Two Retired Vessels Join Redbird Reef
A retired City of Baltimore fireboat and a World War II-era tugboat have now become a part of The Redbird Reef which is off the coast of Delaware east of the Indian River Inlet. The two vessels were sunk just after 10am and just after 11am – and have already become a haven for marine life. DNREC’s Division of Fish and Wildlife oversees the reef program – and invested $180,000 in federal Sport Fish Restoration funds to purchase the two boats, Redbird Reef covers 1.3 square miles of ocean floor and includes a former floating casino, a Chesapeake Bay cruise ship, 86 retired U-S Army tanks and armored vehicles and over 700 retired New York City “Redbird” subway cars.
Additional information from DNREC:
Reef Site 11, is known as the Redbird Reef because it also hosts – and boasts – more than 700 retired and repurposed New York City “Redbird” subway cars.
The two boats sunk today by the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife – a World War II-era tug known as MARAD (US Maritime Administration) TD-21 and the ex-City of Baltimore fireboat Mayor J. Harold Grady – went down at approximately 10:22 a.m. EDT at longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of 38.40.457/74.42.961 at a depth of 75 feet and the tug TD-21 was sunk at about 11:25 a.m. EDT at coordinates of 38.40.427/74.43.073 in 80 feet of water.
“Our giving these boats a continued existence as reef deployments cultivating marine life while providing recreational fishing and diving opportunities also pays tribute to what they once were, when they served our country’s maritime and public safety needs,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “And every trip out to Reef Site 11 for anglers and divers can bring reflections harking back to their service when afloat.”
The Mayor J. Harold Grady – named for Baltimore’s sitting mayor when commissioned in 1960 – was one of three Baltimore fireboats built that year by Jakobson Shipyard in Oyster Bay, L.I. and was among the most modern and well-equipped fireboats of its time, with a pumping capacity of 6,000 gallons of water per minute. Spanning 86 feet, Grady – width 20 feet, depth 14’, and top speed of 15 mph – would later distinguish itself during Baltimore’s inner harbor fire of 1968 – and stay in service until 2007.
The tug MARAD TD-21 was one of 100 steel-hulled 86-foot-long boats built for the Defense Plant Corporation in 1943 for domestic use on a wartime footing – the 21st of 37 tugs of the same specs built at George Lawley & Son Shipyard in Neponset, Mass. All of them carried a crew of nine and were relied on to maneuver domestic shipping safely and securely in and out of American ports during the last years of World War II.
Today’s sinkings were carried out by Norfolk, Va.-based marine contractor Coleen Marine, which has handled numerous reef deployments over the DNREC reef program’s existence at many of Delaware’s 14 permitted artificial reef sites. As with all the ships and other vessels and military vehicles DNREC has deployed onto the artificial reef system, the Mayor J. Harold Grady and tug MARAD TD-21 were sunk only after having been certified for environmental cleanliness and safety under auspices of the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard, which also cordoned off the area and observed the twin sinking today. The DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife, which oversees the reef program, invested $180,000 in federal Sport Fish Restoration funds to buy the two boats sunk today from Coleen Marine after both ships settled onto the Redbird Reef.
As the newest additions to Delaware’s artificial reef program, the TD-21 tug and the Mayor J. Harold Grady join a bottom-riding armada of ocean-, Chesapeake Bay- and harbor-going vessels on the Redbird Reef. Many other ships of commercial fishing and military service – namely the destroyer ex-USS Arthur W. Radford, at 585 feet the longest ship reefed on the Atlantic Coast – reside on the Delaware-led Del-Jersey-Land Artificial Reef, so called because it is roughly equidistant from ports of departure in each of the three states the reef’s name entails. The Del-Jersey-Land reef trails only the Redbird Reef in popularity for anglers and divers among Delaware’s 14 permitted reef sites.
Covering 1.3 square miles of ocean floor, other Redbird Reef dwelling vessels include a former floating casino Texas Star; a 215-foot-long Chesapeake Bay cruise ship; 86 retired U.S. Army tanks and armored vehicles, eight tugboats, a fishing trawler and two barges. All told, Delaware’s artificial reef system is also home to more than 1,350 retired New York City subway cars that have been a mainstay for attracting fish to the reef system over the last two decades.
More information about Delaware’s artificial reef program can be found on the DNREC website and in the 2024 Delaware Reef Guide
