Christopher P. Cavas at defensenews.com offers a piece on the sad, final ride of the decommissioned aircraft carrier Forrestal from the old Philadelphia Navy Yard in South Philadelphia.
In the frigid pre-dawn darkness of Feb. 4, tugs surrounded the venerable aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (AVT 59, ex-CV 59), long lying dormant at a pier in the old Philadelphia Navy Yard. Huge hawsers were rigged, and before sunrise, the huge Foss Marine tug Lauren Ross, assisted by four smaller tugs, began to ease the ship off the pier, away from another decommissioned flattop, the John F. Kennedy.
The tow squared up in the Delaware River, and began a slow procession back to the sea. Numerous spectators – many were allowed into the former shipyard to watch the event – dotted the shores of the Delaware, eager to catch a last glimpse of America’s first super carrier.
The ship is bound for Brownsville, Texas, the usual death spot for Navy ships. Several thriving scrapyards line the Brownsville Ship Channel, and one of them, All-Star Metals Inc., was awarded a one-cent US Navy contract in October to break up the Forrestal. She will become the largest warship ever scrapped, anywhere, breaking the record of the Coral Sea, broken up in Baltimore, Md., in the early 1990s.
You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:
http://blogs.defensenews.com/intercepts/2014/02/last-ride-of-the-forrestal/
Note: The above U.S. Navy photos were taken by Public Affairs Specialist Joseph Battista.
You can click on the photos to enlarge.
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