Sold for a penny back in May the mighty ex-USS Saratoga (CV-60) is taking her very last sea cruise after spending two decades on red lead row.
US Navy Photo
Tugboats pull the ex-USS Saratoga under the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge as she begins her final voyage from Newport Naval Station to a dismantling facility in Brownsville, Texas–the carrier’s final resting place. The ship arrived in Newport on Aug. 7, 1998, after spending four years in storage following her decommissioning in 1994. The Saratoga was the second carrier of the Forrestal class and completed 22 deployments in her 38-year career.
The Offshore Towing Vessel, SIGNET WARHORSE III a 143’5” x 50’ x 18’ ABS Fully Classed tug with 10,000 brake horsepower and 135.44 Metric Tonnes bollard pull and a nine-man crew is making the tow http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/Signet-Maritime-Launches-Final-Voyage-of-USS-Saratoga-2014-08-21 and is expected to arrive in Brownsville, Texas, with ex-USS Saratoga in tow, on September 4, 2014.
Sara’s slightly older sister-ship Forrestal was sold a few months ago to the breakers for the same cost and it is expected that sisters Ranger (CV-61), decommissioned in 1993, and stored at Bremerton, Washington, and Independence (CV-62) in mothballs at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard will soon join the class on the heap.
Of the four Kittyhawk-class ships, Constellation (CV-64), 11 years in mothballs is likely to be scrapped in coming months. The America (CV-66) was sunk in testing in 2005 to help design the new Ford-class carriers, Kennedy (CV-67) is on donation hold and may become the only US super carrier on display as a museum ship, and the aging Kitty Hawk (CV-63), her hull now some 53-years old, is still a Reserve asset until at least 2015 when the Ford comes online. It is likely that she will follow to the scrappers soon after.
