• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

New Authority provides Navy's Inactive Ships for use as State

NAVSEA News Wire

Release Date: 12/8/2003

By Naval Sea Systems Command, Public Affairs Office

Washington Navy Yard, D.C. - Occasionally, the Navy uses unneeded ships as targets for military exercises known as SINKEX or sinking exercises. There is, however, another way these obsolete Navy vessels may serve in a productive capacity for hundreds of years past their intended use. It's called man-made, "artificial" reefing, which will help promote marine life and fishing and relieve pressures on natural, "coral," reefs.

President Bush's signing of the FY04 National Defense Authorization Bill (HR 1588 Sec 1013) recently, allows appropriate decommissioned ships to be donated for use as artificial reefing. This new artificial reefing authority, quite simply, allows the Navy to accomplish the overall process for cost-effective, donation transfer of available naval vessels. This process also provides a viable alternative available for the Navy's Inactive Ships program under the Naval Sea Systems Command and MARAD (Maritime Administration) under the Department of Transportation to reduce their inventories of unneeded vessels.

"It is indeed good news that the Administration and Congress have given the Navy the authority to donate ships for use as artificial reefs," said Captain Lawrence M. Jones, Jr., Program Manager, Navy Inactive Ships Program Office. The Navy is looking forward to working in cooperation with MARAD to provide an additional practical option for disposing of inactive naval vessels."

The Navy's program objective is to reduce the size of the inactive ships inventory in a cost-effective and environmentally sound manner.

The Navy will accomplish the environmental remediation in accordance with draft EPA Best Management Practices. Other costs will be considered as part of the cost sharing proposals from applicants for the towing and sinking of the ships.

MARAD will coordinate federal agency solicitation and application for obtaining the vessels for use as artificial reefs. The donation and transfer application for all Navy and MARAD available ships for use as artificial reefs may be submitted only by States, Commonwealths, and Territories and possessions of the U.S., municipal corporations or political subdivisions thereof, and foreign countries, except that by Navy policy, foreign applicants are ineligible to apply for and receive obsolete warships, defined as aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and submarines.

The Navy is currently accepting only one application from each State per vessel available for reefing. Additional applications from within a state will still be accepted for other vessels that are solicited.

The first warship offered for donation by the Navy, for sinking as an artificial reef, is the ex-Oriskany (CVA 34). The evaluation and selection of a donee is presently in progress.