USS Arthur W. Radford

Perhaps not a case of swords into plowshares, but at least a destroyer into an artificial reef.  In November, the 535 foot decommissioned Navy destroyer, USS Arthur W. Radford, will sink beneath the waters off Cape May Point to become the longest vessel ever turned into an East Coast artificial reef.

Destroyer Arthur W. Radford to become reef off New Jersey coast

After serving during the Persian Gulf War and in peacekeeping operations off Lebanon, the Radford will become the home of marine life, including bluefin tuna and mako sharks.

“This is a big ship and we want it to sink with the keel hitting the sand,” said Hugh Carberry, who coordinates the reefs program for the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.

“We want it sitting on the bottom perfectly upright,” he said. “It will have one heck of a profile.”

The destroyer, now at the old Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, is expected to be a premier attraction for divers and a magnet for recreational fishermen.