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Carrier Forrestal headed for scrap heap
San Diego Union-Tribune ^ | JAN. 31, 2014 | UT

Posted on 01/31/2014 4:28:58 PM PST by South40

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To: South40

You know folks, I may take a real beating for this, but here goes anyway.

I realize that these old carriers are nowhere near the value our current carriers are. I still wonder if at some point, if a grand attack were made and we lost a number of carriers, if it might not be a good idea to have these older ones around that could be refitted and put pack into service faster than ones built from scratch could be.

Just sayin...


21 posted on 01/31/2014 5:23:34 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Amnesty is job NONE! It isn't even the leading issue with Hipanics.)
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To: South40
The first 'big' Revell model ship I assembled as a kid back in the late 50s.

Many many hours of fun putting her together. She was a beauty.

I did not know she was still afloat. Like my model, I assumed she went to the breakers yeas ago.

22 posted on 01/31/2014 5:26:39 PM PST by Ditto
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To: South40
In the early '90s the Assoc of Naval Aviation held their annual meeting at Mayport. Part of festivities was a day cruise with flight ops. Our ARTCC had a home-grown magazine, and I was sent on a photo shoot. Took my wife along, and she and about 400 others watched flight ops from bleachers set up between the island and the angle deck. I was shooting from the port catwalk, I later found out that normally NOBODY can be there during ops - dangerous as hell.

Well, it was exciting as hell, I was about 40 feet from F-14s shooting off the cats, and could reach out and slap the wheels as they taxiied away from the trap wires. Only drawback was I stunk like kerosene for a week.

The skill and trust shown in allowing visitors on deck during ops was incredible, I still do not know how or why they justified it. But it sure as hell was fun.

23 posted on 01/31/2014 5:26:48 PM PST by diogenes ghost
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To: Bryanw92

I was in Norfolk at the time of the fire.

We could see the flames over at D & S piers.

Went over to the main base (via fleet landing) the next day.

Really scary seeing a carrier with a list.


24 posted on 01/31/2014 5:26:59 PM PST by maine yankee (I got my Governor at 'Marden's')
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To: South40
The Forrestal was my first at sea experience in the Navy. I served aboard her with VAH-5 in 1959-60 and again with RVAH-7 in 1974-75.

We flew A3D's with VAH-5 and RA5C's with RVAH-7. My first carrier landing was on Forrestal,coming aboard in the ship's C-1.

I made two Mediterranean deployments aboard Forrestal. I served on board six other carriers but CV-59 remains one of my favorites...happy youthful memories and she was a good feeder!

25 posted on 01/31/2014 5:27:56 PM PST by oldsalt (There's no such thing as a free lunch.)
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To: 3D-JOY
My Cub Scout Pack toured this carrier in a visit to Yokosuka.
26 posted on 01/31/2014 5:28:12 PM PST by Eric in the Ozarks ("Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth.")
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To: abb

He opposed the communists (and the creation of Israel out of Palestine and was defenstrated.

He was proven right not long after he died when the Commies attacked in Korea. But by then the planned first supercarrier, USS United States had been killed off by his successor just a few weeks after he was forced from office.


27 posted on 01/31/2014 5:34:56 PM PST by PAR35
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To: DoughtyOne

space battleship yamato.

if it costs less to refit, these guys arent nuclear, and you gotta wnder about the steam catapults.

may be better to sell to an ally and also get paid to help them refit them.


28 posted on 01/31/2014 5:57:07 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Secret Agent Man

As long as they were a good ally, say Britain, Canada, Australia, I could be moved to agree with your take on it.

If they were kept active, it would be fairly easy to pull them in to fill gaps in coverage if the need should arise.

This just raised my attention because all of a sudden they’re all being salvaged. Come-on... what’s up with that. If not before now a few at a time, why all of them right now?

We’ve just learned that they plan on down sizing our flat-tops on the high seas to two. Two / world-wide. So here we are junking the others. Something smells very fishy about all this.

When Boehner stops sobbing, someone should ask him..., “What the hell?”


29 posted on 01/31/2014 6:03:00 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Amnesty is job NONE! It isn't even the leading issue with Hipanics.)
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To: South40

I know nothing about carriers. Need a knowledgeable answer:

Could it be totally gutted down to the hull and remade to a helicopter carrier or combat support vessel?

Or is the steel body used up as in metal fatigue?


30 posted on 01/31/2014 6:05:11 PM PST by Redcitizen (Never bring a tank to a Chuck Norris fight.)
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To: Redcitizen

These ships are so old and outdated, rather than try to restore one it would be more cost effective to just build one anew.


31 posted on 01/31/2014 6:11:42 PM PST by South40 (Liberalism is a Disease)
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To: South40

Thanks for the info!


32 posted on 01/31/2014 6:14:29 PM PST by Redcitizen (Never bring a tank to a Chuck Norris fight.)
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To: DoughtyOne

where isthisthat we’ll only have two carrier groups.

last time i heard it was scheduled to go from 12 to 10, and that was primarily b/c of commission/decommision dates.


33 posted on 01/31/2014 6:23:42 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Redcitizen

i do know there are issues with older ships and the steel under the water line.


34 posted on 01/31/2014 6:24:45 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: onona
Thank you Senator McCain

McCain had nothing to do with the cause of the fire.

35 posted on 01/31/2014 6:27:58 PM PST by Lower Deck
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To: virgil

The Chief with the PKP bottle is dead.


36 posted on 01/31/2014 6:41:47 PM PST by VaFederalist
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To: Secret Agent Man

On the forum several days ago, there was an article that there would only be two carrier groups active on the high seas. The others would remain in port or in U. S. coastal water. Frankly, it really angered me to read about it.

Check this out and tell me steam isn’t coming out of your ears by the end of it.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3115788/posts


37 posted on 01/31/2014 6:45:26 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Amnesty is job NONE! It isn't even the leading issue with Hipanics.)
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To: South40

I have a few traps on the FID in my logbook. Sorry to see her go to scrap. I guess we’ll all be shaving with her in s few years....


38 posted on 01/31/2014 6:47:36 PM PST by paddles ("The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." Tacitus)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

A knackered old ship like this would cost a fortune to crew and maintain. One of the key advantages of the Queen Elizabeth carriers under construction in the UK is that they are having a lot of automation built into them to reduce the need to have a large crew. The fact that they have the latest in marine gas-turbine technology in their powerplants means that they are a lot more fuel-efficient as well...


39 posted on 01/31/2014 7:00:01 PM PST by sinsofsolarempirefan
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40 posted on 01/31/2014 7:03:02 PM PST by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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