Advance (AR-145) Shipwreck
15 Miles offshore.
Nags Head, NC.
The Advance II was laid down in 1943 and served as an escort ship in the Caribbean before patrolling the Pacific in 1945. After the war, it served as a training ship before it was decommissioned and acquired by the Cape Fear Technical Institute in 1964. In 1980, it was donated to the NC Department of Fisheries and in 1994 it was deployed off of Kitty Hawk as an artificial reef.
Artificial reefs and intact wrecks.
In 2025, the exterior structure and two forward decks of the ship are still intact, while much of the interior has been broken down by the elements. The ship sits in 80 ft of water and is home to a variety of fish, including the spadefish and sheepshead in this video, and other creatures. This video shows the collapsed aft end of the ship which now hosts a garden of gorgonians that sway beautifully in the current.
A family home?
We often see fish in schools, like the iconic large schools of striped spadefish and sheepshead in this area. But when we last visited this wreck in early June, it was absolutely littered with toadfish. You couldn’t swim 5 feet without seeing and hearing one! Although they aren’t open water swimmers, it’s clear that when it’s mating season, the toadfish come together in large groups too.