Divers Strap US Flag to Military Shipwreck in Florida Keys

A group of divers in Florida marked the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks by strapping a 1,200-square-foot United States flag to the wreck of a World War II-era military vessel a few miles off Key West.

The flag was unfurled on the wreck of the USNS Gen Hoyt S Vandenberg at its at the highest point, about 60 feet below the water’s surface in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Two US Navy helicopters then performed a flyover that the Florida Keys News Bureau said was “observed by boaters including relatives and friends of people who died in the terrorist attacks and their aftermath.”

The USNS Gen Hoyt S Vandenberg, a 523-foot-long former Army troop transporter, was scuttled in 2009 about 7 miles south of Key West to create an artificial reef. Credit: Florida Keys News Bureau via Storyful