In September 1996 a former Cuban Navy Koni-II class frigate designated 356 was scuttled in shallow water in Cayman Brac. The ship was originally designated as SKR-471, the keel was laid down on 24 April 1981 at a shipyard in Zelenodosk, USSR and the ship was commissioned on 17 August 1983. The SKR-471 was one of three, 312-foot long Koni II-class frigates sold to Cuba to support its Cold War fleet. Cuba designated the vessel 356 . Five years after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba, or the Soviet Union, sold the ship in 1996 to a group of dive enthusiasts and the Cayman Islands government to be scuttled in Cayman Brac as a dive attraction. Before being scuttled the ship was renamed the MV Captain Keith Tibbetts in honor of Captain Keith Parker Tibbetts, a local politician and diver, who died on 10 March 1996.
The Tibbets / 356 sank upright, and initially her deck rested 90 ft (27 m) below the surface. On September 12, 2004 the eye of the catgory 5 Hurricane Ivan passed about 25 miles to the southwest of Georgetown. The storm broke the ship in two, and her bow now lists at a 45 degree angle, her midships have become a debris field, and the sterm is upright. The frigate was made of aluminum to be light, which made it capable of doing thirty knots, but the aluminum is rapidly dissolving in the seawater. The Tibbetts is one of only a few sunken Soviet Naval vessels in the Western Hemisphere, and the only one of two that are easily dived. The other vessel is the Tibbett's sister ship SKR-451, Monkada. This vessel was scuttled in shallow water near the Cuban resort town of Varadero.
More information about the Koni II class frigate can be found at Koni II.
Environmentalist Jean-Michel Cousteau filmed the actual sinking and subsequently produced a television documentary titled Destroyer for Peace. This short film follows Jean-Michel’s team as the wreck is meticulously cleaned and prepared for sinking. Jean-Michel Cousteau, determined to go down with the wreck, spends the better part of the day on deck as the boat slowly sinks to the sand bed below.
< br> A short Youtube video of a dive on the Tibbetts