Navy Destroyer to be Sunk Offshore

PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. Navy plans to sink the destroyer Arthur W. Radford in a location an equal distance from Cape May, Ocean City, Md. and Indian River Inlet, Delaware to become an artificial reef, according to the Military Times.
The ship will be turned over to the State of Delaware. The Radford will sit in about 120 feet of water.
According to the Navy, the ship was commissioned in 1977 and decommissioned in 2003 and completed 10 deployments where it participated in many exercises and missions, such as Exercise Multiplex-79, Exercise Dawn Patrol and Operation Enduring Freedom. During the ship’s service, it had been to Venezuela, Panama, Argentina, Brazil, Senegal, Oman, Bahrain, the Azores, Nova Scotia, Italy and Turkey.
After decommissioning, the Radford was towed to the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Inactive Ships Maintenance Office in Philadelphia. The ships was powered by four General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine engines and was 564 feet in length with a beam of 55 feet. It had a top speed of over 30 knots.
The ship had a bit of a checkered history.
The Radford collided with the Saudi Riyadh a 29,259-ton, 656-foot-long container ship Feb. 4, 1999 about 25 miles northeast of Virginia Beach. At the time, the Radford was conducting calibration tests on electronics equipment and was running in circles around an electronic buoy.
The Saudi ship’s bow struck the starboard side of the Radford about 30 feet behind its bow creating a pie-shaped gash, penetrating into the centerline of the Radford, leaving a hole from the deck to the waterline. It knocked over the Radford’s 5-inch 54-caliber gun and damaged Tomahawk cruise missile tubes.
According to the Navy, the 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.
The Radford was more heavily damaged, sustaining a deep gash on its starboard side, penetrating nearly 25 feet into the main deck, ripping a hole from the deck to below the waterline.
All told, damage to the Radford had an estimated $32.7 million in damages and the damage prevented the Radford from going 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 13, 1999 and the destroyer then deployed with the Eisenhower battle group.
As a result of the collision, Radford’s commanding officer was relieved.
The Radford carried aircraft: two SH-60B Seahawk aircraft, two Mk 45 5-inch/54 caliber lightweight guns, one Mk 41 VLS for Tomahawk, ASROC and Standard missiles, Mk 46 torpedoes, Harpoon missile launchers, one Sea Sparrow launcher, two 20mm Phalanx CIWS, according to the Navy.
The ship carried a crew of 340. The Radford was known for carrying the Navy’s first advanced hybrid composite structure, known as the Advanced Enclosed Mast/Sensor (AEM/S) System. The AEM/S System was a 93-foot high structure that enclosed radar and antennas, keeping them protected from the weather.