oriskany in pns

[wingman]

The oriskany has arrived in pensacola. Just got back from a walk along bayfront auditorium just across from the port of pensacola where it is berthed. It is a sight to behold even at night. The tugs were still working at getting it moored. It is going to be quite a dive. Bill

[Genesis]

I'm going over to take some pictures tomorrow... will be useful when she's down and ready to be "penetrated" :-D

Great news! Genesis, please share the pictures with us :!:

[Genesis]

Will - going to go over there with my digital (should give me plenty of resolution) and may also take the film camera (I have a LONG telephoto lens for it), which, depending on how close I can get, may be of some use.

[DeWayne]

Cool, I'm looking forward to viewing them as well 8)

[wingman]

I'm going over to take some pictures tomorrow... will be useful when she's down and ready to be "penetrated" :-D

I posted a photo from last night in the pictures section don't know how to provide a link here yet, have a couple more that will put up.. Am going to try for some nice shots today as well. Bill

[caver]

I'm going over to take some pictures tomorrow... will be useful when she's down and ready to be "penetrated" :-DIt would be great if someone down there could get some pics from one the ship. Does anyone have an inside connection? In the meantime, I am stuck here in Ohio frezzing my ass off.

[wingman]

I'm going over to take some pictures tomorrow... will be useful when she's down and ready to be "penetrated" :-DIt would be great if someone down there could get some pics from on the ship. Does anyone have an inside connection? In the meantime, I am stuck here in Ohio frezzing my ass off.

I have some connections and will definitely get the nickle tour on the boat a time or two between now and june...we are doing some of the science and economics associated with the project. Bill

[wingman]

I'm going over to take some pictures tomorrow... will be useful when she's down and ready to be "penetrated" :-D

I posted a photo from last night in the pictures section don't know how to provide a link here yet, have a couple more that will put up.. Am going to try for some nice shots today as well. Bill

Here's a post with a link that might work. Bill

http://cavediver.net/photopost/data/518/46oriskany_sm.jpg

[crazyduck]

Hey guys-
Last year I went on Vacation to South Texas and toured the USS Lexington, which is the same class (and sister ship) as the Oriskany, and I believe close to the same dimensions. I took a series of photos based around this very idea. I have pictures of hallways, Command and Control, interrior wiring conduits and the angle of the stairs.

The interior hanger deck is huge and almost runs the length of the ship. Almost all sections of the ship (on the Lexington) start in the interior hanger and work out from there. I am sure that is centered around moving people and making things easy for the tour operations. This could benefit divers also. This staging area (interior hanger) could be a place to drop tanks, and stage decompression materials. One thing that I did notice (and scared me) these ships do not run halls the length of the ship. Instead they work within a system of bulkheads that sub devides the ship. I found it very frustrating to walk down a corridor and run into a wall (bulkhead) and have to retrace my pattern to find the bulkhead access. Also the ship was so large that the tour operator started at one entrance and worked there way through the ship and exited at a secondary point. This would not be a good idea until we could establish a distance to a secondary Known exit (double arrows.)

There is going to be a creative issue with the depth and the hallways. The flight deck is what an estimated depth of 100ft that puts the interior hanger some where around 130ft, and the interior decks are going to be below that. The hallways are not wide, some interior spaces have reasonable walkways but the stair and certain passage ways are very narrow. I am curious how manifolded large doubles will work out, that will be very interesting.

When I get home, I will upload the pics that I have.
Andrew

[Genesis]

The bulkheading is, of course, because this is a WARSHIP! :)

If it gets holed, you had better be able to close off the flooding part, or she's gonna sink......

I've done the Alabama "self-tour" and its the same way. There are definitely some small spaces in there.

Permanent lines in wrecks are not normally done, but I may lay and leave a few in the Oriskany, with arrows, and hope that people don't do stupid #### like cut them.

My understanding is that they have/are/will "clean" the tower for divers (e.g. weld open doors or remove them, etc) but NOT the below-decks areas; the theory being that everything below flight deck level is below "recreational limits" and thus the ordinary "PADI Diver" shouldn't be going down there anyway. This will be both nice and potentially bad news if someone who doesn't know what they're doing DOES decide to get in there, especially with a nice buzz (e.g. on air)

[DeWayne]

I have some pics that I took of the Lex back in '97 as well. I'll try to dig them up and post them later. It was a very cool tour and ever since hearing about the sinking of the Oriskany I've been thinking about the different passages that I hope to see once down. 8)

For the northerners amoung us; The USS Intrepid is located in NYC, and is also an Essex Class carrier: http://www.intrepidmuseum.org

[caver]

and thus the ordinary "PADI Diver" shouldn't be going down there anyway. Just wondering---is the "ordinary PADI Diver" anything like the the ordinary "YMCA Diver" or the "ordinary NAUI Diver" ?????This must be differet than the "ordinary GUE" diver??? Just a thought.---Don't take me serious. ;-)

[Genesis]

and thus the ordinary "PADI Diver" shouldn't be going down there anyway. Just wondering---is the "ordinary PADI Diver" anything like the the ordinary "YMCA Diver" or the "ordinary NAUI Diver" ?????This must be differet than the "ordinary GUE" diver??? Just a thought.---Don't take me serious. ;-)

Hehehe.. naw, I won't.

I do like their view though. It would rot to have the entire wreck closed off and 'safed', not that it would STAY that way anyway, given the enterprising nature of divers..... I think its a pretty good compromise to do it in the tower, but leave the areas below the main deck alone (well, other than remediation, that is.)

[crazyduck]

The bulkheading is, of course, because this is a WARSHIP! :)

smart ass! :-D

I knew you wouldn't be able to leave that alone. He He He He

I think that the carrier (Sara) in Bikini Atoll is lined? They have made comments in the past that hard core east coast divers come down and dive the wreck all week, diving the passages. I am for one looking forward to this site. For me this would be a great rebreather Trimix Dive- another reason to BUY A REBREATHER!

Later, Andrew

PS- I was joking about being a smart ass! But you knew that!

[gentlegiant]

I had heard somewhere that the decks below the flight deck would be closed off to prevent diver accidents. I am now wondering if that is a true statement or not?

I just hope the fishermen keep their lines out of the wreck. There might need to be a monthly "line cleaning" arranged if it gets like some of the artificial reefs off of PCB.

[fun2dive]

Just got back from Pensacola. The Oriskany is definitely impressive. Can't wait for her to sink so we can dive dive dive... Looks like there are plenty of places to penetrate the tower and the main deck. I posted photos on yahoo at:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fun2chaseme/album?.dir=/b529&.src=ph&.tok=phy.3PCBUybwqnyT

Genesis will have some posted soon. Give him about an hour to get home and upload his photos…

[Genesis]

Here 'ya go...

Oriskany picture link (http://www.denninger.net/Oriskany/oriskany.htm)

I have about 20 images, all shot at 7mp native. This is 4 of them, in both low-res (512x384) and in the original resolution, which seem to be the best option to give everyone a good idea of how she looks in terms of the hull and options to get inside.

WARNING - the originals are HUGE files, 3+MB each. However, the detail in them is exquisite; you can read the draft markings on the bow CLEARLY in the high resolution images. There are three "sectional" shots of the hull from the port side (the only side accessible, as the starboard is up against the pier and you can't get on that side to shoot images there), in bow, amidship and stern sections. I also took a shot down the profile of the bow from the starboard side, which was as far over to starboard of the vessel as I was able to get.

It looks like there will be tremendous opportunity for penetration diving; there are huge numbers of penetrable hatches and the like, along with of course the elevator area into the hanger deck.

Enjoy - I will put the other images up as time permits.

Thanks for posting the Oriskany pictures! I hope the sinking goes better than the Spiegel Grove.

[crazyduck]

I dropped some pics in the wreck section, of the USS Lexington. They show spatial reference, and size.
Andrew

[Genesis]

No problem....

When its down and I get out there, I'm going to lay some line in the hanger deck. Hopefully people won't screw with it - of coruse I know better, they probably will.

I'll give it an attempt or two, and if what I lay remains reasonably unmolested then I'll keep extending it as appropriate. If people start ripping it up or screwing with it, then I'll just run a primary and pick it up on the way out from that point onward.

"Permanent" lines would be good to have, I think, in that boat. Its definitely going to be big enough inside to get you in plenty of trouble.

[crazyduck]

If the layout is anything like the Lex then I would run a line into the interior hanger and then tie in at the “hatch.” That way you have the hatch to use as an entry/start point. Then a permanent line could be started at the bottom of the stairs and that would be out of site from the average bear that might swim by when the team leaves.

Access points for C&C, Machinery, and different sites were deck hatches on the interior deck hanger. These seemed the shortest routes to certain sites. So the lift elevators are removed these could be good entry points.

I did include a picture of wiring conduits. These things are everywhere, bottom of the stairs, running down corridors, overhead, against walls. Are they removing them?

I have been running searches on the internet for the deck plans and nothing is showing up on any carriers. Does anyone know if they are going to release any type of deck plans?

Andrew

[Genesis]

No idea - there are rumors they intend to weld hatches closed, but another rumor is that they're only going to "safe" things above the flight deck.

I would hope that they would not attempt to close off all interior access. Not only is that futile but it would actually make the wreck more dangerous.

The hanger entrance should be somewhere around 130-140, which is out of range of most of the "noobs", so I'm not TOO concerned about people "finding" it who really ought not be there... :)

[jammer]

Well we shall see what it ends up doing when it hits the bottom. Nobody knows untill it is there. Only speculations as of now. And lets hope they don't have a demolition crue like the Speigel Grove. Lets just wait and see what happens.

[Genesis]

A carrier is very different hydrodynamically than something like the Grove.

My understanding is that the sinking plan is to blow the sea chest walls near the keel. This will flood the hull more or less evenly from the bottom up; the ship has a strong "V" shape, being a flattop, so it should sink more or less upright.

The problem with the Grove was that it sank EARLY. They've learned from this mistake, I suspect... :)