DRYDOCK Jacksonville

This old Navy Dry Dock is 615 feet long, 127 feet wide and 57 feet tall. She was donated by the Navy to be used as an artificial reef. In coordination with the Kingfish Tournament, Jacksonville Offshore Sport Fishing Club and the Jacksonville Scubanauts Reef Research Team, she was sunk on September 13, 1989, 45 miles offshore. The sinking took only 20 minutes and was accomplished without explosives. The Dry Dock landed upright in 125 feet of water. To date the Dry Dock is the largest artificial reef to be sunk on the eastern seaboard. According to the Scubanauts Reef Research Team, within 59 days of the Dry Dock's sinking, hurricane Hugo swept through the area. When the artificial reef was surveyed after the powerful storm, it was noted that she had changed her orientation from 330 degrees to 20 degrees, and both of her wingwalls had broken open.

The broken down wooden Dry Dock is home to a variety of marine life and is one of the most successful reef projects in the area.

Photo: This 615 foot old Navy Dry Dock was sunk as an artificial reef on September 13,
1989. Photo courtesy Scubanauts Reef Research Team.

Basic shipwreck information and images for this section of this site was taken with permission from the book Florida Shipwrecks by Daniel Berg. You are invited to submit your shipwreck related articles, images and information. As long as the text, photographs, sketches etc are of professional quality we will showcase them. Full credit will be provide and a same page link to your web site can be arranged.