Lloyds of London"...!!!!!

(What was Lloyds going to do if they didn't get the payment some year......Cut the ship in half to get them out? The only time those gearboxes saw sunlight after being installed was when the hull was being cut up......)

[This message has been edited by cvxjet (edited 12-10-2020).]

maryjane DEC 11, 09:25 AM
There are no BT sailors in the US Navy now. Machinists Mates do that job now and the BTs merged into that rating back in the 90s.
Hank is Here DEC 11, 09:28 AM

quote
Originally posted by cvxjet:

Number two; Randye, 20 years ago my Father loaned me a book on divers finding a German U-boat off the east coast- several Divers died. Do you happen to know the name of that book (It was a good read)



Shadow Divers. It is a great book!