Author Topic: USS Forrestal (CV-59), the US Navy's First Supercarrier, Sold for Scrap for 1 Penny  (Read 1572 times)

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Offline Atomic Cow

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Here’s a penny for your thoughts: One red cent could’ve landed you the Navy’s first supercarrier, the decommissioned Forrestal.

The U.S. Navy sold the 1,067-foot behemoth to a Texas company, All Star Metals, to be dismantled, scrapped and recycled, Navy officials announced. It's an inauspicious fate for a ship with a colorful — and tragic — history. It's perhaps best known for a 1967 incident in which stray voltage triggered an accidental explosion that struck a plane on the flight deck whose cockpit was occupied by a young John McCain. A chain reaction of blasts and fires ultimately killed 134 men and injured more than 300.

But its rich past and nearly four decades of service are not enough to spare it. The Navy tried to donate the historic ship for use as a memorial or a museum, but no “viable applications” were received.

“It’s something that the Navy is caught between a rock and a hard place,” said Ken Killmeyer, historian for the USS Forrestal Association and a survivor of the 1967 incident. “They have to have these vessels no matter how big or small they are, and they use them as you would your car until they’re no longer financially viable. So, they decommission them.”

The company plans to tow the aircraft carrier from its current location at the Navy’s inactive ship facility in Philadelphia to its facility in Brownsville, Texas. All Star Metals anted up the token purchase price based on its anticipated cost of moving and dismantling the ship and the value of the scrap metal it will yield, according to a Navy press release.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/23/forrestal-navy-first-supercarrier-sold-for-1-penny/

USS Saratoga, USS Ranger, USS Independence, and USS Constellation will soon follow.  USS Kitty Hawk will as well once the USS Gerald R. Ford is commissioned in 2015.  USS John F. Kennedy might as well if they can't find a home for her.  USS Enterprise is already slated to be scrapped once the 8 nuclear reactors are removed.  She's already been chopped up severely to the point where she could never be reactived.
"...And these atomic bombs which science burst upon the world that night were strange, even to the men who used them."  H. G. Wells, The World Set Free, 1914

"The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections." -Lord Acton

Offline Atomic Cow

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"...And these atomic bombs which science burst upon the world that night were strange, even to the men who used them."  H. G. Wells, The World Set Free, 1914

"The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections." -Lord Acton

famousdayandyear

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'cuse me while I lose my dinner.  Scrap?  One cent?  Parody right?

Offline Atomic Cow

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'cuse me while I lose my dinner.  Scrap?  One cent?  Parody right?

Nope & Nope.

I have no problem with scrapping the ship.  Sadly, she is obsolete.  We cannot preserve every single carrier built.  There just are enough places to put them where they would make enough money for the up keep.  Maintaining a carrier or battleship is extremely expensive.

But at the very least, sell it for something worthwhile.  The steel is of quality we cannot even make anymore.
"...And these atomic bombs which science burst upon the world that night were strange, even to the men who used them."  H. G. Wells, The World Set Free, 1914

"The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections." -Lord Acton