Why don’t they just sink it in a very deep part of the Pacific? Is it worth that much as scrap?
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.
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.
She would have to be decontaminated, all the paint, chemical residues, toxics, metals, plastics, etc. removed before that.
Sometimes worth doing to make an artificial reef, sometimes better to scrap.
Always a judgement call.
“Why don’t they just sink it in a very deep part of the Pacific? Is it worth that much as scrap?”
Yeah, they’re worth a fortune in scrap. Not just steel, but tons of brass and copper and other things.
These big boys are scrapped at a shipbreaking facility in Brownsville, TX. There was a brief TV series showing the dismantling process for scrapping train locomotives, jet fighters, tanks, and ships. Unbelievably fascinating.