They couldn't dismantle it and use it for scrap metal?!?
Seems like a colossal waste to me.
They were doing experiments, methinks.
Environmental regulations in the US are such that scrapping the ship would turn out to be unbelievably expensive.
Only place left in the world where a ship can be scrapped and make money off it is India (you may have seen the documentaries on it, they drag the ships up on the beach); however, it would be extremely easy for, say, Chicom agents to crawl all over the ship and examine it if that were done.
My thought too. Probably would cost more in labor to dismantle it but it surely would have made a nice floating prison or homeless shelter, etc.
The tests were to study the effect of certain types of explosives (weapons) on the hull. What they learn from this will save lives on future ships, probably as early as the USS George H. W. Bush, currently under construction. Certainly not a colossal waste.
Ditto, doesn't make sense not to salvage something, what a waste of taxpayers money.
From the article.
Modern supercarriers have never been subjected to attack and therefore there is little real-world engineering data on how the design bears up. The explosive tests that eventually killed the ship simulated enemy attack, measuring precisely how the ship survives bombardment. That data will be factored into the design of the new class CV.
Better protecting the next several generations of carrier sailors seems a cause worthy of the sacrifice of a gallant ship.
Think about this - for maybe the first and only time, weapons manufacturers (and users) get to try out their weapons designed to take out an enemy ship the size of the America. Many of these weapons are designed and built using acquired knowledge from years of experiments and extrapolation. Yet, the real test is "weapon against an actual intended target" to see if it meets design expectations.
The America, whose worthy and honorable past would be enough by itself, continued to serve the Navy and the men and women in uniform through the sacrifice of itself for knowledge sake. Salutes rendered!
Salvage??? This ship carried thousands of tons of avgas, diesel, lubricants, explosives, electrical insulation, and surely nuclear weapons for more than 30 years. It was in effect a floating toxic waste dump that no scrap yard would take. Notice they scuttled it carefully rather than using the Navy's favorite way of getting rid of old ships: live war shots.
That's what I was thinking. If ever there was a case for recycling, an aircraft carrier is it!!!
"They couldn't dismantle it and use it for scrap metal?!? "
Probably cost a fortune due to environmental concerns. They used asbestos on steam lines.
Probably chocked full of asbestos. Too expensive to dismantle and comply with removal protocols.
It was a golden opportunity to test damage models to see if it jibes with reality. AC's are big boys, and my guess is they did this up so the naval architects and engineers could learn something from a 'modern' AC getting torpedoed and sunk.