Sinking of the Vandenberg in the Keys

BY SUSAN COCKING
scocking@MiamiHerald.com

Out of the dusty, blue gloom, about 45 feet below the ocean's surface emerges a pedestal that once held a large telescope. Now, a gigantic radar dish that resembles a giant spider web appears in view. And you still haven't descended to the actual deck of the USS Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg.

The Keys' newest and largest artificial reef began welcoming fish and scuba divers last weekend following its May 27 sinking about 6 ½ miles south of Key West.

At 523 feet long and 10 stories high, the retired military ship is impossible to explore fully in one trip. But a group of scuba divers from several media outlets got a partial view of the bow and amidships during a one-tank dive last Friday with the crew of Dive Key West.

A day before the shipwreck was opened for public diving, media divers were sent down in teams of three, each escorted by a divemaster or instructor, with no one allowed to dive below 70 feet or to penetrate the interior. The ship rests perfectly upright in the sand, the bow at 140 feet deep and the stern at 150 feet.

With 60 feet of visibility, there was plenty to see on the outside of the ship -- especially the radar dishes, which dislodged from their pedestals during the sinking and had to be secured with cables.

''I think they look really cool the way they are,'' said dive boat operator Joe Weatherby, who launched the project 14 years ago.

The bow is decorated with plaques honoring various backers of the $8.6 million deployment, and a Conch Republic banner flaps in the current. There are barely hidden clues welded around the higher parts of the ship for divers to solve a puzzle revealing the ''mystery of the Vandenberg,'' according to Weatherby.

''We're trying to keep the whole community involved,'' he said.

Weatherby said his favorite part of the wreck is the engine room, with its giant turbines, reduction gear and six stories of catwalks. But exploring deep in the bowels of the ship is restricted to expert divers certified to enter overhead environments using guidelines and multiple lights.

Unlike older artificial reefs, the Vandenberg is not covered with sea life. But some highly desirable pelagics have paid a visit. Shortly after the ship went down, boaters observed a pod of sailfish leaping out of the water nearby.

And on the day of the media dive, a large dolphinfish appeared at the stern of the dive boat as it bobbed on one of seven mooring buoys secured to the wreck.

''It was a gaffer,'' publicist Andy Newman said, referring to the jumbo-sized mahi.

``I wish I had brought a fishing rod.''

The Vandenberg lived several lives before coming to its final resting place on the bottom of the ocean.

Commissioned in 1943 as the Gen. Harry Taylor, it carried troops during World War II and brought postwar refugees and Holocaust survivors to the United States. Renamed the Vandenberg during the Cold War, it served as an Air Force missile tracker -- hence the huge radar dishes. In 1999, it played a supporting role as a Russian scientific vessel in the movie Virus.

Now the Vandenberg is expected to serve a dual purpose: economic boon to the Keys' tourism-dependent economy and safety valve for the stressed natural reef nearby.

''Unbelievable,'' said Monroe County Commissioner Mario DiGennaro, who dived it last Friday. ``I've dived all over the world, and this is one of the most interesting dives I've been on. It'll take pressure off the natural reef. [It] will take 20-30 dives to see the whole ship. It's a win-win.''