Quicksand Fans

Sad, but inevitable fate for old ships. It just stands out more here. Forrestal and Saratoga, its almost impossible to even say which is which. Constellation at least still has her island, likely only because she's only been in Brownsville a couple weeks.

I know what you mean. Really hate to see them go. The Forestell Class carriers were the first super carries to be built by the U.S. Navy. They were the first to excede 1,000 feet in length and were completed by 1955.
There's a story that they say the USS Forestell was actually haunted and there's several cases where the crew has both seen and heard unexplained things aboard. Like a couple sailors were working in an area where they saw someone walk into a room. After a while the person in question never came out. The two crewmen went to check this out and there was no one in the room and that door was the only way in or out. Once a sailor was doing maintence in a area when the telephone started ringing. The sailor answere and the voice at the other end said "I need help down here." Only thing is the phone in question was disconnected.

Should have sank them somewhere shallow in the Gulf and made artificial reefs. Scuba divers would've had a ball.

Not a chance; they wouldn't even admit they had sunk America as a live-fire ordinance test until a week fucking later; and are still evasive about the coordinates..............

Wow that's unreal seeing one on land. How did they even get it there?

kham wrote:Not a chance; they wouldn't even admit they had sunk America as a live-fire ordinance test until a week fucking later; and are still evasive about the coordinates..............

Why? Not like it's alien technology or anything. If the thing were a car it'd qualify for antique plates lol.

No, but no one has actually put real weapons into a supercarrier, yet. So knowing exactly what was done would potentially provide an adversary with information. The rumint I have is they experimented with various demo charges, and used heavyweight torpedoes to finish off. That would be Mk48s. The oppo analogue would be Type-65s or the smaller wire-guided models. And since you can count the number of nations with the submersibles on the fingers of one hand that could visit the wreck....


Plus, we did the same thing -- the Yankee-class boomer lost N of Bermuda in 1986, was visited by 'someone' who happened to have a submersible able to operate at 18,000 feet, have remote manipulator arm, and have a capability of attaching hoist lines for retrieval of ICBM RV's....
Think of any deep-ocean subs that qualify??
I can

I was thinking just sink the thing with a cement mixer or two full of thermite, not using it for live fire exercises, but I guess that is a good point. Just a shame to see it cut up for scrap. Can't be more than 15 million a piece in steel. On the plus side should keep an American company busy for at least a year or two.

Finally got to see a carrier up close this year. I took a detour through Manhattan enroute home from Newark, and drove by the Intrepid. Damn, the river is down there, I'm here and the deck is waaaaaay up there!

The folks in the Seasteading movement would love to get ahold of a carrier hulk. Tow it to someplace in international waters shallow enough to anchor, and start your own nation. Built in airport, too- assuming you can find a STOL aircraft with the range to get you to and from the nearest airport to your floating city.
Unless the Navy completely destroyed it (most likely) you could fire up the reactor(s) for power- or, since you're free of bureaucracy, power your city with something safer and more efficient like a Molten Salt Reactor (MSR).

TAP_bagan wrote:Wow that's unreal seeing one on land. How did they even get it there?

It's a matter of optics. I'm sure they are still floating. In fact, you can see the water in the second picture.

They'll probably haul what's left in the water, out at some point.