Connie's final voyage

[rpm]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/19/uss-constellation-aircraft-carrier-scrap/14296479/

Sad that she's being scrapped. But, it has to be done. That's going to be a long tow around the Horn. I wonder if there's any Mossbacks or Horned Shellbacks onboard the tugs? There will be when they're done.

[Dichotomy]

Sad that they couldn't turn her into a museum

[Hap]

Sad that they couldn't turn her into a museum

[ebfd11]

Had the privilege to escort her from Okinawa Ja. to Australia .. was a beauty then ans she is still gorgeous today.

LawnDart

[Rich46yo]

 

[mbailey]

Sad that they couldn't turn her into a museum

Agreed. She'd make a heck of a museum

Wouldn't mind seeing her set to rest on the bottom as an artificial reef or a dive location, short of her being saved above the waves that is. 

[rpm]

Looks like she will have company in Brownsville. The Saratoga will be there, too.


NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) - The decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Saratoga has left its port in Rhode Island for its final journey to Texas, where it will be scrapped.

The Saratoga was launched in 1955 and decommissioned in 1994. The vessel fell into disrepair, and an effort to preserve the ship as a museum failed.

[ghi]

Intersting with only 62,000 tones doesn't fit through Panama,?!  strategic important to be able to move it  fromPacific to Atlantic quick if needed, i used to work on Sun@ Dawn Princess  with 77,000 tones and we moved through Panama Canal ; but this ships were 32 meters wide and the locks are 33 meters wide, if I remember correctly; they use locomotives to pull the  ship precisely through narrow locks, still after every crossing they used to scratch it bad, we used to have Malaysian crew hanging outside fixing paint damage. Well cruise ships are built different, more vertical .

[Serenity]

Intersting with only 62,000 tones doesn't fit through Panama,?!  strategic important to be able to move it  fromPacific to Atlantic quick if needed, i used to work on Sun@ Dawn Princess  with 77,000 tones and we moved through Panama Canal ; but this ships were 32 meters wide and the locks are 33 meters wide, if I remember correctly; they use locomotives to pull the  ship precisely through narrow locks, still after every crossing they used to scratch it bad, we used to have Malaysian crew hanging outside fixing paint damage. Well cruise ships are built different, more vertical .

That's exactly what it is. The width of a carrier is SIGNIFICANTLY more than that of just about any other ship. Because of the time needed to round the horn, we strategically home-port our carriers to balance forces, and move things months, even YEARS before we think they will be needed (Hence our current shift toward additional pacific-based ships).

[Hetzer7]

Says she's going to Texas so it just needs to go around the Florida Keys, not the Horn.

Funny but I live on Constellation Avenue, the next street over is Forrestal Ave, with Ranger Ave after that.

<salute> - Hetzer

[Guppy35]

Agreed. She'd make a heck of a museum

Wouldn't mind seeing her set to rest on the bottom as an artificial reef or a dive location, short of her being saved above the waves that is. 

Sadly the carrier museums that are out there struggle with upkeep and they are smaller.  The BB Texas has taken a ton of work and money to keep going.  Seems like I recall the USS Olympia, near philly being threatened with scrapping too as she was corroding away and she goes back a long way to thevSpanish-American war if memory serves.

Without mountains of money it just can't happen.  The Sara that should have been saved instead was an atomic target.

Imagine if she'd been preserved as a museum of carrier aviation.

Aha what if

[ghi]

Sadly the carrier museums that are out there struggle with upkeep and they are smaller.  The BB Texas has taken a ton of work and money to keep going.  Seems like I recall the USS Olympia, near philly being threatened with scrapping too as she was corroding away and she goes back a long way to thevSpanish-American war if memory serves.

Without mountains of money it just can't happen.  The Sara that should have been saved instead was an atomic target.

Imagine if she'd been preserved as a museum of carrier aviation.

Aha what if

I remember watching a documentary about Saratoga,  actually survieved the  atomic test ,tough duck: lol

[rpm]

Says she's going to Texas so it just needs to go around the Florida Keys, not the Horn.
<salute> - Hetzer

2 different ships. Connie is coming from Bremerton, Washington. Sara is coming from Newport, Rhode Island.

[pipz]

They talked of sinking it and turning it into a reef so divers could enjoy it. Imagine that! It fought in the Spanish American war in the Philippines. Philadelphia politicians robed it of funds. That's one ship that should be saved. Very unique. We cant go saving every single super carrier that gets retired.