Retired Warship Sinks in Right Place but at Wrong Time

Spoiling plans for an extravaganza today, a former Royal Canadian Navy warship destined to be part of an artificial reef sank early Friday morning two miles off Mission Beach.

Project organizers had planned for the 366-foot, 2,890-ton destroyer Yukon to be ceremoniously sunk today adjacent to four other hulks in what is known as Wreck Alley, a prime spot for sport diving.

But the ship began taking on water shortly after midnight and went down quietly within 90 minutes in 110 feet of choppy water.

It had been towed into position Thursday, and sank exactly where planned. Once Navy divers remove unneeded explosives, the ship will be declared safe for diving.

“She must have been eager to start her new life,” said Project Yukon chairman Dick Long, a veteran diver and founder of Diving Unlimited International. “A lot of people are disappointed because we missed our shindig. But we’ve all missed parties in our lifetime.”

A festive farewell had been scheduled for the ship, with speeches and fireworks. Hundreds of pleasure boaters were expected to watch and local television stations had planned live coverage. More than 470 people had paid $30 each to watch the sinking from a cruise boat.

Bob Watts, a director of the San Diego Oceans Foundation, said he received a call from the Coast Guard that the ship was taking on water because of a change in the size and direction of waves.

“It was like Apollo 13: ‘Houston, we have a problem,’ ” Watts said. “The ship was prepared to sink, we’d filled her full of holes like Swiss cheese. All she did was rush the process and ruin our party.”

The Coast Guard rescued three caretakers who were aboard the ship; none was injured. The ship had only one pump, which proved inadequate when water began pouring onto the deck.

As the ship slipped out of sight, a banner reading “You sunk my battleship” floated to the surface.

The banner referred to a competition staged by the Hasbro toy company in which 50 children from San Diego vied for the right to push the button to set off the explosive charges that would sink the ship.

The competition involves playing the Milton-Bradley game “Battleship.” The winner was to have received a $1,000 scholarship, dozens of games and the right to push the button.

Despite the unscheduled sinking, the competition continued Friday at the Seaport Village shopping mall in San Diego--without the button-pushing part of the prize.

“It just shows you that time and tide wait for no man,” said Hasbro spokesman Mark Morris.

The Oceans Foundation paid $250,000 for the Yukon, the largest warship sunk off the U.S. West Coast under a program run by the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia. The Yukon was decommissioned in 1993 after three decades of service.

Organizers predict that the ship will provide a significant boost to the recreational diving business in San Diego.

Hundreds of volunteers had spent months cleaning the ship and stripping it of wire, machinery and other hazardous parts, requirements set by the Coastal Commission. Many of the volunteers had planned to watch the sinking.

“She fooled us all,” said City Councilman Byron Wear.