AircraftCarrier-lock

"Straightsix9904" (Straightsix9904) 10/23/2013 at 16:58 • Filed to: None

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So they are selling the USS Forrestal for scrap. They sold her for a grand sum of $.01. Probably because there are very few people that are equipped to scrap boats of this size and fewer that the US would trust our top-secret 60 year old tech too, and you could probably narrow that list even further when you have to factor in the companies that have an uncle to a brother's wife in Washington D.C. that happens to chair a congressional seat.

A little history on the Forrestal, this is the ship that had an accidental missile fire from a F-4 Phantom and spilled 400 Gal of Jet fuel causing a secondary explosion that killed 134 men off the coast of Vietnam. This is the explosion that John McCain escaped from in his Vietnam War tour of duty. Another fun fact, at one time a C-130 tanker landed on this ship, making it the largest plane to have a carrier landing at that time...and I'm not sure if a larger plane has landed on a carrier to date.

I do have a question though, Why would they decommission it in 1993 and leave it in a port somewhere in NY, NJ, RI, or PA. and then 20 years later, scrap it. It had to cost millions of dollars per year just to keep the thing afloat and safe?

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > Straightsix9904 10/23/2013 at 17:02

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Standard military mothballing. It gives them a period to say "hold on, we need that afterall."

Deal Killer - Powered by Focus > Straightsix9904 10/23/2013 at 17:04

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If it was decommissioned, it was probably held in the Navy's reserve fleet before being scrapped.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Straightsix9904 10/23/2013 at 17:04

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A google search supports the fact that the C-130 is in fact the largest aircraft to ever land on a carrier.

More details: In October 1963 a Lockheed KC-130F Hercules transport performed 21 unarrested landings and unassisted takeoffs on the USS Forrestal in moderately rough seas 800 km from the US coast in the North Atlantic. Despite weighing up to 54,844 kg (121,000 lbs), the aircraft was able to a complete stop easily, in one case in twice the length of its wingspan.

desertdog5051 > Straightsix9904 10/23/2013 at 17:04

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Maybe to strip all the stuff deemed salvageable? Who knows, its the government.

ToyDeathbot > Straightsix9904 10/23/2013 at 17:05

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reserve fleets

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St…

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Straightsix9904 10/23/2013 at 17:06

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Old tech can be kept around for training exercises. At least, that's what I've heard. You don't get the newest and best until you've demonstrated you probably won't kill everyone within a mile radius if handed something explosive.

But I've never served so I don't know if they would do training on a carrier that old.

davedave1111 > Straightsix9904 10/23/2013 at 17:09

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Why would they decommission it in 1993 and leave it in a port somewhere in NY, NJ, RI, or PA. and then 20 years later, scrap it.

Why do people put their old shit in the garage (or wherever) for years until it's complete junk, then take it to the tip, instead of just taking it there to start with?

When it comes to the scrap value, I think it's far, far lower than you're imagining. Scrap steel is worth on the order of $200 a ton, and there are only 50-odd thousand tons in that ship. A fair bit of copper and so-on as well, but you're not looking at more than about $20 or $30 million in scrap metal value. Set against that are the costs of dismantling the ship, separating everything out, decontaminating, dealing with asbestos that's probably there, and so-on and so-forth - including, as you say, a high degree of security and accountability.

Straightsix9904 > davedave1111 10/23/2013 at 17:20

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A wiki search says it is just shy of 60K tons. SO I bet it would be finding a scrapper that is WILLING to take it off your hands. I guess there are definitely easier targets to pick when we are talking about scrap value and time used.

Chairman Kaga > Straightsix9904 10/23/2013 at 17:22

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My father-in-law served many years on the Forrestal during the Vietnam war. Hmm. I think he's going to be somewhat bummed out by this.

davedave1111 > Straightsix9904 10/23/2013 at 17:37

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I was going with the Wiki figure as well, but guessing there might be 10k tons of stuff that's not steel. If it's all steel, the total figure would be a lot lower: 10k tons at $200 a ton is only another $2 million.

In terms of scale, there's no trouble finding a ship-breaker. In the US, though, it's probably more difficult.

I find it kind of astonishing how little money some really big ships are worth.

http://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/1962/Tan…

Fancy a 350' oil tanker for about half a million dollars?

Container ship at the same kind of price?

http://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/1979/Car…

I'm guessing those are scrap values for those ships, or pretty close to them. Forrestal's ten times the size of those, of course, but it suggests that if it was for sale on the open market as scrap, we'd be looking at maybe $5m.

Brian, The Life of > Straightsix9904 10/23/2013 at 17:40

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It's a storied ship but how many aircraft carrier floating museums can we possibly make space for?

Victorious Secret > Straightsix9904 10/23/2013 at 18:07

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Reserve.

They'd happily haul this sucker out if WW3 had happened. Most likely for coastal/city harbor defense.