Warbird Information Exchange

I recently saw an article over the internet that stated the Forrestal would be scrapped and was sold to the lowest bidder. As I recall, the salvage facility in Brownsville was awarded the contract for the paltry sum of $0.00 dollars and no cents(That's the total cost to the Navy....Zero/Nada). It is supposed to go as follows: On or about Feb 4, 2014, the Forrestal would be towed to Brownsville via the Atlantic route and the Panama Canal. The salvage company will do this at its' own expense and all monies expended would be recovered through the sale of all the salvaged metal and contents or whatever is left. The ship will be the property of the Navy until the Forrestal is totally scrapped. There was no date given for the arrival at the Brownsville scrappers yard. Someone other than myself can probably give us an estimate of how long the journey may take. Otherwise, I can only give you a WAG and it would not be very good at that. Sad ending to a great ship. I can only hope to go down to Brownsville and catch a glimpse of her on arrival.

Brownsville, TX?
If so, why Panama Canal?

_________________
Cheers!

Lance Jones

I'm terribly sorry folks. I woke up this morning checked for updates and discovered that I couldn't recall what I was thinking when I inserted the Panama Canal in my post. After a brief search I can now offer the following info regarding the Forrestal: Weather permitting, the USS Forrestal will leave the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility on Tuesday morning, 4 Feb. 2014. The Forrestal will be viewable from publicly accessible spots along the Delaware. Incidentally, the USS Forrestal was offered for use as a museum or memorial but no applications the Navy received were deemed viable. Lastly, All Star Metals in Brownsville, Texas, will perform the salvage work and towing has been contracted to Foss Marine Towing.

That will be a heck of alot of scrap metal hitting the market soon. Here is a little more info I found www.seapowermagazine.org/stories/201401 ... estal.html

_________________
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Foss Towing has an ocean going tug, the Lauren Foss, and it is at the berth with the Forrestal right now. I guess she'll be the one towing.

Brownsville is a long ways off. I don't think the tug can carry enough fuel to make the trip. Perhaps another tug with take up the tow farther down the road? They don't do Underway Replenishment??