Posted on 10/06/2021 6:20:38 AM PDT by Enlightened1
The US Navy sold two old aircraft carriers for a cent each to a ship-breaking firm.
The USS Kitty Hawk and USS John F. Kennedy had been decommissioned for years.
They are due to be broken up by a firm in Texas, who can make money from the scrap metal.
The US Navy sold two aircraft carriers to a ship-breaking company for 1 cent each after decades of service.
The cut-price fee reflects the fact the company will profit from selling the ship metal for scrap, officials said.
Naval Sea Systems Command, a US Navy sub-organization, said it had agreed to sell USS Kitty Hawk and USS John F. Kennedy to International Shipbreaking Limited (ISL), which is based in Brownsville, Texas, USA Today reported.
Towing and ship-breaking is a costly process and the Navy has previously paid ISL large sums of money to recycle its ships, the Brownsville Herald reported.
"The contract values reflect that the contracted company will benefit from the subsequent sale of scrap steel, iron, and non-ferrous metal ores," said Alan Baribeau, a spokesman for the Naval Sea Systems Command in a statement cited by USA Today.
Both ships were launched in the 1960s and were capable of carrying dozens of aircraft. The Kitty Hawk was deployed in the Vietnam War and the John F. Kennedy featured in the Gulf War.
USS Kitty Hawk was decommissioned in 2017 and USS John F. Kennedy in 2009. Both have spent their time since being maintained in naval yards.
The ships are due be towed to Brownsville, Texas, for scrapping in the coming months, an ISL spokesperson told the Brownsville Herald.
Read the original article on Business Insider
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Selling the USS Kitty Hawk and USS John F. Kennedy like that for scrap is disgusting.
The US just practiced launching F-35s from the deck of a new Japanese aircraft carrier.... created by converting one of their helicopter carriers. Likewise, Japan has converted destroyers recently into aircraft carriers as well, retrofitting the destroyers with flattops.
The sale should be cancelled and re-direct those carriers to Japan or another friendly country for the upcoming fight with China. Those aircraft carriers are still perfectly capable of navigating waters in the South and East China Seas... stacked with F-35s or other planes/helicopters of their choosing.
The Kitty Hawk was pretty famous in its time.
Our tax dollars at work!
Don’t worry, they’ll again see the ocean as carriers...except they will be under the Chinese flag as we’re more of a ‘service industry’ country now.
It is going to be expensive to scrap those ships. There are so many hazardous materials (oil, asbestos etc.) and the environmental laws in the US are strict. Most commercial ships are scrapped in places like Indonesia with lax environmental laws.
They should have at least sold them a say 25%-50% under scrap price to recover some tax dollars. Scrappers still make money, Fed’s get at least some money back. Ridiculous.
What an odd sentence.
Does Apple new their newest iPhone at cut-price cost? According to the sentence above, one would expect a cut-price cost -- if the company will profit. Which is to say: Huh????
“...the John F. Kennedy featured in the Gulf War....” Odd wording.
One wonders about any connections between International Shipbreaking Limited (ISL) and Texas politicians and/or various former admirals and soon-to-be-retired admirals.
Earlier this year International Shipbreaking Limited (ISL) received its European Union Ship Recycling Regulation (EU SRR) accreditation for its site in Brownsville, Texas.
Scrapping a naval ship is undignified. They should be consigned to the deep to be presided over by Neptune…
I want an aircraft carrier!!!
I expect you’ll get the negative knee-jerk reaction from FReepers don’t understand the situation.
Scrapping of large ship in the United States is very costly and full of potholes around environmental issues. There is probably tons of asbestos on each of the ships. The boilers are likely to be radioactive(no not from nuclear but from fossil fuel). The paint alone is a nightmare - one will have to dispose of it by approved methods. And lastly the price of scrap steel is down, practically not worth hauling to the scrapper. I suspect the steel used in aircraft carriers will bring more than your scrapped car would, but not enough to make up the deficit of the labor and materials to render to scrap. The real money is probably in the bronze, copper and electronics(gold).
Hey, it’s great to be careless with money when it isn’t yours.
Ahhhh...the U.S. surrenders again.
Well these are going to Texas so, no doubt Texas will ignore any enviro laws. NOT! Years ago (late 60’s) we went to Orange Texas on the Sabine river to salvage material from old destroyers that were to be scrapped. Pretty sure neither of these could get up the Sabine river so off to Brownsville. Interesting trip for the Kitty Hawk being towed around the Straits of Magellan. I’ve been on open ocean tows. It can be, uh, exciting at times. Can it not go through the Panama Canal? Due to being towed or do the Chinese not want it transiting there. Anyone? Bueller?
Exactly correct. This is the common procedure for the bulk-commercial ship business, so much more so with highly complex warships. The scrapper is actually taking a big risk - their only revenue is the scrap steel, and the market for that is unpredictable. Just because building the thing now would cost $billions, all it is now, for DoD purposes, is a useless hunk of metal.
Have you ever had someone haul away an old appliance that didnt work anymore? You might have even paid them to get it out of your garage.
Lots to complain about military leadership these days. I dont see this as one of them.
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