Scrapped for a penny: USS Forrestal, Navy's first supercarrier, begins final voyage
 

http://a57.foxnews.com/global.fncsta....jpg?ve=1&tl=1
http://a57.foxnews.com/global.fncsta....jpg?ve=1&tl=1
Dam shame she wasn't bid on for a museum..
[quote]The U.S. Navy’s first supercarrier -- the long-decommissioned Forrestal -- has begun its final voyage to a Texas scrapyard, after the Pentagon tried to sell it, found no takers and had to pay a penny to get rid of it.

The 1,067-foot ship, which was shut down in 1993 after more than 38 years of service, was being towed Tuesday morning down the Delaware River and along the Eastern Seaboard before crossing the Gulf of Mexico to reach All Star Metals in Brownsville. U.S. Navy officials signed a 1-cent contract with the Texas company in October to dismantle the ship perhaps best known for a 1967 incident that killed 134 and injured more than 300 others, including a young Navy aviator named John McCain.

"We started our departure from the dock at 5:31 a.m.," All Star Metals President Nikhil Shah told FoxNews.com, adding that the trip should take roughly 17 days. "This is the largest ship that we’ve ever dismantled, and the largest ship the U.S. government has ever awarded to be dismantled. It’s a very big job to us."[quote]
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/04...xas-scrapyard/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Forrestal_(CV-59)

Thanks KS circuitguy for the heads up. Always interested in military history.

My uncle Jack was ship's bos'un of the Forrestal in 1985 & 1986. The Forrestal SHOULD be a museum, but she along with the Saratoga, Ranger, Independence, were pillaged to keep the other oil-burning carriers in the fleet active. She was a good ship and deserves BETTER than being scrapped. Sinking her as an artificial reef would be preferable.

We're scrapping them and China is building a fleet....

Watched her burn in 1967 and then spent weeks caring for burned sailors. We were hove to about half a mile away, and the heat was so strong it was hard to stay on deck.

What an inferno. Terrifying. The fire was finally fought to a standstill 1 frame from the liquid oxygen generator. Reaching the LOX generator would have resulted in an explosion that would have sunk the ship in the Gulf of Tonkin.

(Reuters 23APR2013) -
China will build a second, larger aircraft carrier capable of carrying more fighter jets, the official Xinhua news service reported late Tuesday, quoting a senior officer with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy....

"China will have more than one aircraft carrier ... The next aircraft carrier we need will be larger and carry more fighters," Xinhua quoted Song Xue, deputy chief of staff of the PLA Navy,“

“China is also building up other forms of military hardware, including a stealth fighter jet believed to be capable of landing on a carrier, drone aircraft and nuclear submarines. “

“China is alone among the original nuclear weapons states to be expanding its nuclear forces, according to a report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission

and there will be at least two aviation regiments on one carrier, including fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft, electronic countermeasure (ECM) planes and rotary-wing aircraft, the report said.

Chinese officials have stated that they would like to build three additional carriers in the coming years.


(Investor's Business Daily 10Jan 2014)
“Like Japan In The 1930s, China Is Now Flexing Its Muscles”

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editor...#ixzz2sPZ1bxs1


Comparing China's trajectory over the past 30 years to ours.... I'm worried.

That graphic ISN'T quite accurate. There are currently 9 carriers either on deployment or preparing for deployment. Abe Lincoln is in for its 20yr. complex refuel and refit, TR is finishing its 20yr. complex refuel and refit, Enterprise is decommissioned and will soon be defueled and scrapped. The George HW Bush is still going through training for its first deployment and the Gerald R. Ford will not even enter commission until 4th quarter 2015.
That leaves GW (George Washington) in Yokosuka, Stennis and Reagan in 'Diego, Truman in Bremerton, Nimitz, Eisenhower, Vinson in Norfolk. The ONLY reserve carrier is the Kitty Hawk, but would take 60-90 days to bring her out of "mothballs".

Don't be. Big deck carrier operations are still almost the exclusive province of the USN.

Quote:

The ONLY reserve carrier is the Kitty Hawk, but would take 60-90 days to bring her out of "mothballs".

I have to disagree with that statement,more like 12-16 months,have you seen her lately?

The Chinese may say they'll build more carriers, but its a whole different thing between building them, and actually operating them efficiently. Takes practice, lots of years of practice, to do that.

Shame such a great ship has to be broken in a yard 1 mile from the Mexican boarder. Sinking her as an artificial reef would have been a more dignified end.

Someone is going to make a ton of cash from the scrap metal :)

The Navy says she's on 60-90 day reserve. If her condition is typical of the ships in the reserve fleet, 12-16 months is probably VERY optimistic.

Ah, sorry, went over my head.

P.S. It's "Mr. Councilman (ret)" now. :)

Back in the dark ages of the cold war between US and USSR, China was the ‘odd man out’. China was a closed society, the model that North Korea still follows today. Power struggles between the aging Chairman Mao, Chou En Lai, Lin Piao, and others were taking place over the long term direction for the future of China.

In 1969-70 Nixon saw an opportunity to move China away from Russia and towards the US. Henry Kissinger’s secret trip to China in 1971 played a pivotal role in changing world history and the balance of power. Kissinger secretly met with Chinese leaders in July. Two months later a mysterious plane crash took the life of Lin Biao and the issue was settled.

Nixon’s response to criticism of dealing with and helping communist China was essentially that he had to do what he thought was right with the situation at hand and he had confidence that future leaders of our country would be well positioned and able to sort out the economics between China and the US.

Forty years later I don’t have confidence that our leaders have the strategic vision to deal with it. The Chinese have, with our money, been systematically locking up the worlds resources and positioning themselves for the 21st Century. They have the largest Army and Air Force in the world and now have the resources to develop a Navy.