Free Republic

The USS Saratoga — the legendary aircraft carrier that played a key role in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam and Gulf wars and made Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi back down — is destined for dismantling after the Navy paid one penny to a Texas firm to recycle the 81,101-ton behemoth. The once-mighty vessel is the second of three conventionally-powered carriers to set to sail to the scrapyard, following another one-cent deal involving the USS Forrestal in October. ESCO Marine, of Brownsville, will pay to tow, dismantle and recycle the ship, which was decommissioned in 1994 after more than 38 years...

The navy has scuttled plans to make the USS Saratoga a museum in favor of another more modern aircraft carrier, the USS John F. Kennedy. The Saratoga, now docked in Newport, R.I., will almost certainly be scrapped. Six ships have been named Saratoga in American naval history – three sailing ships from the Revolution, War of 1812 and Civil War, respectively, a cruiser and two aircraft carriers. "Every ship named Saratoga has had a strong presence in the history of this nation," said Larry Gordon of Wilton, the unofficial USS Saratoga historian. "It isn’t like we’re losing the ship. You...