Posted on 10/23/2013 1:04:43 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
At least they didn’t sink it.
I hope the scrappers make some good money off it.
The USS Forrestal’s Anchors live on on USS Truman(I think). My First Ship(USS Independence CV-62) Anchors are on the Stennis(I think).
People have NO Idea how HUGE these things are!
The scrapper will make a lot on this, I think.
Did not know the Navy does that. Nice tradition.
/johnny
I didn’t know they did that either as far as “Tradition” goes I think it’s just money(anchors weigh ALOT and are hard to make).
They should have kept the Forrestal and scrapped McCain.
Will the steel be headed to our friends in China?
Built a wonderful, and BIG, plastic model of it, back in the Fifties.
Nothing wrong with an artificial reef. Good for helping out the seafood populations. And they make for a nice dive excursion.
Still, glad the scrapers can make of $$$ on it. Perhaps some of that steel can make it into a new ship or two.
t’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.
Huh, I’ve heard he was hot dogging on the flight deck, but never heard the ‘stray voltage’ comment. Of course, everything needs to be grounded - period - aboard ship.
USN, CTT3, 1988-1992
Referred to as the “FID(First in Defense)” named after the first SecDef James Forrestal.
I would have paid a quarter, would have to park it in the Gulf because I couldn’t afford the gas. lol.
Could have made it into a floating hospital, be a bonanza when gov care kicks in.
It was a grand ship. I toured it in Pearl Harbor in 1985. It was an experience I will always remember.
When I was on the Lexington(74-78), I can’t tell you how many times we had to watch the safety film showing the Forrestal fire.
>>People have NO Idea how HUGE these things are!
Some people perhaps. But, a lot of people have stood on the deck of a supercarrier and know how big that are. I was a submariner in the Navy, but I did tour the Forrestal when I was in high school (on DEP) back in 1979.
You could moor it out on the lake and move your garden out to the deck.
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