The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

World War II Activity Off the Florida Panhandle

From Diving the Sunshine State.

Although, it is not a World War II ship, the USS Massachusetts BB-2, one of our earliest battleships, was sunk off Pensacola in 1921 and today is a thriving reef and major destination for divers.

Off Panama City, there is an artificial reef consisting of old barges, obsolete fighter planes and tanks (possibly WW II vintage?) and even bridge spans from the old one that used to connect Panama City to Panama City Beach. (The new Hutchinson Bridge is just five years old and already in need of repairs. Locals are afraid its closure, which just happened this week, will cause some major problems, especially with Spring Break and Summer approaching.)

Off Port St. Joe, a ways to the east of here, the SS Empire Mica was sunk seven miles offshore by a German U-boat.

Wait, is that a periscope I see off the way, no, its just a fin from some flounder. --GreGen

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