Posted on 03/04/2015 5:39:45 PM PST by llevrok
BREMERTON, Wash. -- Naval Sea Systems Command says the mothballed aircraft carrier USS Ranger will be towed out of Puget Sound on Thursday on its way to be scrapped in Texas.
Robert Johnson sees more than a relic of gray steel and worn rivets when he looks across the Sinclair Inlet. He sees home.
"It gave me a piece of my soul I think," the Navy Vietnam veteran said.
It is the same ship that is on his hat, the USS Ranger, a massive aircraft carrier.
"A lot of people served on it. A lot of people worked on it, played on it and many died on it," Johnson said.
He worked in the electronics and radio towers, making sure bombing raids went without a hitch from the South China Sea.
"They had to have radios to talk back to the ship," he said.
Johnson served on the ranger for nearly three years, sometimes going two months without seeing land. Now that home is rusting away in Bremerton.
"They sold it to the scrap company for a penny," Johnson said of the Navy's plan to get rid of the Ranger to a Texas company.
The Ranger will soon begin its months-long journey around South America to get to Texas and broken down for scrap and parts. It's too large to make it through the Panama Canal.
The ship served in Vietnam, the pacific and the Gulf war and even made cameo appearances in "Top Gun" and other 1980s blockbusters like "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home."
In a way a ship nearly everyone knows, but few as well as Johnson.
"It's sacred ground right down until they rip the last bolt out," he said.
It will take five months to complete a 16,000-mile trip.
Smooth sailing on your last mission, Ranger.
I can only guess what a sailor or airman must think / feel .. when they are re-united with something that actually sat in or slept in
Logic would say scrap her, my heart might want to hold a funeral with a 3 day wake or something
I was on board the Ranger while waiting for nuclear power training school.
I’ve always wondered...
these ships are very expensive, and many of them look like they could still be useful, if only in rear guard assignments, in event of need
might it not be wiser for us to keep many of these ships in working order... (at some expense, of course, but still..) just in case that need develops?
perhaps some of them could be used in commerce or even tourism...if revenue is needed? or maybe not, but still keep them...??? such a huge investment, and certainly there must be good uses for these?
same for some old airplanes...the Berlin airlift could be repeated today (there or elsewhere) with older planes, not EVERY airplane has to be the very latest and fastest flyer in order to be useful
ok I don’t know what I’m talking about so I will sign off.
best,
fhc
Launched in 1957, the year I was born. Next thing you know, they’ll be taking me down to Texas to get scrapped.
Why don’t they just sink it in a very deep part of the Pacific? Is it worth that much as scrap?
It was cool seeing the USS Missouri fighting aliens in the “Battleship” movie.
I’m actually shocked they didn’t just sail it to China. I mean that’s where it’s going anyways right?
I suspect she will be warmly greeted by a large group of Texas Navy people and many others who want to give her a good send off.
Refitting costs more than new I’d imagine. Too much stuff to rip out and replace, and the old design doesn’t match up with the latest designs. Plus this one can’t get through the panama canal.
I agree. I’m a navy vet and could never understand all those ships mothballed at the Philly Naval base. As expensive that ship building is, I’m surprised they’re not kept as a secondary defense. It’s not like they made a profit $1.
Well it is sad it can’t be preserved, but scrap is melted down and re-used in new ships, so that truly is one way it lives on and in useful service.
With a traitor in the White House and additional traitors to follow.,.... mostly likely..
Soon the Statue of Liberty could be SCRAPPED...
And Mt. Rushmore could become a Ski Lodge.. for prominent Communists.. to chill out..
That’s true but a used aircraft, ship, sub, army equipment is better than nothing. I really worry about Obama’s downsizing.
RIP old gal, you served your country well!!
I will bet there is are tons and tons of copper on that ship. All those t-400 cables, bus bars, generators, etc.
Homeless drug addict bastards would have it stripped by dawn
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