MikeV: From the local Texas paper
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By Matthew Sturdevant Caller-Times
January 9, 2004
An 888-foot Korean War-era aircraft carrier will arrive at the Port of
Corpus Christi next week to have its innards cleaned of solvents before
the ship is sunk offshore to create an artificial reef.
Officials haven't announced yet where the ship will be sunk.
The USS Oriskany will be towed Tuesday from Beaumont and will arrive
later in the week at the Port of Corpus Christi, said Denise Johnston,
manager of government contracts for Resolve Marine Services. The company is
one of two contracted to clean aircraft carriers.
"The tow will commence depending on weather conditions," Johnston said.
"It could be in Corpus Christi on the 15th, the 16th, the 17th - it
depends on the weather."
Resolve Marine Services of Florida, and a Brownsville company, Esco
Marine, were jointly awarded a $2.18 million U.S. Navy contract to remove
oily solvents from hundreds of tanks and bilge compartments on the ship,
according to federal contract information.
Cleaning the Oriskany is expensive because the ship has chemicals and
substances that are regulated by the federal government for special
disposal, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, mercury and asbestos, Johnston
has said.
The Navy and U.S. Maritime Administration are evaluating applications
from five states for four sites - three in the Gulf of Mexico and one off
the Atlantic coast - and will decide later this month or in February where
it will be sunk.
The Oriskany is the last of the Essex Class carriers, the same type as
Corpus Christi's museum ship, the Lexington. The Oriskany was used during
the Korean and Vietnam wars from 1950 to 1976. It will be the largest ship
deliberately sunk as an artificial reef, according to the Maritime
Administration."