Watch CBS News

Former Coast Guard Cutter With Historic Past Gets New Home

NEW JERSEY (CBS) -- A former coast guard cutter with a historic past is heading to a new home off the Jersey-Delaware coast.

It was commissioned during World War II, and actually took part in the battle of Iwo Jima.

Wolf Announces Packages Of Bills To Combat Student Sexual Assault

The cutter gained fame again in the Perfect Storm movie in 2000 as a rescue ship.

Now, the decommissioned vessel called the Tamaroa is heading to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean some 25 miles from the Jersey-Delaware, and Maryland coasts where it will have a second life as an artificial reef.

Jeff Tinsman a reef program coordinator for the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife said, "The fish themselves will benefit by the protected habitat within the vessel and by the enriched, invertebrate community dominated by blue mussels."

ALSO READ: Trump Calls For New H-1B Visa Policy, What The Tech Industry Is Saying

Tinsman says the vessel is ready to be moved from a Norfolk, Virginia dock to the location where another retired ship - a navy destroyer - was sunk in 2010.

He says calm seas and good weather are required and they're tentatively looking at Friday as a possibility for the sinking operation, but concede that could slip.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.