Imagine a 134-metre navy destroyer sliding into the ocean in less time than it would take you to make a cup of coffee. That is roughly what happened off South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula in 2002. The hull of the decommissioned HMAS Hobart was packed with explosives, and the ship sank in 2 minutes and 17 seconds, according to the Naval Historical Society of Australia. By 2020, eighteen years later, a marine survey found that the vessel housed more than 50 different types of fish. The study, 'Convergence of fish community structure between a newly deployed and an established artificial reef along a five-month trajectory,' featured in Ecological Engineering, helps explain why sunken ships quickly turn into such busy underwater neighborhoods, even though its own observation window was far shorter than Hobart's 18-year record.
A warship built for combat gets a second life
