On Aug. 1, 1990, the Bremerton Progress reported that the legendary Navy carrier, the USS Oriskany, or the “Mighty O,” had been given “an emotional send-off … by more than 200 people.”
The send-off reunited former crew members, their wives and the Mighty O.
Burt Shepherd, commander of the air wing in 1967, said of the Oriskany, “Seeing it get old is like seeing your parents or a loved one get old.”
He added, “We lived in it and with it and around it. It’s a piece of metal, but a ship is always people.”
The Oriskany is one of the Navy’s most storied vessels — more than 18 years of service, she received two battle stars during the Korean War and five during Vietnam.
Perhaps her most notable passenger was future U.S. senator John McCain. On Oct. 26, 1967, McCain left the carrier on his 23rd mission as a Navy bomber. He was shot down and held as a prisoner of war by the North Vietnamese for nearly six years.
When the Oriskany departed Bremerton in 1990, the Navy planned to scrap her. But in 1997, the carrier was repossessed for lack of progress. She sat dormant for nearly a decade until the Navy’s Inactive Ships Program decided to sink her as an artificial reef just off the coast of Pensacola, Florida in 2006.
According to the New York Times, at 44,000 tons, the Oriskany is by far the largest vessel ever converted to an artificial reef.
She was settled in more than 200 feet of water, though her upright resting position provides a range of experiences for recreational and technical divers.
Many veterans who once served on the carrier have visited her since the sinking, and the site has been called the “Great Carrier Reef.” It is now one of the most popular diving locations in the United States, attracting as many as 4,200 divers each year.
Another reunion took place a year later. On July 31, 1991, the Progress reported that twins George and Donald Green were reuniting that week, having served together on the USS Pyro during World War II. In the 1990s, the brothers lived on opposite sides of the country — George in St. Augustine, Florida, and Donald in Bremerton.
They weren’t alone; about 100 former Pyro sailors and their families gathered for the week’s celebrations.
The twins were serving aboard Pyro on Dec. 7, 1941, docked at West Loch Ammunition Depot, just miles from the attacks on Pearl Harbor.
According to the Progress, had the Japanese attack commenced 24 hours later, the Pyro would have been squarely in the line of fire. That would have been disastrous; the vessel carried “enough 12 to 14-inch shells and powder in her holds to set the whole canal ablaze.”
The Green brothers served together until 1943, when Congress passed a law requiring that all brothers serve on different ships. The law was in response to the deaths of the five Sullivan brothers when the USS Juneau (CL-52) was sunk on Nov. 13, 1942.
Donald was reassigned, while George remained aboard the Pyro until 1945.
Nine naval reunions took place in summer 1991.
