Navy supercarrier USS Forrestal heads to scrap heap after 38 years of service

It begins. That is the dismantling of the Forrestal Class Carriers. I had the good fortune to serve aboard two of Forrestal's sister ships, Independence and Ranger. I imagine Saratoga is destined for the same fate. Independence has been designated for scrapping but there is a movement afoot to save Ranger as a Museum. Independence and Ranger represent about six years of my life. I was ship's company on Independence and in the air wing on Ranger.
Included are two links to the story.

USS Forrestal (CV-59) on patrol on May 31, 1962.

 Her final voyage: Navy's first super-carrier USS Forrestal begins journey to the scrapyard after being sold for ONE CENT

• The 60-year-old vessel headed down the Delaware River to Texas at dawn on Tuesday
• The Navy paid one cent under a contract to have the ship dismantled by All Star Metals in the Gulf port of Brownsville
• The 1,067-ft ship is perhaps best known for a fire which broke out on board in 1967 while the carrier was on active service in Vietnam, killing 134
• Senator John McCain was serving on the carrier at the time of the tragedy
• Boat was built by more than 16,000 workers and named after James Forrestal, the first U.S. Secretary of Defense
•  It cost $217 million - the equivalent of $2 billion today 

The USS Forrestal during a shakedown cruise off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 1955. The carrier was in service for 38 years before being decommissioned in 1993

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2551771/Scrapped-penny-USS-Forr-estal-Navys-supercarrier-begins-final-voyage-scrapyard.html#ixzz2sRLDXU1H

 http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/navy-supercarrier-uss-forrestal-heads-to-scrap-heap-ship-decommissioned-after-38-years-of-service02042014