The Chippewa
I hope everyone has been enjoying some of this warm weather for diving in our beautiful Gulf.
I stated in my last article that we had our first open water in the Gulf on April 16th and it was great to get back on the dive boat with a great class to go diving.
I would like to tell you about another wreck that I have dived but it is basically for advanced divers but a great wreck to dive – it’s called the USS Chippewa.
The Chippewa sits at the bottom in approximately 100 feet of water and is about 12 miles off Panama City Beach. She sits upright on the sandy bottom. Now a little about her history and her dimensions.
The Chippewa was a Navajo-class fleet tug constructed during World War II. Her purpose was to aid ships, usually by towing, on the high seas or in combat or post-combat areas plus other duties she might be assigned. She served in the Atlantic Ocean. The Chippewa was built as AT-69 on June 26, 1942 in Charleston, South Carolina and launched July 25, 1942.
Her operations in World War II: she crossed the Atlantic from Norfolk to Casablanca to lay buoys there between May 4,1943 and June 9th, returning to Boston June 26th. Two days later she went to Norfolk for overhaul and on July 19th she began her towing duty between Bermuda and Jacksonville.
Then in 1944 she became a salvage vessel and went from the Caribbean Sea to Trinidad, British West Indies. In 1945 she made her last towing passage on December 28th with the SS War Bonnet in tow.
The Chippewa was decommissioned on Nov. 15, 1960 and on August 17th she was returned to the Navy to be prepared to be sunk as an artificial reef. The Chippewa was sunk on Feb. 8, 1990 by a network of 37 explosive charges, where she continues to serve the Panama City area as an artificial reef to this day.
I can remember the first dive I did on her in 1991 and the impressive looking ship as you go down the anchor line, then you see her ghostly figure coming up to you from the bottom.
It honestly gave me cold chills to see history still serving today.
I am hoping to go dive her again this summer with my advanced students. She is an amazing dive as long as the currents and visibility are good.
I hope you will come diving with me on the Chippewa this summer. Just remember you have to have your advanced certification card and a dive computer to make this dive with me. Until then keep making bubbles.
Russell Miller NAUI #59999
IANTD side mount OW #224715