Delaware #11 Artificial Reef ~ New Jersey Scuba Diving

Delaware #11 Artificial Reef

Delaware has quite an active Artificial Reef Program for such a small state. Most of its reefs are located in Delaware Bay and consist of concrete, rock, and rubble, not really of interest to divers. Three of the reefs, Numbers 9, 10, and 11, are in the ocean. Of these, Number 11 is of special interest, since, in addition to three "wrecks" and numerous Army tanks, it contains 619 Redbird subway cars - cars that New Jersey turned away. At least they didn't go very far - these cars were actually closer than some of the 250 that New Jersey eventually sank in our own reefs!

Delaware Artificial Reef #11 — 3 tugboats sunk in one day: ( front to back )
*Fells Point*, *Cittie Pointe*, and *William C Snow*

The Red Bird reef site was begun in 1996, taking its name as a derivation of the "Redbird" paint-schemed subway cars donated in 2001 by New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority. To build the Red Bird Reef, 619 of the obsolete subway cars were sunk, each of them 51 feet long by nine wide, making a substantial bottom structure for an artificial reef.

Redbird Subway Cars

Type:: 250 "Redbird" subway cars - NYC Subway system - steel bodies / frames
Built:: 1959-1960 - American Car & Foundry - Model R26 # 7750-7859
1960-1961 - American Car & Foundry - Model R28 # 7860-7959
1962-1963 - St. Louis Car - Model R29 # 8570-8805
1962-1963 - St. Louis Car - Model R33 # 8806-9345
1963-1964 - St. Louis Car - Model R36 # 9346-9769
Specs:: ( 51 x 9 ft ) 15,000 to 18,000 pounds (body)
Sunk:: 50 cars - Cape May Reef on July 3, 2003
50 cars - Deepwater Reef on July 16, 2003
50 cars - Atlantic City Reef on July 25, 2003
50 cars - Garden State North Reef on Sept 3, 2003
50 cars - Shark River Reef on Oct 14, 2003
619 cars - Delaware Reef 11 from Aug 2001 to Nov 2003
Sponsor:: New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)
anti- Sponsor:: Environmental group Clean Ocean Action lobbied aggressively and almost successfully to prevent the use of these subway cars as artificial reefs in New Jersey, resulting in most of the cars going to other states.
GPS:: too many to list, and all gone anyway
Depth:: Depths vary by location between 80 ft and 130 ft.