As in: 
Posted on 12/10/2019 6:06:45 PM PST by artichokegrower
The decommissioned aircraft carrier, USS Independence has passed Costa Rica on the first leg of its trip from Bremerton and onward to Brownsville, Texas.
(Excerpt) Read more at gcaptain.com ...
16,000 mile tow. Hate to see the bill.
Your portion of the payment is due April 15th 2020.
Gosh, I just hate seeing ships like her broken up.
I would rather they did a sinkex on her and let her rest on the ocean floor.
As in:
Ping
I’ll bet they’re using at least a 50hp Mercury for this.
This was 2-1/2 years ago! Towing started 10 March 2017; she arrived in Brownsville on 1 June 2017 and is currently being dismantled.
This article is from 2017.
Date on this was April 2017. Left Bremerton WA on March 11, 2017 and to take 3 months around S.A. Magellan Straits (yikes— huge waves for a tow). March April,May, June. So— Did it make it to Brownsville in the Gulf of Mexico in JUNE of 2017?
Will inquire at the EMR shipbreaker’s site. Should be photos, and or videos.
Looks like it made it to Brownsville 6/04/2017. Her dismantling is expected to take around a year and a half to complete.
USS Independence Arrives in Brownsville
https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/uss-independence-arrives-in-brownsville
Hope they have Triple A.
The problem with one of those 50hp kickers is rappelling over the transom to operate the pull-start.
Fortunately they had “Boat US.”
On 26 April 2017, she was on her way through the Strait of Magellan, and on 30 May 2017 she arrived at Brownsville, where a special ceremony was held at Isla Blanca Park for veterans, school children and members of the local community to honour the vessel.
Here’s an aerial video (reversed from direction of sailing in the playback) from an old P3 Orion turboprop of the transit through the Atlantic side Straits of Magellan, past Argentine coast West of the Falklands, where the wake of the sea tug tow is visible laying off the port bow some angular distance, and the clip cuts off before you see the ship. Cannot imagine the size cable needed for this, and/or if there was a steerage crew onboard with some power capability- after all it was 60,000 long tons. From the Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Exploración (Falklands. They still call them Malvinas, even though they are still British)
https://www.facebook.com/199198230512543/videos/305887953176903/
Thank you!
My airwing did a cruise on Indy in the late 80s. Took her from the east coast around South America to the west coast prior to her going to Japan. She’s been decommissioned so long now I forgot she was still around.
The U.S.S. Saratoga was sunk after 2 nuke tests
Should be a fun time in the twisty-turny strait of Magellan.
Why not refurbish and re-condition and re-build the ship?
That would be less costly than building a new AC from scratch.
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