The former HMAS Adelaide, the navy frigate involved in the rescue of Tony Bullimore in 1997 and the ''children overboard'' incident in 2001 is expected to be towed from Glebe Island to a mooring off Avoca Beach on Monday in preparation for being scuttled on March 27.

The government plans to sink Adelaide 1.8 kilometres off Avoca to create a diving and research site, becoming the sixth warship given to a state government for this purpose and the first in NSW.

The plan is to create an artificial reef for recreational divers and is expected to inject about $20 million a year into the local economy. It was due to be sunk off Terrigal but the location was changed after surveys of the ocean floor found the off Avoca was more suitable.

While the state government has declared the ship is free of carcinogenic toxins, its testing for those toxins has been described by an international expert as ''shockingly irregular'' and ''strange'', the Sydney Morning Herald reported

Local protest groups are hoping to scuttle the scuttling for several reasons, including the suspected presence of toxins on the ship and a forecast 5.3 metres of permanent beach erosion at Avoca.

Final approval rests with Federal Environment Protection Minister Peter Garrett who has yet to sign off on an application for a permit by the NSW Lands Department.

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