US Navy sells aircraft carrier for 1 cent?

That isn't a typo, in fact the US Navy paid a scrap yard 1cent to take it off their hands. Named for someone familiar with many in the Conspiracy theory community the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal had been mothballed since Sept 11, 1993. Commissioned in 1954 the Forrestal was America's first supercarrier.
James Forrestal is best known as America's first secretary of Defense in the years directly following WW2. Forrestal had strong anti-communist leanings which did little to win him friends. He was critical of the partition of Palestine to create the State of Israel and has been rumored to be in-the-know about the true identity of UFOs.
His death was as controversial as his life and what was reported as a suicide has been rumored to be murder by one of the many enemies Forrestal had.

The USS Forrestal had one of the worst accidents in US naval history when fire and explosions killed 134 sailors and airmen in 1967 during the Vietnam war. Also on board was a young pilot by the name of John McCain.

Plenty about both the man and his namesake ship seem mysterious and one of our own even started this thread about his time on board her: Was the USS Forrestal Haunted? www.abovetopsecret.com...

I don't know if the old girl will end up beached somewhere in India or Pakistan as many ships do these days.
Not my usual forum but I ran across this and found it noteworthy.

Source - www.bloomberg.com...

reply to post by Asktheanimals


She's supposed to be towed to someplace in Texas and broken up for scrap. In 1985 I probably saw the Forrestal Ghost. I posted about it a while back. I'll try to find the post and link to it.

Found it.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Asktheanimals

It should have gone out to bid. There is millions of dollars in scrap metal of that ship. Hell I would have given them a whole dollar just to sell off the scrap.

Seem to remeber that while its sold for next to nothing its going to cost most of the profit from the scrap value to dispose of all the asbestos and other crap needed to properly salvage the ship

reply to post by Mamatus


I know, leave it to the government to give away the whole farm when they sell one chicken.
Never one to pinch pennies are they?
That would have given Forrestal a fit had he known about this!

Asbestos is only a problem in 1st world countries.
That's why so many end up overseas on beaches of 3rd world countries with no laws about worker or environmental protection.

Mamatus
reply to post by Asktheanimals

 

It should have gone out to bid. There is millions of dollars in scrap metal of that ship. Hell I would have given them a whole dollar just to sell off the scrap.

This topic has come up a few times on ATS (navy selling ships for pennys)

And the whole thing everyone forgets is the Cost and Infrastructure required to properly dispose of the ship, make it an unprofitable en-devour.

The man power and environmental consideration are staggering.

reply to post by Mamatus


There's also a lot of hazardous waste on her. Think Asbestos.

Aww. I would have given them a penny for it. They didn't have to pay someone to take it. I could have made a Senior center out of that, they would have loved living on a cruise ship like that.

JIMC5499
reply to post by Asktheanimals

 

She's supposed to be towed to someplace in Texas and broken up for scrap. In 1985 I probably saw the Forrestal Ghost. I posted about it a while back. I'll try to find the post and link to it.

Found it.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

edit on 26-12-2013 by JIMC5499 because: added link

WIKI has the info....several times they tried to make it a artificial reef, or make it a museum...but, there were no takers (read: not enough money). scrap salvage was the most cost effective way to deal with it.

i have a couple of spare bucks on me what can i buy for that a whole carrier group ?

rickymouse
Aww. I would have given them a penny for it. They didn't have to pay someone to take it. I could have made a Senior center out of that, they would have loved living on a cruise ship like that.

First you would need to trick the old coots into getting on board.

I was just looking at this a bit and apparently there is quite a troubled history for this process and why no one really wants to touch one. The whole article is really interesting and estimates costs for a number of things, including whole ship scrapping of the Enterprise with it's reactors. The overall issue was summed up for history here tho:

Strict regulations were slapped on the Navy and the industry in the late 1990s after Coral Sea, a 50,000-ton 1940s aircraft carrier, was scrapped in Baltimore. One generation earlier than the supercarriers that began with the Forrestal, Coral Sea remains the largest warship ever scrapped — and it wasn't easy.

The carrier's disposal stretched over seven years, bankrupted the original scrapper — who was sent to jail for environmental violations — exposed problems with the ship-scrapping industry, prompted several congressional hearings and led to federal regulations prohibiting the disposal of U.S. government ships to foreign countries.

A lasting effect of the fiasco — the Coral Sea was the last Navy ship sold for scrap. Since then, the Navy has had to pay to dispose of all its old vessels.

Source: Navy Times

The article dates from Feb. 2012, but gives a good overview of the range of issues. It sounds like the Navy is just happy to get the $1 instead of having to contract and pay for getting it done?

Bassago

rickymouse
Aww. I would have given them a penny for it. They didn't have to pay someone to take it. I could have made a Senior center out of that, they would have loved living on a cruise ship like that.

First you would need to trick the old coots into getting on board.

I think that you have some bad information. The Forrestal Association (of which I'm a member) tried for years to get her to become a museum. Pensacola, FL and Baltimore MD both wanted her, but, the Navy decided otherwise.Forrestal Association

I don't need to tell you what you can do with your "old coots" comment.

Was visiting USN Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola Fl. in the summer and viewed the history and models of US Carriers, you Yanks are letting a wee bit of your history end up as razor blades and other bits of metal modernity!
Still, it's recycling I suppose.

reply to post by Shuftystick


Believe me when I say, many of us are all too aware of what we're losing and it's a crying shame on so many levels...

Then again, something else I was surprised to see in the Navy Times article was cost to maintain these, even as Moth ball status. $100,000 a year is pretty steep to keep each of them floating for nostalgia, eh?

Still.. The Forrestal does have some unique history. I'll bet if McCain had won his election, this particular one wouldn't have gone to the breakers. (not that it would make that worth it..lol.. Just saying, value is probably determined by who sets it, too)

reply to post by Maxatoria


If you were to scrap it with the worlds best interests in mind.
However, I'm sure the new owner will scrap the boat and dump the dangerous stuff into the water.
Millions in scrap and a 10K fine for littering, sound familiar??
All big corps do it because it is cheaper to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.
Corporations are not people, if so we could commit them to death for their crimes against humanity.

Wrabbit2000
I'll bet if McCain had won his election,

If McCain had won you would be so caught up in World war 3 by now you wouldnt notice.

JIMC5499

Bassago

rickymouse
Aww. I would have given them a penny for it. They didn't have to pay someone to take it. I could have made a Senior center out of that, they would have loved living on a cruise ship like that.

First you would need to trick the old coots into getting on board.

I think that you have some bad information. The Forrestal Association (of which I'm a member) tried for years to get her to become a museum. Pensacola, FL and Baltimore MD both wanted her, but, the Navy decided otherwise.Forrestal Association

I don't need to tell you what you can do with your "old coots" comment.

How cool that would have been if she was made into a museum in Pensacola? Then you could check her out and make a quick trip over to Mobile, AL to see the USS Alabama Battleship and USS Drum submarine with a decent size aircraft and Armor museums all together. Plus IIRC at the Naval Museum in Pensacola almost every Tues the Blue Angels have their practice time. Well they did a few years ago I`m not sure now. I really want to spend the night on an old veteran ship and blast a call to arms with a mega phone or PA system, see what might get caught on camera.

Wrabbit2000
I'll bet if McCain had won his election, this particular one wouldn't have gone to the breakers.

I have to agree. It would have been sunk already. While I know that he wasn't responsible for causing the '68 fire, that albatross is still around his neck.

crazyewok

Wrabbit2000
I'll bet if McCain had won his election,

If McCain had won you would be so caught up in World war 3 by now you wouldnt notice.

.

the should have LIBERATED it to israhel to use as target practise daddy mcCain did not mind in 67