From fla-keys.comThe Official Tourism Council Website for the Florida Keys!

South Florida Divers is proud to help publicize the successful sinking of the world's largest artificial reef.  We urge you to click on the coin at the bottom of this page and help support this incredible effort. 

KEY LARGO, Florida Keys -- A marine salvage team has finished sinking a retired Navy ship in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. 

"This project met obstacle after obstacle after obstacle," said Joy Martin, chairperson of the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, at a news conference Tuesday. 

"The goal in mind was to have a world-class artificial reef," she said. "Now, it's not only world-class, but it's also world-known." 

The Spiegel Grove, a 510-foot decommissioned Landing Ship Dock, sank upside-down May 17, hours before crews had planned to scuttle it to create an artificial reef. The ship lied partially floating for three weeks in 130 feet of water with much of its forward hull above the sea’s surface about six miles off Key Largo. 

The ship sank at 6:35 p.m. Monday, oriented on its starboard side, said Rob Bleser, the project director for the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce Artificial Reef Committee. 

The successful mission to get the ship on its side and fully submerged now makes the vessel the largest ship ever scuttled to create an artificial reef. Sport divers should begin experiencing the wreck by this weekend. It was an eight-year project. 

"We’ve achieved something the county has been trying to do for the last eight years," said Monroe County Commissioner Murray Nelson. "We’ve got the ship on the bottom where it’s suppose to be." 

Resolve Marine Presient Joe Farrell counted on a combination of four factors to roll the ship: 

• A series of 70 inflatable lift bags, strategically attached to points on the port (left) side of the vessel, to provide about 500 tons of buoyancy. 

• Air injection in port ballast tanks and the ship’s double-hull bottom, giving about 2,000 tons of lift. 

• Two tugboats, providing 110 tons of pull, that would be tethered to the Spiegel Grove to help induce the rotation. 

• The ocean’s current, contributing between 10 and 90 tons of force, contingent on the current’s direction and speed. 

After his firm was contracted by the Key Largo Chamber, Farrell said he was confident his crew could get the ship on its side and gave it a 50-50 chance they might be able to roll the ship in an upright position. 

"I'm really pleased we got what we got," said Farrell. "It's going to be an awesome dive. 

"Even snorklelers will be able to see the entire ship, from stem to stern," he said. 

Martin said that there would no immediate effort to roll the ship upright. She said that might be a project for the future. 

A 500-yard safety perimeter remains around the wreck, while Resolve salvors retrieve equipment and secure the work site. The Spiegel Grove should be available for public diving by Friday, June 14. 

Florida Keys Tourism Council Photos: [TOP] The Spiegel Grove slips beneath the ocean's surface. Photo by Bob Care/Florida Keys TDC  [CENTER] Tugboats pull hard to turn over the Spiegel Grove. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys TDC [BOTTOM] Resolve Marine Group salvage personnel Joe Farrell,Frank Leckeyand Ray Fortin work on the upside down hull of the Spiegel Grove just prior to sinking. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys TDC 

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The 510-foot Spiegel Grove, a retired U.S. Navy Landing Ship Dock (LSD), slipped beneath the waves June 10 and settled on its side, becoming the largest ship ever sunk intentionally to cultivate an artificial reef.

“We’ve achieved something  [Monroe] County has been trying to do for the last eight years. We’ve got the ship on the bottom where it’s supposed to be. It’s going to be an ongoing source of income for our county and a fantastic tourist attraction,” said County Commissioner Murray Nelson.

The Spiegel Grove sank prematurely May 17, hours before it was scheduled to come to rest on the sandy ocean bottom about six miles off Key Largo in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The ship was capsized and partially floating with its bow out of the water.

Experts from Resolve Marine of Ft. Lauderdale were called in to roll the Spiegel Grove and finish sinking it.
The Spiegel Grove once boasted the motto "Top Dog" with a logo featuring Charles Schultz's Snoopy. The ship was commissioned in June 1956 and was named for the Fremont, Ohio, estate of 19th U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes.

“We feel the Spiegel Grove will provide an alternative dive site to lessen the pressure on the natural coral reefs,” said Billy Causey, the superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. “We’re (sanctuary officials) here to help valet park it on the ocean floor as well as monitor its contributions to the marine environment including its ability to attract divers away from living coral reefs.”

Over time, the Spiegel Grove will become enveloped by an encrusting coralline algae conducive to the development of sponges, stony and soft corals and other attached invertebrates. Fish and other marine life are already making the Spiegel Grove their new home.

“It’s an attraction that is a benefit for the aquatic environment and for commerce that will only get better with time,” said Rob Bleser, project manager for the Spiegel Grove sinking, representing the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce Artificial Reef Committee, which coordinated the endeavor.

On the U.S. Naval Vessel Register, the Spiegel Grove is LSD-32 — a steam turbine-powered Landing Ship Dock commissioned to transport landing craft and combat troops to shore during the Cold War. The vessel conducted amphibious exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and, in the early 1960s, embarked on a goodwill cruise to deliver medical supplies to Dr. Albert Schweitzer's leprosy clinic in Lambarene, Africa. The Spiegel Grove assisted in cargo shipments, Caribbean military testing and manned space flights, including the 1971 Apollo 14 moon mission. When, in the 1980s, the vessel carried horses to a riding academy at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay, crew members actually rode on deck to exercise the animals.

The Chamber’s Artificial Reef Committee set its sights on the Spiegel Grove in 1994. Decommissioned by the Navy five years earlier, the 84-foot-tall, 6,880-ton vessel sat amid other vessels at the James River Reserve Fleet in Fort Eustis, Va. The assembly of about 100 mostly rusting and aging ships is commonly referred to as a “ghost” or “mothball” fleet.

Although Key Largo dive representatives persuaded the U.S. Maritime Administration to transfer title to the vessel at no cost, cleaning, dockage and tow fees for the sinking are expected to surpass $1 million. “I think it’s (using retired military ships for artificial reefs) a hell of a deal for all parties concerned,” said Michael Bagley, superintendent for the Reserve Fleet. “It takes the liability off of our hands and saves the taxpayers money.”

Bagley says each decommissioned vessel costs about $20,000 a year to maintain and taxpayers pay $1.6 million to send a derelict ship to the scrap yard.

“Why should we pay to cut them up and put them in a steel mill,” he said. “When they are cleaned, in an environmentally sensitive manner, and sunk as an artificial reef they provide new homes for fish, a great monetary benefit for the community and a way to preserve the vessel’s military heritage.”

Backing for the Spiegel Grove endeavor has been derived from the Monroe County Tourist Development Council and such private fund-raising efforts as sales of commemorative Spiegel Grove medallions led by Florida dive equipment retailer Divers Direct.” Project supporters anticipate that dive tourism dollars flowing into the region after the sinking will more than compensate for the cost.

“We expect all area businesses to benefit in some way,” said Key Largo Chamber Chair Joy Martin. “The ship will be a new attraction for us and it is so large that divers can explore it a hundred times without seeing everything.”

The ship lies near Dixie Shoals within the Marine Sanctuary. Some 10 mooring buoys will be fastened to the vessel to provide dive boats with tie-off points, and the ship will serve as the base for a gradually 
enveloping coral ecosystem.

Global Positioning System coordinates for the Spiegel Grove are 25° 04.00 N; 80° 18.65’ W.

Novices can explore intricate upper decks, while experienced divers will be able to delve into much of the ship’s cavernous hull. On clear days, noted Spencer Slate chair of the artificial reef committee and one of the project’s originators, snorkelers and glass-bottom-boat passengers will also be able enjoy views of the Spiegel Grove and the dazzling array of marine life that are certain to find a home within it.

More information on the Spiegel Grove and links to Key Largo visitor information are available at www.fla-keys.com. Or call the Key Largo visitors’ bureau, toll-free in the United States and Canada, at 1-800-FLA-KEYS, Ext. 1. Elsewhere, dial (305) 451-4747.

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From fla-keys.com

When a retired Navy transport ship sank to the sandy bottom off Key Largo June 10, a team of nautical experts did in 36 hours what Mother Nature would have needed millions of years to do.

The Spiegel Grove became a giant, metallic reef skeleton running nearly twice the length of a football field. The skeleton is artificial, but the coral ecosystem that is slowly enveloping it is wondrously real. There is nothing else like it in the Florida Keys, and arguably the world.

The Spiegel Grove lies six miles off Key Largo on its side in 130 feet of water. Exploring it is a fascinating experience for scuba divers and snorkelers.

“The way she’s laying now it blew my mind,” said Joe Farrell, president of Resolve Marine Group, the company that successfully sank the ship. “You can snorkel the stern to the bow the way she is laying right now. It’s a stunning dive. You can snorkel anywhere on the entire length of the ship,” he added. Even before the ship was fully sunk, its glowing metal surfaces had attracted teeming schools of fish.

But the best is yet to come. “Inside of a year, you’ll find hard corals and soft corals growing on it,” said Capt. Doc Schweinler, president of Ocean Divers of Key Largo, and one of the leaders of the effort to acquire and sink the Spiegel Grove.

There are smaller wrecks in the Keys and plenty of spectacular natural coral formations along the Island chain. These places will always be popular, but the 510-foot-long Spiegel Grove is a fascinating dive site with its broad hull, intricate decks, pickup-truck-like stern, and steep hull.

Called a Landing Ship Dock, the Spiegel Grove once ferried military vehicles around the globe for the U.S. Marine Corps during the heat of the Cold War. It was named after the Ohio estate of Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the United States.

The Spiegel Grove is the largest ship ever sunk intentionally to create a coral reef. “It will be an excellent multi-level dive,” said Capt. Spencer Slate, owner of the Atlantis Dive Center in Key Largo, who helped lead the eight-year effort to sink the ship. Beginners will explore portions of the decks at depths of 40 feet to 60 feet. Experts will explore the ship’s cliff-like hull.

The ship will be convenient for divers because of the 10 mooring buoys that will be tethered to it. State and federal officials were not immediately sold on the wisdom of sinking a huge military ship in the heart of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Slate, Schweinler and others worked for years to win permission to scuttle the Spiegel Grove.

In June 2001, tugboats moved the ship from its berth among the retired ships of the Navy’s “ghost fleet” in Norfolk, Virginia, to a nearby shipyard. Technicians scoured it for possible contaminants including residual fuel, toxic paints and metals. In May 2002, it was towed to a site off Key Largo just outside the natural reef. On May 17, 2002, the Spiegel Grove capsized and partially sank, hours before the planned sinking time. No one was injured.

Experts from Resolve Marine Group of Ft. Lauderdale used a combination vinyl air bags, tug boats and ocean currents to roll the ship on its side and finish the sinking June 10. 

Weeks before, technicians had prepared the ship with the safety of divers in mind. Lower levels of the ship were entirely sealed off, although many areas were left open with special access holes and escape ropes.

“This is such a big ship, you can get lost in there just walking around,” Schweinler said.

The ship at its final resting place: Length: 510 Feet Height:  84 Feet Depth:  135' Tonnage: 6,880 Site: N 25° 04'          W 80° 18' 65"        (6 Miles off Key Largo) Commissioned: 1955 Decommissioned: 1989 Ship Type: Landing Ship Dock

Florida Keys Tourism Council Photo

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May 14: History, photos, & Key Largo arrival 
May 17: Breaking news & photos of the sinking
May 18: More stories & sinking sequence photos
May 19: Early plans to right her are forming
May 20: U/Wphotos & interactive graphic
May 21: Exclusive eyewitness story
May 22: Crew heads south to begin work
May 23: The Lana Rose is on the scene
May 24: Efforts delayed due to weather
May 25: Project Chairman resigns, then talks
May 26: Spiegel Grove is not the first...
May 27: Salvor reveals righting plans
May 31:  Rolling date set.  Graphics & map
June 1:   Volunteers help salvor
June 2:  Work nearing completion
June 4:  A Friday flip?
June 5:  Use your mouse to right the ship!
June 6:  Sinking moved to Monday
June 7:  Attaching the lift bags
June 8:  Weather changes plans
June 9:  Tugboats arrive for final preparation
June 10: She's on the roll...and goes down
June 11:  Salvors are done...she's on her 
               starboard side...and she is 
               WORLD FAMOUS!
Click here to learn how YOU can help!

Look for an in-depth article about the Spiegel Grove, coming soon to your website!

Upper Keys Artificial Reef Committee
P.O. Box 2720
Key Largo, FL 33037 

Checks should be made payable to: 
Upper Keys Artificial Reef Committee 

To defray the costs of cleanup, preparation, and 
towing, the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce 
Artificial Reef Committee will be selling medallions which will be a prerequisite for divers wishing to 
visit the artificial reefs off the Upper Keys. They 
will be sold at local dive shops, or via the web. 
Divers will be able to choose between a $250 gold 
finish lifetime medallion, or a $10/year plastic 
version.

The $250.00 souvenir Lifetime Medallion, designed 
for display as a memento, will have a raised likeness 
of the Spiegel Grove,  be made of brass with an 
antique gold finish and will come with a velvet look 
case. Also included is a gold colored injection 
molded plastic disk designed to withstand exposure 
to saltwater. 

Purchasers of the $250.00 Lifetime Medallion will 
have their names placed on a permanent plaque that 
will be attached to the wheel house of the Spiegel 
Grove.