USNS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg

A missile-tracking ship on the seabed. The USNS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg was a former troop transport later converted to track missiles and spacecraft, her decks studded with huge radar dishes. In 2009 she was scuttled off Key West to become one of the world's largest artificial reefs, and those distinctive radar structures make her one of the most photogenic wreck dives in Florida.

Radar dishes and open decks. Standing over 160 metres long and largely upright, the Vandenberg presents dramatic superstructure, gun tubs, masts and the giant parabolic dishes that defined her career. Divers cruise the decks and, with training, explore prepared interior spaces in a wreck built for exploration.

A deeper Keys dive. The ship lies between roughly 15 and 42 metres, deeper than many Keys sites, so the upper structure suits Advanced Open Water divers while the lower hull and penetration demand deep and wreck certification and careful gas planning. Being offshore, the site can carry current and calls for solid buoyancy.

Fast-growing life on the reef. Corals, sponges and hydroids have colonised the hull, drawing barracuda, goliath grouper, jacks and turtles, with pelagics passing in the blue. Dived by charter from Key West, the Vandenberg is a year-round site, with the calmest conditions and clearest water typically in the summer months.