Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
County moves forward with sub-sinking scenario
Palm Beach County is moving full steam ahead with a plan to turn a Cold War-era submarine into a diving attraction.
Commissioners voted Tuesday to use $1 million in vessel registration fees to jump-start a project to sink the USS Clamagore about a mile off the coast of Juno Beach.
The sub, which served in the Navy from 1945 until 1975, is recognized as a historic landmark and is on display at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum near Charleston, S.C. The sub’s service history includes patrolling the Caribbean during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Museum officials say it isn’t cost-effective to maintain the sub as an attraction. Estimates place the cost of restoring the sub at $6 million, and annual upkeep runs about $250,000, said Chris Hauff, a museum spokesman.
More funding would need to be raised to pay the entire cost of cleaning, transporting and sinking the ship, said Rob Robbins, director of environmental resources management. The total cost of sinking the ship could run about $4 million, he said.
County officials hope to raise the additional funds through grants, sponsorships and donations and sink the boat by as early as this summer. A museum would be created on land to showcase the sub’s history and artifacts.
The sub would be placed about 90 feet down on the ocean floor, and paneling would be removed so divers could see inside the boat. The sub would be put into a cradle to secure it on the ocean floor in the event of a storm or hurricane.
Some veterans have objected to sinking the sub, saying it is one of the last of its kind still in existence and needs to be preserved.
William Bryar, a member of the Clamagore Restoration and Maintenance Association, said he served on the sub when it was decommissioned. He said he thinks it will cost more than estimated to sink the sub, and those funds would be better used toward restoration.
“Making it a reef doesn’t