Two audible explosions, a plume of smoke and two minutes on a Wednesday morning were all it took to successfully sink the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg as an artificial reef for divers, snorkelers and anglers.

The former military ship reported for its final tour of duty on the ocean floor off Key West around 10:24 a.m., with hundreds of local boats gathered in the surrounding waters to watch history being made.

After a 10-minute delay for a sea turtle to clear the area, a nearby tugboat set off a red flare that marked the five-minute countdown, followed by a second red flare that was the sign for T-minus one minute.

"It looked to be perfect," an overwhelmed Capt. Joe Weatherby said minutes after the stern slipped quickly beneath the water, leaving a 522-foot-long churning wake of water on the surface. "We had the world's best blasting crew on this, and it was a wonder to behold. Fish will be living on that wreck this afternoon."

Within 45 minutes, divers had verified the ship was sitting upright on the bottom and settling perfectly. One of two giant satellite dishes on top of the ship apparently relocated a bit, but poses no risk, said City Commissioner Bill Verge, who has been spearheading the project for the city of Key West for the past year.

"Perseverance pays," said Capt. Sheri Lohr, who remembers standing on a dock next to Weatherby 12 years ago and hearing him say Key West needed a "really good wreck" to boost the dive business and take pressure off the natural coral reef.

A founding board member of Artificial Reefs of the Keys, the nonprofit group that launched the project, Lohr stood quietly aboard the Pacific Fury Wednesday, holding her breath for the two minutes it took for the ship to sink straight down. The catamaran, captained by Weatherby more than five years ago, carried about 40 media representatives recording the sinking.

While a Key West flotilla of boats was charging toward a common destination -- the hulking silhouette barely visible through the horizon haze -- by 8:40 a.m. Wednesday, other Key West residents and visitors were gathering at various locations by 10 a.m. Some were riveted to computer monitors, watching live streaming video of the sinking. Many watched from the waterfront, including Smathers Beach, White Street Pier and the East Martello Tower. A smattering viewed the spectacle from the top of the Crowne Plaza Key West La Concha hotel.

Weatherby returned to the catamaran and climbed easily aboard for interviews and the beginning of what will be a week of celebrations, both underwater and above.

mbolen@keysnews.com