Article by Marty Gary
Radford Recap – A Storybook Ending for a Once Maligned Ship
Though I’ve been mentioning this topic for most of the summer, the complete story of the reefing of the Ex Arthur W. Radford is a success story worth mentioning in greater detail. I’ve dedicated this week’s column to telling a more complete story of the saga of the Radford. After nearly 3 years and countless meetings and inspections, the Ex Radford has finally found its final place in the history books. On August 10th, the Radford went to the sea floor off the Delmarva peninsula in 130 feet of water, approximately 32 nautical miles northeast of the Ocean City Inlet. The GPS coordinates for the USS Radford are N38 30.850 W074 30.656.
A Brief History
The vessel was named for Arthur William Radford (February 27, 1896 – August 17, 1973), a United States Navy Admiral, Commander-in-Chief of the United States Pacific Command and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Admiral Radford attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. Arthur W. Radford was laid down by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries at Pascagoula, Mississippi and launched on March 21, 1975, sponsored by Mrs. Arthur Radford, the widow of the late admiral. Radford was commissioned on April 16, 1977, and decommissioned on March 18, 2003, after serving 26 years. A Spruance class destroyer, the class was designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) with point defense anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) missiles. In all, 31 of these ships were built. The last Spruance-class destroyer on active service was decommissioned on September 21, 2005. The Radford had four major deployments that saw her serve around the globe from the Virginia capes to the Mediterranean and Africa to the Persian Gulf and South America.
An Unfortunate Circumstance
On February 4, 1999 at about midnight, Arthur W. Radford collided with the Saudi Riyadh, a 29,259-ton, 656-foot long, roll-on/roll-off container ship, which was preparing to enter the Chesapeake Bay bound for Baltimore. According to the Navy, the Arthur W. Radford was conducting calibration tests on electronics equipment at the time of the collision. The tests required the ship to operate in circles around an electronic buoy. Saudi Riyadh, meanwhile, was approaching the Chesapeake Bay from the northeast, preparing to line up in the shipping lanes before taking on a marine pilot for its eventual trip to Baltimore. When the two ships collided, Saudi Riyadh's bow struck the starboard side of Arthur W. Radford, about 30-feet behind its bow. Saudi Riyadh sustained a four-foot-high, 30-foot long gash along the port and starboard sides of its bow, with most of the damage to its port side. Arthur W. Radford, more heavily damaged, sustained a deep gash on its starboard side, penetrating nearly 25 feet into the main deck, ripping a pie-shaped gash and penetrating into the centerline of the Radford. A hole ran from the deck to the waterline. The collision toppled its 5-inch 54-caliber gun and damaged Tomahawk cruise missile tubes. One sailor aboard suffered a broken arm, and 12 more had various injuries. Arthur W. Radford sustained an estimated $32.7 million in damages, and the damage prevented Radford from leaving on a scheduled six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea with the carrier Theodore Roosevelt battle group. Repairs aboard the Radford were completed on September 13th and the destroyer then deployed with the Eisenhower battle group. As a result of the collision, Radford's commanding officer was relieved. Arthur W. Radford was decommissioned in 2003, then stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on April 6, 2004 and eventually assigned to the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On June 8, 2010, the ex-Radford was transferred to the State of Delaware for sinking as an artificial reef onto the Del-Jersey-Land Reef site.
It Starts with an Idea
One of the most rewarding things about working in the field of natural resources management is the diversity of opportunities and the ability to create projects through collaboration. To sink the largest vessel ever for an artificial reef on the Atlantic coast and 2nd largest in North American waters, a great deal of work was involved. It took years of application and justification correspondence just to get the permit. The siting and overall conceptual design was created by Jeff Tinsman, the state of Delaware’s Artificial Reef Program coordinator. Jeff is the longest tenured artificial reef expert in the United States, and his experience and knowledge were critical to the success of a project of this magnitude. Once the permit was obtained, a suitable vessel needed to be found. One that would meet the criteria for minimum clearance and contaminant certification clearance from the EPA. The Ex Radford was an unfortunate opportunity in the making. A vessel that arguably had its career cut short by a major collision, was in turn relatively modern by reefing standards. This turned out to be a blessing, as many of the large vessels that have been reefed over the past decade have been older vessels, which have had significant contaminant issues, from lead paint to PCBs. The Radford did have one major contaminant concern. Literally miles of cables and wiring insulated with plastic sheathing that had elevated PCB levels. That wiring needed to be stripped out of every nook and cranny of the vessel before obtaining EPA approval.
The Challenge
As the Radford project unfolded, the challenge was to place a large, decommissioned Ex Navy vessel down as an artificial reef expediently, affordably and according to plan. Looking back on the list of the big vessels in recent years: The Oriskany, the Hoyt Vandenburg, The Spiegel Grove and the Texas Clipper, none were executed in a manner that accomplished these three objectives. In order to have the best opportunity to do so with Radford, Jeff Tinsman partnered with the States of New Jersey and Maryland, and brought in arguably the most talented and knowledgeable contractor he could find. Enter Hugh Carberry, a biologist with New Jersey’s Marine Fisheries Division, Erik Zlokovitz, a biologist and Maryland’s artificial reef coordinator, and finally, Tim Mullane, the magic man who would prep the vessel, and coordinate its transport to the reef site and sinking. This group, working with Jeff Tinsman, navigated one obstacle after another, including funding issues, safety concerns, mountains of paperwork and opposition by environmental groups to show once and for all that mega vessels can be used to enhance marine habitats while addressing traditional concerns.
The Reef Ex
In the end, the vessel went down under Tim Mullane’s watchful and expert guidance. I was privileged to be aboard the Cape May/Lewes Ferry boat that took members of the media, ex Radford crew members and dignitaries to witness the reefing. After hours of flooding and the vessel seemingly not willing to surrender, at approximately 4:30 PM on August 10th, Radford listed dramatically to port, quickly righted itself, and then the stern dipped into the cobalt blue waters of the Atlantic. It took a mere one minute and 8 seconds for the vessel to go down once the stern submerged. The look of the smiles on the faces of Jeff Tinsman (who happened to be standing next me at the time), Hugh Carberry, and Erik Zlokovitz were priceless and well earned. Tim Mullane, I’m sure, wanted final validation to see how Radford settled on the bottom.
Survey Results
NJ Division of Marine Fisheries was onsite to implement a sidescan sonar survey of Radford after the sinking. The objective was to have the ship land upright in the water column, providing the benefit of 70 feet of vertical relief to compliment the 563 foot footprint on the sea floor. In addition to making sure the vessel was upright, proper positioning of the vessel with respect to the powerful tidal flows from the mouth of the Delaware Bay were important. The goal was to have the vessel perpendicular to the tidal flow. This would provide a strong upwelling effect as the tide slammed into the side of the vessel, giving predatory fish a place of refuge and the opportunity to ambush forage species sweeping along and above the vessel as they move with the current. To address this, Tim Mullane constructed a huge brace for the bow of the vessel that would stabilize it on contact with ocean bottom, and break away on contact. The hope was the stern would hit first, followed by the bow. NJ’s side scan confirmed the vessel did land upright and Tim’s brace worked like magic. By all accounts it appeared the vessel wound up perfectly placed.
Visual Confirmation
Ted Green captains the “OC Diver” out of Sunset Marina in West Ocean City. Ted has been helping MD DNR with our underwater surveys of the artificial reefs off Maryland for the past several years, and is one of the most experienced technical divers on the Atlantic coast. Ted dove the Radford in the days following the sinking and provided the following report:
“Six of us made the first trip today (11 Aug) to dive the Radford. It was a beautiful day on the Atlantic with calm winds and flat seas. The wreck /reef lies NE to SW with the bow pointing SW. Bottom is 130' to 140' depending where you are. Top of the bow is at 70' and the top of the stern is about 100'. The superstructure in the middle (150' to 200' in length) reaches as high as 55' to 60'.”
“Scootering the length of the wreck at the sand was amazing! The stern isn't resting on the bottom. A brace was attached to the bottom of the stern to help the wreck land up right. It was completely knocked off.”
“Probably the last 75 to 100' of the wreck isn't resting on the bottom. The ship has bilge keels. Where the bilge keels are, the ship rests on the bottom. Forward of the bilge keels for likely 200' you can swim under the keel! At first I thought the forward part of the ship to the bow (200'+!) wasn't resting on the bottom at all. When I reached the front of the bow, what I found was a huge bulbous bow, which sticks down a number of feet below the keel. So, the wreck lies on a modest section of the hull in the middle and a point on the bow. All this will likely soon change as the wreck scours into the bottom. If I had to guess, I think the wreck will ultimately sink down 10 to 15'. But right now it's an amazing, visually impressive dive!”
Based upon Ted’s account, reports from Tim Mullane and others, it appears as though the project has been a complete success, nailing every detail. Congratulations to everyone involved for their efforts. And to the biggest beneficiaries, the marine life that will benefit from the placement of this gigantic structure, and sport fishermen and divers that will now have a great destination to utilize, I say GO FORTH AND ENJOY!!
Until next week... good fishing!
Marty Gary is Assistant Director/Fisheries Ecologist at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Fisheries Service.
