Posted on 04/12/2017 7:07:41 PM PDT by Oatka
"The harpies of the shore . . ."
The decommissioned aircraft carrier, USS Independence has passed Costa Rica on the first leg of its trip from Bremerton and onward to Brownsville, Texas.
The first leg of the long 16,000 mile journey that will take the 60,000-ton super carrier around the tip of South America (not the Panama Canal), transiting the Strait of Magellan and eventually into EMR Group’s International Shipbreaking yard in Brownsville, Texas.
USS Independence left on her final journey on March 11 from the Kitsap Naval Base in Bremerton, Washington to Brownsville, Texas and is expected to take just under three months.
The carrier is being towed by the Dino Chouest and the journey will involve navigating down the West coast of the Americas and then back up the East coast of South America.
She follows two of her fellow Navy vessels to the same site in Brownsville – the USS Constellation and the USS Ranger (of Top Gun fame).
The Brownsville site is a metal recycling yard operated by International Shipbreaking Ltd., part of the EMR Group. The company won the Navy bid to recycle the 60,000-ton vessel, the last of the Forrestal-class of “supercarriers.”
“The scale of the logistical and towing preparation to set the USS Independence on her final voyage has been enormous. Preparations at the Brownsville yard are complete and the team is ready in anticipation for her arrival,” said Chris Green, the senior manager of the Brownsville site. “We take great pride in having been awarded another US Navy ship recycling contract. It’s testament to our parent company EMR’s investment in the International Shipbreaking Ltd. facilities that we are able to complete large scale ship recycling contracts in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.”
Associated article Ex-USS Ranger Has Seen Better Days – Drone Video (She was sold for a penny.)
Make another from her bones and steel.
It’s being toad?
auto correct?
ping
Really sad that the west coast of the United States has no capability to scrap her
No, not this time, just funnin ‘.
Though the "tug" looks a bit toadish....
‘Qualified OOD on the Indy in ‘94. Still have my gold cap. She was a good command good command for me.
Not sure how much this scrapping will cost.
Why not sell it to Brazil or India, both of which are seeking carriers?
I’m sure we’d get more than the couple of million it will go for, for scrap.
My First ship! She ALWAYS was On-Time!
Maybe they do, but the laws out there are extremely nutburger about scrapping ships. Which would mean cuting into business profits and/or making it not worth doing there.
Warts and all!
Hats off to her.
Give it ti Israel!
I wish they close all the water tight doors and use her for target practice and show all of these anti carrier yahoos how hard it is to actually sink an air craft carrier.
The USS Enterprise cannot be too far behind.
It would be great to see them strike a commemorative coin and sell 'em at around $10 a pop, and rake in the dough.
Years back, I bought one made from the propellers of the USS Olympia (Span Am War) and feel I have a nice piece of history.
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