I served 4 years in the Air Force (Vietnam) and 2 years in the reserves and NEVER heard that the Air Force had ships.  Now as a scuba diver I learned they had a small fleet of ships.

KEY WEST ― Scuba divers and Key West hotel operators are circling May 15th on their calendars.

That’s the day a retired U.S. Air Force missile tracking ship will be sunk to form Key West’s newest artificial reef.

The General Hoyt S. Vandenberg is currently at Virginia shipyard being prepped for the big day, workers are removing environmental hazards and any fittings which could pose a hazard to divers. Plans are to scuttle the ship in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Once ready, the ship will be towed to Key West sometime in March for final preparations.

Before it was decommissioned in 1983, the Vandenberg also tracked manned U.S. space missions, beginning with Mercury blastoffs in the early 1960s.