NORFOLK

Colonna's Shipyard has filed a federal lawsuit accusing a New Jersey company of failing to pay $1.6 million for work on a James River Reserve Fleet ship.

Reefmakers of Moorestown, N.J., was hired by the city of Key West, Fla., to clean up the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, a former Air Force missile range ship, and tow it to Florida for sinking as an artificial reef.

Colonna's claims it is owed $1.6 million for work cleaning the ship of oil, asbestos, PCBs and other toxic hazards, according to the suit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court.

A federal judge ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to "arrest" the ship, so it cannot be moved until the suit is ended.

The Vandenberg, owned by Key West, is scheduled to be sunk as an artificial reef seven miles off the Florida Keys in May. But, according to news reports, that project is in jeopardy. A Key West newspaper reported last month that city officials are having trouble raising $2.4 million needed to complete the project.

The Vandenberg served as a troop transport in World War II and carried Hungarian freedom fighters to Australia after the 1956 Soviet crackdown. Later it was converted to track missile tests and followed the Mercury and Gemini space liftoffs. The ship also appeared in "Virus," a 1999 sci-fi movie.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com