The proud Texas Clipper
has been reefed,
creating a diving haven...
She's finally found her final resting place on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico...
'Old Texas A&M Ship Becomes Artificial Reef' - Associated Press, 11/17/07
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas - A World War II ship that served for decades as a training vessel for Texas A&M University sea cadets was sunk in open waters off the Texas coast Saturday, launching its new mission as an underwater habitat and diving destination. The 473-foot, 7,000-ton Texas Clipper went under the rough wind-tossed waters about 17 miles offshore at about 12:35 p.m. and took about two hours to sink, said Bob Murphy, a Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife reef specialist. The operation to turn the Texas Clipper into an artificial reef cost $4 million and has taken a decade.
"For those of us who have been working on it for ten years, the delays were frustrating but today was great," Murphy said. "It was good to see her out there on site, taking on water and going down." The Clipper, pulled by a tugboat, left its dock in Brownsville and headed into the Gulf of Mexico on Friday. The departure had been delayed a couple of days because of bad weather and high winds. The Texas Clipper, the largest vessel in the care of the department to be sunk, is expected to become an attraction for divers and fishermen, and to provide an economic boost for the South Padre Island area. The ship, which began life as the USS Queens, was commissioned as a Navy troop transport ship and was among vessels in the Pacific at the battle of Iwo Jima. It was used in the American occupation of Japan until it was decommissioned in 1946. It then carried cargo and passengers between New York City and the Mediterranean as the SS Excambion until 1958.
In the mid 1990s, the ship was decommissioned after almost 30 years as a classroom at sea for about 200 Texas A&M-Galveston students each summer.
'Clipper to go down Nov. 15 ' -from the Galveston Daily News
By Marty Schladen<br>The Daily News <br>Published October 22, 2007 <br>GALVESTON - The long-awaited sinking of the Texas Clipper is slated to take place Nov. 15, weather permitting. The 473-foot ship will be towed 17 miles off the cost of South Padre Island and sunk. From 1965 until 1994, the historic ship carried students from Texas A&M University at Galveston around the world as they studied oceanography, maritime science and marine biology. The ship will go to her final resting place in 134 feet of water. <br>The Clipper was slated to be sunk in April, but it took longer than expected to clean the vessel well enough for it serve as an artificial reef. "We didn't know the extent of the PCBs until we started to remove them," said John Embesi, a marine biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife's Artificial Reef Program. In addition to removing pollutants, workers also had to cut off the ship's mast to ensure that at its highest point it would be at least 50 feet underwater. What's more, workers cut openings in the hull to give wildlife - and wayward divers - additional routes of escape. <br>As an artificial reef, the state hopes the ship will attract sea life, which will in turn attract scuba divers and fishermen. Mooring buoys will be attached to the ship, Embesi said. Researchers from the University of Texas at Brownsville have installed steel plates they'll use to observe the development of marine life on the Clipper once it's sunk. "We'll monitor what biological organisms are growing and how fast they're growing," said Dale Shively, coordinator of the artificial reef program. <br>When the Clipper goes down to the bottom of the ocean, a lot of history will go down with it. In World War II as the USS Queens, it ferried wounded troops from the battlefield. After the war, the ship became the SS Excambion, one of four luxury liners known as the Four Aces. As workers prepared the Clipper for sinking, they discovered a treasure from that period. It was a mural by New Yorker cartoonist Saul Steinberg - one of the only large pieces he was known to have done. The mural was painstakingly removed and stored as state officials decide what next to do with it. The total cost to sink the Clipper is about $4 million, Shively said.
From Passport to Texas - TPWD Radio
On July 24th and 25th, Cynthia Nasti of TPWD strongly indicated that a date near the first of August is quite possible, going so far as to say she'd bet on it. She also reiterated how much care has been taken to ensure an amazing experience for divers, including many modifications for ease of penetration. Get the full story here.
Texas Clipper set to sink
By: Prashant Krishnan, 10/23/06
The Texas Clipper began her life as a World War II troop transport. She's going to end it 17 nautical miles south of Padre Island.
The Clipper will be towed into the Gulf of Mexico and sunk to create an artificial reef.
Texas A&M at Galveston acquired the Clipper in 1965 with the formation of the Texas Maritime Agency. It served as a research vessel and helped train thousands of cadets from A&M at Galveston.
The ship will be readied for towing from Beaumont to Brownsville, where cleanup activities and structural modifications will be done before scuttling the ship in early 2007.
During the cleanup process, all environmental contaminants and buoyant materials will be removed.
The ship will be sunk using controlled flooding, and there will be no use of explosives. Modifications will be made in adherence to the sinking plan, and routes will be provided for divers to safely pass through her decks and bulkheads.
Dale Shively, coordinator of the Artificial Reef Program, said the ship is safe to scuttle.
"The sinking of the ship will have no adverse environmental effects and has been given a FONSI (Found No Significant Impact) by the US Fisheries and Wildlife," Shively said.
Shively said the artificial reef would enhance the area environmentally and commercially.
"The sinking will greatly enhance the marine habitat on the Gulf of Mexico and will create a world-class dive destination along with having a positive economic impact for the communities of South Padre Island," Shively said.
Within a year of the sinking, the vessel will develop a marine habitat of barnacles, corals, sponges, clams, bryozoans and hydroids and will attract fish and mobile invertebrates, Shively said.
The Artificial Reef Act of 1989 directed Texas Parks and Wildlife Division to promote and enhance the artificial reef potential off Texas.
To fulfill this purpose, the department developed the Texas Artificial Reef Plan.
According to the department, the goal of the Texas Artificial Reef Plan is to enhance fishery resources biologically, commercially and recreationally.
Tammy Lobaugh, the director of Physical Plant and Maritime Terminal Operations at A&M at Galveston, said these are exciting times for the proud Aggie training vessel.
"She is recognized around the world as the ship from Texas and her role in history will live on for future generations," she said.
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C Copyright 2007 The Battalion
New Zealand Wreck Diving Community Monitors Clipper Scuttling
UPDATE: 11th November, 2006: Final Resting Place - Historic war ship to serve as artificial reef
By SARA INÉS CALDERÓN: The Brownsville Herald: She has carried the wounded out of embattled Iwo Jima and served as a home and research hub for thousands of university students. Soon, it will meet its final destiny on the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico. The USTS Texas Clipper, formerly the USS Queens, is currently sitting in the Port of Brownsville being gutted and cleaned in preparation for her sinking in March. The ship will serve as an artificial reef for divers and fishermen.
During World War II, the 473-foot troop transport ship ferried troops into battle and removed the wounded from Iwo Jima. Built in 1944, the ship was decommissioned in 1946 after assisting in the American occupation of Sasebo, Japan. The ship was then part of American Export Lines as a cruise liner to the Mediterranean from 1948 to 1958, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. From 1965 to 1996, the ship was used as part of the Texas Maritime Training Academy's training program at Texas A&M University at Galveston.Currently, the ship is being converted into an environmentally-safe tourist attraction. The Texas Clipper will be sunk about 17 miles off the South Padre Island coast and will sit 134 feet below sea level.
The highest point of the ship will be 50 feet below the water to allow for safe ship passage. The six-month project is being done by Esco Marine at the Port of Brownsville. Holes are being punched into the ship and welders are sealing off sections of the ship to make it safe for divers, said Kris Wood, the dismantling project manager. Hydrocarbons, asbestos, wiring and other chemical components are also being removed, he said.
The Texas Clipper's arrival in Brownsville was no accident, according to three local Aggies. The Port of Brownsville, South Padre Island municipality, Texas Parks and Wildlife and three Texas A&M alumni who served on the Clipper all worked to get the ship to Brownsville. "It's very appropriate that it be off the coast of Texas," said Terry Ray, adding that fellow Aggies Jim and Jeff Tipton may try to organize an Aggie bon voyage party when the ship is sunk in the spring. From war to education to recreation, the Texas Clipper will be remembered fondly, the trio said. "When I saw that ship for the last time, I never expected to see it back in Brownsville," Jim Tipton said. http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.php?id=73801_0_10_0_M36
UPDATE: 7th Nov, 2006: Texas Clipper gets a final resting place
By Marty Schladen, The Daily News: After more than a decade of idleness, the Texas Clipper departed Beaumont on Friday. It was expected in South Padre Island sometime Monday. Next year, it will be scuttled in 135 feet of water about 17 miles off the coast.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife's Artificial Reef Program is spending about $4 million to turn the vessel into an artificial reef. It's intended to serve as habitat for fish and other marine life, which, in turn, is expected to attract fishermen and scuba divers. The 473-foot Clipper had been stuck in dock in Beaumont since its last cruise in 1994. From 1965 until 1994, it served as the original Texas Clipper - a ship in which students from Texas A&M's Galveston campus sailed the world, learning about maritime science and marine biology.
Two other ships have succeeded it at the university. The ship entered service on Sept. 12, 1944. During World War II, it was known as the USS Queens. During that phase of its life, it carried troops - uninjured, wounded and dead - from the battlefield. After the war, the ship was refitted as a first-class passenger ship. Renamed the Excambion, it plied the Atlantic until 1959. The ship was then laid up until 1965, when it became the Clipper.
UPDATE: 3rd Nov, 2006: Aggies Bid Final Farewell to The Texas Clipper
A group of graduates from Texas A & M in Galveston gathered in Port Arthur Friday to see off the ship where many lived throughout their college years. The Texas Clipper served as a training ship for the Texas Maritime Academy. Students and professors are excited after sitting in the ready reserve fleet in Beaumont for the past decade, one day they will be able to swim through the passageways of The Texas Clipper, where they used to walk.Stephen Curley is an English professor at Texas A & M University in Galveston, he says, "Everyone has mixed emotions about it. It's something that was so important and now it`s on its final voyage."
Curley is among dozens of Aggies, and future ones, who gathered in Port Arthur to wave good-bye to The Texas Clipper. "I think the most significant thing about the ship is what its done in three different ways," he says. Over the past 62 years of the ship`s existence, it`s served under three names. Beginning as the USS Queens as attack transport in 1944, then the SS Excambion as a passenger-cargo liner in 1948, and finally the USTS Texas Clipper as a training ship of the Texas Maritime Academy for nearly 30 years.
Former Aggie, Tammy Lobaugh says, "She`s served our country, commerce, and education, now she will live on in a different way so future generations can take part and enjoy her as well." In dead tow, The Texas Clipper is making its way to Brownsville to be prepped for The Texas Parks and Wildlife`s artificial reef program. "It`s a kind of sad day but she`s going on and I think her new chapter will allow future generations to learn more about her," Lobaugh says.
Curley is hoping to take part in teaching future generations about The Texas Clipper by writing a book, he says, "It`s going to be sunk deliberately and ceremoniously. That means people will be able to go down to dive the ship." The ship will spend about four months in Brownsville, before being sunk about 17 miles off of Port Isabel. - http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/water/habitats/artificial_reef/ships_to_reef.phtml