VIDEO: The ex-Navy vessel Kittiwake is scuttled off the Cayman Islands to create a tourist attraction for scuba divers
A ship built to rescue trapped submariners has been deliberately sunk in the Cayman Islands. Kittiwake, a 66-year-old former US Navy rescue ship, was scuttled off the west coast of Grand Cayman to become an underwater attraction for scuba divers and snorkellers.
Despite listing to port as she disappeared below the surface, fears that the 1,800-ton ship would roll over proved unfounded. She settled in an upright position on the seabed in 64ft of water, her upperworks just 15ft from the surface.
Kittiwake recovered Challenger‘s ‘black box’ flight recorder after the space shuttle exploded over the Atlantic in 1986, but many of her other operations remain shrouded in secrecy.
