Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, a large World War II ship to be sunk in aid of the overstocked surrounding natural reefs around by giving fish a new place to dwell. Thus the surrounding coral reefs around can be given a breather with this new wreck to explore and set up new dwellings.
The Vandenberg will become the world's second largest intentionally sunk artificial reef. At seven miles off Key West, where it will become one of the world's biggest man-made reefs, the 17,000 ton, 523-foot-long ship will be sunk on a sandy bottom in about 140 feet of clear water.
The Vandenberg began as the Gen. Harry Taylor. The ship was later commissioned by the Army as a transport vessel for ferrying troops and supplies from San Francisco to island bases in the western Pacific Ocean in 1944.
In 1945, it carried troops home from Europe near the end of World War II. It was later used by the Navy as a transport ship, and was transferred to the Air Force in 1961, when it was renamed the Vandenberg. From 1961 until 1983, the ship served as a missile tracker throughout the height of the Cold War and was retired in 1983.
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