USS Forrestal - First Supercarrier - Sold to Scrap Company for 1 Penny - Polidicks

[quote]Here’s a penny for your thoughts: One red cent could’ve landed you the Navy’s first supercarrier, the decommissioned Forrestal. The U.S. Navy sold the 1,067-foot behemoth to a Texas company, All Star Metals, to be dismantled, scrapped and recycled, Navy officials announced. It's an inauspicious fate for a ship with a colorful — and tragic — history. It's perhaps best known for a 1967 incident in which stray voltage triggered an accidental explosion that struck a plane on the flight deck whose cockpit was occupied by a young John McCain. A chain reaction of blasts and fires ultimately killed 134 men and injured more than 300. But its rich past and nearly four decades of service are not enough to spare it. The Navy tried to donate the historic ship for use as a memorial or a museum, but no “viable applications” were received.[/quote] [url]http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/23/forrestal-navy-first-supercarrier-sold-for-1-penny/[/url]

Really now. They're going to scrap a piece of history?! That ship should become a museum ship. It is, after all, the first supercarrier. It's unique and it should be preserved in a historical context instead of being scrapped.

[QUOTE=TestECull;42623642]Really now. They're going to scrap a piece of history?! That ship should become a museum ship. It is, after all, the first supercarrier. It's unique and it should be preserved in a historical context instead of being scrapped.[/QUOTE] or dropped out into the ocean to make an artificial reef.

[QUOTE=TestECull;42623642]Really now. They're going to scrap a piece of history?! That ship should become a museum ship. It is, after all, the first supercarrier. It's unique and it should be preserved in a historical context instead of being scrapped.[/QUOTE] they tried but it's just a warboat jesus, it's not even that old maybe it's just an american thing to get so misty-eyed about military technology and symbols of western interventionism but i really don't get why people care about turning every single armed canoe into a museum so much?

Scuttle it, and make an artificial reef.

This reminds me of the Ark Royal. Pains me to see old ships get scrapped and sold but you can't keep them around because that costs money.

I hate to say it, but just about every navy ship has a long and distinguished history and someone of some importance somewhere served on one. There are a ton of them, and as much as I love military museums, those barely manage to stay afloat (financially speaking and occasionally literally). There's nothing wrong with clearing out the closet every once in a while and freeing up space and resources for other projects.

Well damn I missed out on purchasing a great investment opportunity.

[QUOTE=Bradyns;42623706]Scuttle it, and make an artificial reef.[/QUOTE] The metal has massive value. It probably would be more ecological in the long run to smelt the ship and use the money saved to make artificial coral reef out of cheaper, less useful garbage.

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;42623863]The metal has massive value. It probably would be more ecological in the long run to smelt the ship and use the money saved to make artificial coral reef out of cheaper, less useful garbage.[/QUOTE] It's expensive as fuck to take the ship apart, then cut the pieces of metal small enough to melt down. It's just not worth it, that's why the US Navy doesn't bother scrapping an entire ship, they just remove the important bits like the reactor and then put it on the bottom of the ocean.

You know houseboats? Yeah, make a castleboat out of it.

[QUOTE=zombini;42623883]It's expensive as fuck to take the ship apart, then cut the pieces of metal small enough to melt down. It's just not worth it, that's why the US Navy doesn't bother scrapping an entire ship, they just remove the important bits like the reactor and then put it on the bottom of the ocean.[/QUOTE] Are you implying it's harder to cut apart and smelt metal than to mine raw ore and smelt it?

[QUOTE=zombini;42623883]It's expensive as fuck to take the ship apart, then cut the pieces of metal small enough to melt down. It's just not worth it, that's why the US Navy doesn't bother scrapping an entire ship, they just remove the important bits like the reactor and then put it on the bottom of the ocean.[/QUOTE] sure its expensive but the material profit afterwards. $$$$$$$

What happened to all the posts whining about how american can't spare a dollar.

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;42623949]Are you implying it's harder to cut apart and smelt metal than to mine raw ore and smelt it?[/QUOTE] I'm thinking the difference in worker pay and how streamlined the production process is adds up to make a cost difference. Also: [QUOTE="wikipedia"]In addition to steel and other useful materials, ships (particularly older vessels) can contain many substances that are banned or considered dangerous in developed countries.[citation needed] Asbestos[1] and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are typical examples. Asbestos was used heavily in ship construction until it was finally banned in most of the developed world in the mid-1980s.[B] Currently, the costs associated with removing asbestos, along with the potentially expensive insurance and health risks, have meant that ship breaking in most developed countries is no longer economically viable[/B]. Removing the metal for scrap can potentially cost more than the value of the scrap metal itself. [/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Im Crimson;42624019]I'm thinking the difference in worker pay and how streamlined the production process is adds up to make a cost difference. Also:[/QUOTE] Well, that's less of it being hard to scrap steel and more of the ships being not that much steel with a plenty of solid lung cancer.

Or you could have sold it for more to an out of country company to help solve your debt?

like they should make ships where homeless people can stay in colonies and make a city on the water full of homeless

[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;42624194]like they should make ships where homeless people can stay in colonies and make a city on the water full of homeless[/QUOTE] And call it Crapture.

[QUOTE=A_Pigeon;42624177]Or you could have sold it for more to an out of country company to help solve your debt?[/QUOTE] You mean hand over American military hardware over to potential enemies? Are you one of those terrorist people?

[QUOTE=pentium;42624210]You mean hand over American military hardware over to potential enemies? Are you one of those terrorist people?[/QUOTE] It's a 70ish wreck full of asbestos. It aint worth much, but some idiot would buy it. not much military use left in it

First supercarrier is not much of a museum piece in my opinion. The first carrier, yeah. Once you start adding things like 'first nuclear' or 'first supercarrier' then you're just trying to claim everything is important and collectible.

[QUOTE=BrainDeath;42623679]they tried but it's just a warboat jesus, it's not even that old maybe it's just an american thing to get so misty-eyed about military technology and symbols of western interventionism but i really don't get why people care about turning every single armed canoe into a museum so much?[/QUOTE] Regardless if you like the history behind it or not it's still a big part of American history. Many men lived and died on that ship, it's sad to just see it get scrapped. This warship isn't just a canoe with a maduece welded to the front, it's a full sized super-carrier, first of it's kind in fact. This ship saw service everywhere from Vietnam to Libya and was at one point a major part of the US Navy's fleet. It's also not like we save every single warship or piece of militaria that was at one point in service. Out of the 12,000+ B-17 bombers we made only 46 survive today, most of them were scrapped and turned into mobile homes. Theres really only a handful of exceptions that get saved because it's very hard and very expensive to maintain an old warship that just sits without an active crew. That goes doubly so for Nuclear powered ships, because it takes a lot to rid the ship of radioactive waste and properly clean it to make it safe.

You could have sold it to me and I'd have paid [I]two [/I]cents! Awesome daily driver

[QUOTE=Chinook249;42624912]You could have sold it to me and I'd have paid [I]two [/I]cents! Awesome daily driver[/QUOTE] I'm guessing the scrapping company is covering the cost of taking the ship off their hands, that's why it went to cheap. The real costs, outside of all the scrap materials handling, are gonna come from transporting that thing away from wherever it was being docked and into a position to be scrapped.

[QUOTE=Im Crimson;42624991]I'm guessing the scrapping company is covering the cost of taking the ship off their hands, that's why it went to cheap. The real costs, outside of all the scrap materials handling, are gonna come from transporting that thing away from wherever it was being docked and into a position to be scrapped.[/QUOTE] And the scrapping process itself isn't free.

[QUOTE=TestECull;42623642]Really now. They're going to scrap a piece of history?! That ship should become a museum ship. It is, after all, the first supercarrier. It's unique and it should be preserved in a historical context instead of being scrapped.[/QUOTE] It's literally in the god damn article that they tried to do that but they couldn't find anybody willing to do the job.

[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;42624266]First supercarrier is not much of a museum piece in my opinion. The first carrier, yeah. Once you start adding things like 'first nuclear' or 'first supercarrier' then you're just trying to claim everything is important and collectible.[/QUOTE] So by your logic the only important car was the first one, and no other cars belong in a museum? [editline]23rd October 2013[/editline] your museums would be very empty.

[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;42624194]like they should make ships where homeless people can stay in colonies and make a city on the water full of homeless[/QUOTE] the storms will be population control

[QUOTE=Whiterfire;42625013]It's literally in the god damn article that they tried to do that but they couldn't find anybody willing to do the job.[/QUOTE] It's pretty damn hard to opt into a restoration program when you're essentially locked out with health regulations. Fuck asbestos. My bedroom walls are insulated with the glorious Canadian product.