U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIERS SOLD FOR 1 CENT EACH

 10 October 2021: This post is a bit poignant for this writer as I spent many weeks and months chasing the aircraft carrier USS Kittyhawk through the South China Sea during the early 60's. She was engaged in flight ops against Vietnam and the destroyer on which I served then was one of her plane guard ships as well as engaged in coastal intervention of shipping and shore bombardment. Night plane guard duty was one of the more challenging assignments we had as our station was 1000 yds astern and just outside the carrier's wake. Our masthead lights served as a landing aid for pilots returning from nighttime missions over enemy territory. Their planes were frequently too badly shot up to land and were directed to land on the water alongside. Our job was to rescue the pilots before the aircraft (which had the buoyancy of a brick) sank. Always exciting (but probably more so for the airmen!). From audacy.com:

                                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Two United States naval aircraft carriers, the USS Kitty Hawk and the USS John F. Kennedy, have been sold for one penny each.

USS John F, Kennedy docking in Boston (while commissioned)

 While that may sound ominous at first, the ships were not sold to be used but instead taken apart as a Texas firm will break them down to make money from the collected scrap metal.

The last conventionally powered aircraft carrier built for the U.S. Navy in 1968, the decommissioned USS John F. Kennedy was sold to a salvage company for 1¢, to be towed from its present home, the former Philadelphia Navy Yard, to Brownsville, TX. 

USS Kittyhawk at sea

Both ships served the nation for decades, and the discounted price reflects the fact that the company will profit from selling the ship's metal for scrap, officials said.

Naval Sea Systems Command, the U.S. Navy sub-organization, confirmed the sale of the ships to International Shipbreaking Limited, based in Brownsville, Texas, USA Today reported.

The process of towing and ship-breaking is expensive, and the navy often pays ISL large sums of money to recycle its ships, the Brownsville Herald reported.

 

                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

So, the end of an era! And I would be remiss if I neglected to mention that a week or so ago, the U.S. Navy DEcommissioned the first LCS (Littoral Combat Ships - or as theie crews designated them, Little Crappy Ships) which this site had editorialized as terrible wastes of money as they would be no good at any mission for which they were ostensibly designed. The ship was taken out of service some 10 years before she would normally be removed.....

Until next time,  

                                          Fair Winds,

                                                      Old Salt