Posted by 
Project organizers, coordinating the conversion of a retired missile-tracking ship into an artificial reef off Key West, have narrowed the timeframe for the scuttling of the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg.
We are now looking at a scheduled sink date between Tuesday, May 26, and Monday, June 1,” said Jim Scholl, Key West’s city manager and project administrator. “Last week we’ve had several regulatory agencies conduct intensive environmental inspections of the ship.
Overall, they are happy with the ship, but we do have a punch list we want to provide ample time for completion,” he said. “Thus, we believe it is prudent to schedule the sinking after the Memorial Day weekend.”
Officials originally projected a sink date between May 21 and June 1, after the Vandenberg arrived in Key West on April 22. The ship is to be scuttled about seven miles south of Key West in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The coordinates of the proposed site are 24° 27′ N, 81° 44′ W, which is approximately 7 miles offshore from Key West.
The Vanderberg will be the world’s second-largest ex-military ship to be deployed as an artificial diving and fishing reef.
Discovered your article today regarding the sinking of the USNS Vandenberg off the coast of Key West and remembered going onboard for a tour of this ship while I was stationed on Midway Island back in the mid-1960’s.
Back then, this ship was “State of the Art!” The comment by an engineer that it could track something the size of a golf ball at 20 miles was HUGE… at that time.
This ship was at Midway Island to track the reentry of one of our Space Capsules that often landed in the Pacific Ocean.
There’s a photo of the Vandenberg about nine photo’s down on my Midway webpage.
A little way on down the page are some underwater photo’s of marine life at that time. I really wish I had learned to Scuba Dive “then” instead of waiting so long to learn how… These pictures were snapped as I snorkeled around and occasionally swam down for a closer look.
Too bad the government has taken control and no longer allows public access so we can dive there. Midway Island is truly a diver’s paradise!
David Perkins, U.S. Navy Retired
PADI Divemaster