Topic: Forrestal heading to scrap yard

[OldSailor]

The aircraft carrier Forrestal, built in Newport News in the 1950s, embarks on its last journey this week.
 
The Navy announced that its first "supercarrier" will depart Philadelphia under tow on Tuesday - weather permitting - and travel down the Eastern Seaboard, around Florida and across the Gulf of Mexico.
 
Last October, the Navy paid All Stars Metals of Brownsville, Texas, a single penny for the job of moving and dismantling the ship. (The company will get to keep the money it earns selling the scrap metal.)
 
It didn't have to end this way: The Navy was willing to donate the Forrestal, which was decommissioned in 1993, for use as a museum or memorial. But it didn't receive any proposals that it deemed viable.
 
Commissioned in 1955, the Forrestal was the lead ship in its class, the first built specifically to handle jets, and was homeported in Norfolk until 1977. It was involved in one of the worst accidents in modern Navy history in 1967, when a rocket misfired on the flight deck, sparking a fire that killed 134 sailors.

hamptonroads.com/2014/02/locally-built-carrier-forrestal-heading-scrap-yard#commentLink


I think Forrestal will set one more record, being the largest warship ever scrapped in this country if not in the entire world ... for now. There are 3 slightly larger Kitty Hawk class ships plus Enterprise waiting their fate and 3 more Forrestal class ships as well. Now that Forrestal has "gotten the ball rolling" I expect we'll see the others follow over the next few years. The last to go will probably be either Kitty Hawk or Constellation since they were the most up to date and in the best material condition when laid up. IIRC one or both are still reactivation assets, though it would take a year or more of round the clock work to get either one ready for sea again. The newer John F Kennedy (KH class) was laid up early because of her poor material condition.

[Libertas]

IIRC that fire incident involved none other than our great moderate hero and general pain-in-the-ass RINO John McCain. 

He ain't been the same since the Commies had 'em...

The Forrestal had more than its share of mishaps...kinda had a reputation for being a bit cursed..even in my day when she was an old lady, the old salts that served on her talked about her doings.

Shame nobody could find something good for her, but perhaps her fate was scrap all along.

The Kitty Hawk was the first flattop I served on...we affectionately called her the sh*tty Kitty...kind of had a naughty sway to her and a reputation for being a bit dirty...but she was a tough old gal.  Years after I left she became the forward deployed carrier at Yokasuka (the next version of the USS Neverdock).  They retired the old girl in 2009, been laid up in Bremerton.  Her sister ship the Connie (Constellation) was retired in 2003 and also mothballed at Bremerton.  I would love to see them hang onto both of these as I think they could be readied for sea fairly quickly if an emergency required it, but being as though they are oil-fed and not nuclear I am not sure how that plays into the equation...not sure how much boiler oil is refined now days.  I would rather see them museums before sold to another nation or for scrap.

The Kennedy been laid up in Philly since being retired in 2007.  They might scrap it since the next supercarrier after the Ford has been named the Kennedy...but 2022 is a long way off...especailly in budget terms.  The Ford is supposed to be commissioned FY2016.

My last ship I served on was the old Coral Sea, Coral Maru we called her...second oldest ship in the fleet then, Midway being the oldest.  She started out as a battle wagon late in WWII and was converted to a carrier.  Talk about a funny roller, but she was a tough old lady...saw plenty of action during her life.

[Glock32]

I'd rather see it sunk as an artificial reef than cut up for scrap. Isn't the only appropriate Valhalla for old warships beneath the waves?

[Libertas]

Good idea.  Could take urns out to sea with her too for any old salts wanting to be buried in the briney deep.

But I bet the EPA and Sierra Club and the UN and a host of other useless killjoys would be horrified at such a stunt.

Would be really cool though.

In the PR campaign we could argue it is "The right thing to do for the ocean, to provide shelter for its creatures and a gift for all the children of the world!"!