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From: trey@ne*.co* (Trey)
To: "Michael Barnette" <aocfishman@ho*.co*>, <techdiver@aquanaut.com>
Subject: Re: AUE Weekend Dive Report
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 19:44:49 -0400
Mikey, did that wreck move? When I buoyed it for
Deans 9 years ago it was 315 feet deep to the sand.

I did see that Bull this winter on the Wilkes stern
when Pina, Kane and I dove it. He freaked over the
HID lights.

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Barnette <aocfishman@ho*.co*>
To: techdiver@aquanaut.com <techdiver@aquanaut.com>
Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2000 4:58 PM
Subject: AUE Weekend Dive Report


AUE Weekend Trip Report
Key West, October 7-8

Two of us rolled into Key West late Friday night on
three wheels and a
prayer after one of my tires decided to literally
fall apart. We decided it
was a good omen for the weekend as the tire held
together long enough for us
to make KW and not blowout en route.

Earlier in the day I had learned that the boat we
typically use, the Sea
Hawk, was sold and would be heading to Mexico. We
were to dive off the
larger boat, the Sea Eagle, but we may need to find
another boat to run
future tech dives off Key West. Hopefully, we will
hammer out the details
soon so we can resume diving these great wrecks.

The team rendezvoused at the boat Saturday afternoon
and caught up with
events after the almost month-long hiatus due to the
previous three weekends
of weather blowouts. We proceeded to load our gear
on the boat and were
pleased with the abundant amount of room we would
have to ourselves.
Eventually, the boat departed in calm seas for our
planned dive on the USS
Kendrick. The USS Kendrick, a 348’ long
Bristol-Class destroyer, was sunk by
the David Taylor Model Basin, Carderock, Maryland,
in March of 1968. She now
rests upright in ~330’ of water. We pulled up on the
Loran numbers but soon
realized that the bottom reader on the boat, while
adequate for locating the
recreational dive sites that the boat visited 99.9%
of the time, was
inadequate for these depths; I never saw any marks
that I felt comfortable
with trying to grapple with our shot line. After
working to find the wreck
for a while, we decided to head over to the USS
Wilkes Barre for a dive as
it was getting late in the day.

The USS Wilkes Barre was a 608’ long Cleveland-Class
light cruiser sunk in
1972 after underwater explosive tests. She now sits
in two sections in 253’
of water off American Shoals. As we pulled up, we
noticed a small boat had
already hooked the stern section and was about to
send three divers in. As
we suited up, the divers off the small boat geared
up and dropped in one at
a time. After conferring with their Captain, we
planned to drop on their
line, rally at the stack (the shallowest point on
the stern) at 25 minutes,
and shoot a bag to deco under. The boat moved into
position and our group of
nine hit the water together. As we intercepted the
line and moved towards
the wreck, I noticed one of the other divers already
ascending, his back
towards us. I can only speculate at his reaction
when he turned around to
see 9 divers heading right for him. He began to
motion wildly in an attempt
to convey that they were pulling the hook, unaware
that we already had made
plans for our deco. Noticing the wreck off to the
side, I turned to swim for
the deck; the downline was horizontal and running
almost parallel, though
askew a bit, to the wreck. As I hit the deck, I
turned to signal the others
with my light. Eventually, the other guys noticed my
signal and turned to
join me on the wreck.

We had landed on the starboard side, just aft of the
rear deck gun that
still points slightly elevated and directly astern.
A solitary bull shark
circled the perimeter of the wreck, eventually
moving off at our intrusion.
A couple of the guys continued to where the hook met
the wreck; they were
treated to a show (comedy?) as one of the other
divers was attempting to
free their hook. I started to explore the wreck,
heading forward to the
superstructure. A few portholes, glass intact, still
adorn the rear of this
section. I poked around sticking my head into the
gun placements to observe
all the controls and gauges. As I swam adjacent to
the 3" side guns and
under a ladder, I noticed a large loudspeaker that
had fallen to the deck. A
cursory examination revealed the manufacturer’s
plate still clearly visible
on the artifact. I checked out several of the
compartments taking note of
all the equipment and gear still evident on this
great wreck. Moving up
towards the upper levels, I entered a room that had
a large radar array.
Lightbulbs, still intact, floated on the ceiling.
There were several brass
switches evident which appeared by their markings to
be related to the
navigational lights for the ship. Brass speaking
tubes were also observed in
the upper corner of the compartment. I exited
through the opposite hatch to
meet with a school of large African pompano that
were circling the wreck.
The majority of the team were already working
towards the shallow
antiaircraft positions in anticipation of our
departure. I made a quick
inspection of the area, trying to locate the tackle
that used to anchor the
midwater float and downline on this wreck as we plan
in install one in the
near future. With the team all together, we
reluctantly let go to drift off
the wreck and complete our deco obligation.

After considering a dive on the S-16, we opted to
return to the Wilkes on
Sunday. We quickly marked the wreck, deployed a
maker jug, and then towed
our grapple and downline into the stern section of
the wreck. After
confirming that it was hooked into the wreck, we
geared up and prepared to
hit the water. Joe and I hit the water on the
starboard side, with the rest
of the team deploying off the stern and port side. I
eventually intercepted
the line and descended to the wreck. I noticed no
one below me so I looked
up under me to observe the rest of the team dropping
down. Suddenly, Mikey
shot past me for the wreck at Warp Factor 2.0.
Reaching the wreck right
behind Mikey, I worked to free the line which was
resting against an
encrusted part of the wreck while he eventually
descended to retrieve the
hook which was sitting in the sand, finally securing
it back on deck. The
visibility appeared a tad better today (60’+?).

We all set upon our dives; I toured around the
fracture area looking for
points of entry for later dives. Heading around the
port side, I poked my
head into a hatch to observe a line of sinks and
urinals. Suddenly, the
other Mike B appeared down a corridor and entered
the room. I backed out and
headed aft. Stopping to check a few other
compartments, I worked back
towards the hangar opening at the stern. Dropping
down, I observed Mikey and
Jeff checking out the area. The hangar is basically
a large pit, with not
too much to see aside from several float lines lying
scattered on the deck
along the port side. Looking over in the starboard
section, a ladder led up
to two hatches; I noticed light from within the
forward facing hatch and
decided to follow the other guys. A long room ran
forward with a line
running from the hatch to an access hatch at the
other end that led back on
deck. The line was one of many that can be found
throughout the wreck from
when divers used to visit it on a regular basis.
Swimming forward over some
debris within the compartment, the others had
already slipped through the
hatch. I inspected some of the circuit breakers on
the forward bulkhead, as
well as a side compartment that was lined with
sinks. Exiting the hatch, it
was nice to be back in daylight.

I worked forward again, checking out the tiny hatch
that led up into one of
the large deck guns. Eventually, our bottom time
neared the end, as several
divers had already ascended up the line. Joe, Jeff,
and I hovered next to
the wreck as Mikey also began to float off the
wreck. We all noticed a nice
bull shark swimming along the far side of the
superstructure and stopped to
watch him. He turned and soon swam back around,
swimming close past me and
then off to the gloom. It was an impressive sight to
watch that graceful
animal cruise along the massive superstructure in
really good visibility as
it provided a neat sense of scale of the wreck. I
worked up the line a bit
as I watched Jeff and Joe free the hook. Soon, we
all found ourselves
drifting off into a gentle current to finish our
deco amongst some very
large jellyfish near the surface.

It was a great weekend of diving and I am sure we
hooked some new divers on
these cool wrecks off Key West. Topside and
wrecksite images should appear
on the website later this week (I have already taken
a peek at them and they
are going to be good!)…

Cheers,
Mike
Association of Underwater Explorers
Because it's there...somewhere...maybe.
http://www.mikey.net/aue

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