USS Oriskany

The USS Oriskany is one of the most epic and audacious artificial reef projects in American history — a 911-foot Essex-class aircraft carrier deliberately sunk in 2006 in the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola, Florida, creating by far the largest ship ever scuttled as an artificial reef in United States waters and instantly establishing itself as one of the crown jewels of Gulf Coast diving. The Oriskany had a distinguished naval career spanning the Korean War and Vietnam War — it was the ship from which John McCain was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967 — and its deliberate sinking after years of preparation created a massive artificial reef structure that now serves as a defining landmark of the Gulf's marine environment. The carrier rests upright on the Gulf floor in approximately 65 meters (212 feet) of water, with the shallowest points on the flight deck beginning around 40 meters (130 feet) from the surface — placing even the uppermost structure at the edge of advanced recreational diving depth and making the deeper sections the realm of technical divers. The sheer scale of the Oriskany is impossible to fully grasp from any single vantage point: at 911 feet in length and with its superstructure rising 11 stories above the flight deck, the carrier is a city-sized structure that rises from the deep Gulf floor to meet recreational divers descending from the surface. The flight deck, island, and upper superstructure have been colonized in under two decades by an extraordinary density of encrusting life: sponges, corals, and gorgonians cover the metal surfaces, and the structure attracts enormous aggregations of Gulf reef species. Large amberjack school in hundreds around the carrier's towers. Red snapper fill the water column above the deck in staggering numbers. Goliath grouper are present at the deeper structural features. The USS Oriskany is a bucket-list destination for advanced divers across the country and a singular achievement in American marine conservation.