Portimão sinks former battleships for diving museum

Submerged to depths of 12 to 30 metres, the ships will become “underwater sites accessible to any diver”, according to local mayor Manuel da Luz.

The idea, says Luz, is to “sink the boats around two miles off the coast, in an area already identified and authorised by environmental authorities”.

Any polluting materials will be removed beforehand. The operation will cost 2.5 million euros, and take around two-and-a-half years to accomplish.

The first boat – a corvette «Oliveira do Carmo», weighing approximately 1400 tons and measuring 85 metres in length (10 metres at the bows) – will be sunk in November this year, or in April 2011.

The other ships, currently out of commission and languishing at Lisbon’s Naval base in Alfeite, near Almada, will subsequently be sunk, one at a time, every nine months.

Meantime, Portimão’s town museum will have an area given over to the ships’ history. It’s an idea that, so far, is unique in the world…