sorta like cash for clunkers debacle?
sheesh, is it that easy to replace ships?
what happened to mothballing them til we need them?
The mothball fleet still has some years of usage left in them.
At this point, the Connie has 54 years of hard use behind her...and she's plumb worn out.
Ahem... You do realize "mothballing" is just a metaphor, right?
There is no way to stop a steel ship in a salt water environment from decaying. Putting an aircraft carrier with its many complex systems back into service after years without maintenance can be nearly as expensive as building a new ship. When the ship is a 1960's design and is worn out to begin with it just isn't worth trying to store it.
And I haven't even touched on the question of "mothballing" a ship's nuclear reactor.