The Vandenberg

Curiosity is only in vanity. Most frequently we wish not to know, but to talk. We would not take a sea voyage for the sole pleasure of seeing without hope of ever telling. ~ Blaise Pascal

Built in 1943, the Vandenberg was first commissioned as the troop transport USNS Gen. Harry Taylor serving in WWII and at the end of the war it brought troops home and carried refugees for relocation. In 1958 it was decommissioned.

In 1963 the Air force refitted it as a missile tracking ship and re-commissioned it the USAFS Gen Hoyt S Vandenberg monitoring US and Russian missile launches and the US space program. The telescope mounted on the wheelhouse was used for this.

It was retired again in 1983 and in 1996 it was used as part of the movie thriller Virus starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Sutherland before finally laying to rest on May 27, 2009, off the coast of Key West, Florida. The Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg became one of the 3 largest vessels in the world sunk as an artificial reef when it hit the bottom at 140fsw.

The Vandenberg measures 10 stories high 523 feet long and is over 71 feet wide. Some parts were rearranged and welded elsewhere to keep the top of the structure interesting and at least 50 feet below the surface.

From the bow there is the foremast and moving back the wheelhouse with a telescope mounted atop and seats for gun turrets as well as 2 large radar dishes, as well as the wheel house, crow’s nest, and a balloon hanger called the underwater Margaritaville because of the support of Parrot head Jimmy Buffet fans provided for the project.

Openings for penetration dot the deck and sides of the ship.

I got a message that a friend and his client would be diving the Vandenberg sometime this week and I was invited to join them. Here I am in Florida and still diving with the Wreck Valley tri-state crew….. go figure. I love it.

Bill made arrangements for us to stay at the Navy Lodge in Key West on base and found us a charter on the Sea Eagle. All I had to do was drive there. Pumping gas is still not this Jersey girl’s forte and they hide gas stations in store parking lots and you have to run a wreck reel to find your way out. Let’s just say I got there… a little late but got there.

9AM is a civilized time to set sail and we were loaded onboard doubles, deco bottles and assorted diving play toys and ready to roll in no time. The crew helpful and has a great sense of humor making for a tremendous day. The Blue skies, 85F water and 70-100 ft viz helped to, I will admit.

A 30 minute trip out and we were gearing up and giant striding off the side of the boat like rats abandoning ship. To the beat of a Jimmy buffet song I waddled over to the side and plummeted into the water impressing all who looked on. What can I say…. I have a gift.There was a slight surface current, swimmable but a workout. I dropped down about 20 feet pulled along the hang line a few feet to the mooring line and at about 40fsw, with the bow of the wreck in sight I let go and floated down on her with little to no current for the remainder of the dive.

The water was a crayola color blue with just a hint of green and I arrived on deck at 85 fsw with Bill nowhere in sight…… And they say I get excited and have no patience…..

This ship is still newly sunk and there is very little growth on her. I sparse carpet of white covers the deck but I am sure the other sponges and corals of more color are not far behind.

Tucked under and about all the ships hardware are long legged shrimp of varying size and color and small bait fish swim about. Tiny schools of butterfly fish swim circles about the mooring line and blue and yellow fish of solid and all manner of stripe configuration flit about.

We head back along the deck and I peek over the side again and again seeing only sand and the anchor chain on each side of the ship. Doorways and cut outs beckon me and I peek my head in and maybe just a little trip to see where these stair lead or what is about. I know we are touring the deck this time but there is way too much to see. On deck sits the sockets for gun turrets and two large radar dishes, one of movie fame. It wasn’t blown up and is perfectly intact and welded to the deck. We move along and I am eerily aware of how few fish I see. I know next year this will be a totally different dive and I take in all the outside structure for future reference.

This is our recon dive and we haven’t come across Bill yet so we turn and head back to the bow swimming along the walkways and following the routes walked by our servicemen so many years ago. A lone barracuda about 3 foot long hangs in the water just off the side of the ship stalking our movements and appearing each time we emerge from a swim through.

At the bow we meet up with Bill and begin our trip to the surface. Well…. Maybe a quick trip down the hull to the hawse pipe and to see the chain….. But then up the line. The bottom of the boat and the hang line in sight the entire time as we look up and the outline of the Vandenberg below as we look down. Large jelly fish float along in the water column framed in the blue water, their pink red veins well defined in the clear water.

It will take me forever to get used to removing my fins before I climb a dive ladder….. just doesn’t happen in Jersey…. You hit the ladder and you keep moving. Things are leisurely here….. the crew greets you, takes your fins, little pull on the manifold, dive platform… must all go with the civilized sailing hour….. I can do this…..

After an SI filled with snacks and stories of diving around the country and the world we are once again lined up like 4th graders in the cafeteria waiting our turn to step off the boat. They claim they seldom get days like this, so clear, so little current. We are lucky…. Me …… I don’t know any better this is my first time and this is what I will always expect.

We pull down a few feet and then let go of the line, like parachutists choosing our landing area as we survey the deck of the ship. The same small bait fish swim about the deck as well as the tiny bit of color from the tiny butterfly fish and friends. There are parrotfish now and some decent sized black angelfish appear here and there. The lone barracuda floats effortlessly trying to keep an eye on all the comings and goings.

We swim aft once more, this time poking in all the holes and doorways, down into the hull before the bridge, choosing which of the large cutouts to explore we find ourselves in among machinery. Machinery is my nemesis, I have no idea what I am looking at, I can just tell you it wasn’t the kitchen and these were not can openers or blenders…. I don’t think.

We now come out a hole cut on the starboard side and work our way back up to find more playrooms. I go in a doorway and down a stairway and back up and stick my head through a porthole shaped opening in the door and Randy is right there camera in hand. Will have to get that picture. We swim all about and finally turn for the line.

We make our way once more along the deck and dropping down occasionally but as we come across the bridge I look up and hanging in front of me, majestically fluttering with the waters currents hangs an American flag. I stand on the bridge, just as the captain and crew one did( well maybe they weren’t wearing fins but they stood there) leaning on the railing and just watching the flag wave. The bow of the ship behind it, framed by the bluest blue of the water and fluttering as if in a slight breeze, still so new to the water you can make out each star and stripe. I just leaned and watched imagining this proud ship sailing above the water.

Time to get going and as I hit the bow I dropped down the starboard side to the hawse pipe with chain running from it to the sand. I moved across the bow sitting so straight in the water and peeked in the port hawse pipe and sank down to the chain where it stretched out beyond my sight into the sand. The waterline markings are still clear on her hull, the chains links all intact. It looks just like it should be afloat. At the tie in sits a lone damselfish. Feisty little suckers and I bat back and forth with him getting in my needed dose of fish poking. We move up the line and the last of the divers are hanging at the 20 foot line until it is just myself and a crewmember. He gives me a questioning look, but my little trip down to the chain cost me a few more minutes than the rest but I am just a minute behind them and I follow him back to the ladder as he collects the line and hanging stage bottles.

Not a bad day… excellent actually…. So good we are staying an extra day and doing it again tomorrow. Thank you Mr. Barrow for inviting me.

(Randy took the pics)