RIP, USS Saratoga
This one’s for our nautical brothers and sisters who read TAH.
The USS Saratoga is now history. The Navy has officially contracted with ESCO Marine to scrap her. She’ll be scrapped at some point in the future in Brownsville, TX.
Yeah, she’d already been decommissioned. And yeah, we can’t just keep ships around forever when they’re no longer needed.
Still: I’d guess a few of our readers may have served on the USS Saratoga, and will be interested in knowing about her end.
The Navy Times has a brief article on the subject, which gives a few more details.
Category: Navy
Ah … saw her in Newport two years ago down on pier one where I was stationed for 6 years.
It’s really interesting… in the chesapeake bay and in Philly and other places, we have the ghost fleet – WW2 to Korean era ships that are kept in mothballs. When the Navy (STUPIDLY I might add) decided to decom the Spruance cans, they sunk them as reefs, along with tons of other ships instead of mothballing them. Hell the Saratoga is way better carrier than any other nation has… why are not mothballing these ships??
I see Sara at least once a week as I work near Newport. She’s in really rough shape. Probably why the Navy is disposing of her. It would be prohibitively expensive to attempt to refurbish her now, and she looks worse now than she did fifteen years ago when I got here.
Heartily concur with your assessment of the Navy’s decision regarding the Spru-cans.
I loved the Sprucans! I was TAD to a number of them. The only thing that I wasn’t fond of was that they were top heavy. One time pulling out of Hong Kong, en route one of the first Cobra Gold exercises, we were headed into a typhoon in the South China Sea. The DESRON commander was on board our ship (David R. Ray? Can’t remember.) and was bound and determined to get to Thailand.
Anyway, pulling out of HK we were doing 30 degree rolls in calm seas! Once we got into the storm, I distinctly remember the ship listing to either side and just hanging there for seconds at a time. Once I was on the first deck walking to the chow hall from my compartment in the bow and, no shit, I walked most of that p-way on the bulkhead.
Another time I was about to start up a ladder to the main deck and the ship dropped into a trough. I took my first step up and the next thing I know I was at the top of the ladder! Yikes! Right after that, believe it or not, I went outside the skin of the ship to get to my watch station in a QuikVan lashed to the main deck. I will NEVER forget looking to starboard and all I saw was water and foam. It still sends chills up my spine to think I had to go out in that. Man!
Great ships, though, and fast as the wind. I deployed on all kinds of ships TAD and I have to say that I am a “Tin Can Sailor” at heart.
Steam plants are very expensive to maintain and it is very old technology with a lot of items no longer manufactured. When a steam plant sits for too long it will need a major overhaul to make it operational again. Couple that with the obsolete parts and weapons systems and these carriers would be very difficult to bring back on line. I served on DD985 and she was a fine old gal but had very limited AAW capability and the plant was TIRED. Couple that with the waste heat boilers being very old and hard to maintain and the cracking on the superstructure and it just made sense to end their service. I loved the CUSHING and sat across the basin in Mayport from Super Sara and the Fireball during my first sea tour but all in all, those guys just had to go. the real crime will be if the navy gets its way and decoms the cruisers / CVN 73.
I served on her 1982-84. I am sure all the usable gear was salvaged, adios muchacha.
The cost of maintaining a ship in ready condition is incredible. To mothball a 60 yo carrier would be pointless. The Kitty Hawk and Connie are in Mothballs, I believe the Ranger is as well. I doubt that we will ever see another of the super carriers go into the mothball fleet. The oil burners have made way for the Nukes, The Nuke powered ships cannot go to a cold reactor status for very long before major time and effort are required to bring them back online. Its self defeating. The cost of reactivation and time involved approaches that of a new Carrier. Plus the older carriers are limited to what types of planes they can launch and land. Even in the 70 and 80s many of the fleets super carriers could not handle the size of the F-14 so those went from f-4 squadrons to f-18 squadrons. Plus these ships are worn out. 40 plus years of service takes its toll on the basic structures and propulsion equipment that was never meant to be replaced. The Yards the knew how to build one of those things are gone or very different. I doubt the facilities exist to build a new reduction gear for a carrier. Even if they did they would have to cut the ship apart to get to them. The private museum option is less and less viable. Its unfortunate but the truth that the groups that already have a Carrier or Battle Ship for the most part cannot maintain it in a safe manner. The States where they are located fail to provide the needed funding, The groups try to raise money but often lack the knowledge to understand that they even have a problem until it becomes almost to late to do anything about. They paint and polish above the water line and just keep pumping the water out. The dept of the Navy has indicated that the Yorktown is in Dire need of help. To the point where they very well may take it back, The Texas cannot ever be moved again for fear… Read more »
I was a volunteer in the radio shack on Missouri in Pearl Harbor. Awesome ship, but she had her rough edges. Just like you say, it is really tough to keep her in okay shape, never mind “shipshape.” She needed a full complement of BMs just to keep up with the rust.
I was stationed at Makalapa when I volunteered on her and one time I went over to Missouri after work and still in my khakis. Shortly after going into the radio shack, there was a knock on the radio room door. Puzzled, I went and opened it and there was a man standing there with a woman cowering behind him. The woman had seen me in the p-way from a distance and then duck into radio.
She thought I was a GHOST! LOL!
Those ships can be creepy though. Especially at night when you’re the only one on board. When I finished my work at night, I took the most direct route outside. I’m not too proud to admit that I got the heebie jeebies especially after I heard that one of the other volunteers claimed to have seen a real ghost!
Last story and I’ll shut up. For the 60th anniversary of the signing of the surrender on board Missouri, we were able to get the manual morse key that was used to announce the signing. On the anniversary, one of the volunteers resent the actual 1945 message using that key on Amateur Radio. Major league cool. I can tell you that the radio waves that day were PACKED with Ham operators trying to work us.
And holding that key was an incredible experience for a radio freak like me. Awesome!
Ships like Forrestal (FID) and Saratoga deserve a proper burial at sea…not ripped apart piece by piece by saw and torch.
The FID was my first ship, I sailed my first deployment aboard her with Attack Squadron 105 (VA-105)in 1989. It saddened me to see the DON pay the scrapyard a dollar to take her off their hands.
I agree, is much nobler for a ship to meet its end at sea than by a scrappers torch. The following video is how my boat served her final mission…
USS Horne Final Mission: RIMPAC 2008: http://youtu.be/jCkf3ogkFxo
I admit that I would rather see these old gals get a place at sea.
It cost allot to turn one into a reef. they dont just take them out and blow them up any more.
All the compartments have to be stripped bare. All hatches and Doors removed or welded open.
All hazmat removed. That means all wiring, paint everything.
it cost more to prep one to sink that the company that Does it makes off scrap. Then the ship has to be inspected and in many cases done again.
When the Coral Sea Was scrapped (The last Carrier to have it done) it bankrupted 2 contractors and kept the EPA tied up for years.
It took longer to cut it apart than it did to build it, by a long shot.
The steel in the ship itself is invaluable. The only fly in the ointment in scrapping is getting all the Haz-mat off.
I’ll chip in and agree with those who say its crazy to think about trying to refit her.
Having worked in a shipyard I have seen firsthand that as soon as steel is made it is under constant attack by rust.
Its a credit to our navy that we are able to keep ships operational as long as we do.
I’ve worked with guys that have work experience all over the world and without exeception they agree that most ships are lucky to get 10-15 years service if that.
Fair winds and following seas, Sara!
She had an historic run. I remember her back in the 80s when she was in the Med. She had the rep of being a “liberty ship” back then. Shipmates told me that she was constantly pulling into port. Unlike the ones I was stationed on! If we could extend, well, damn it we would!
A Med Cruise in the 80s on a carrier was one liberty port, a week or so at sea and another liberty port. We showed the flag, hosted parties, opened the ship up for tours Ect.
I would not be surprised to find out the whale boats and Capt Gig had more hours at sea than the ship did during those times.
We would go mess with the Libyans, then go into port.
For those who have never worked on a museum ship let me tell you how your day goes. Because there is an incredible amount of work required just to maintain a Destroyer, I cannot imagine keeping an Aircraft Carrier shipshape. You muster with other volunteers early in the AM and receive your assignment. This is usually chipping and painting some portion of the ship. I specialize in restoring woodwork so my job is not really a job for me but a vocation. The 6 or 7 people (both men and women) go about there tasks with vigor but it does wear you down. On special occasions such as a reunion, retirement party, tall ships event, or 4th of July take on a special meaning and therefore lots of field days not to mention attempting to get the saluting battery to work. For us old salts in the Bay City, MI area, we obtained the USS EDSON (DD946) a few years ago from NYC. It was in fairly good shape but still needed plenty of work. We were supposed to get the USS Charles F. ADAMS(DDG2) because the Defoe Shipyard hear in Bay City built 4 of this class for the Australian Navy. That was the tie in. We lost the ADAMS for various reasons but were rewarded the EDSON. It is a much smaller ship so should be easier to take care of. NOT. For MCPO NYC USN Ret, I think I read in this blog that you had been stationed on the ADAMS. If this is true, maybe you could go to our web site and give us some inside info that we do not have at present I have located some old watch bills and Plans of The Day but most of these were for the end of her active life. As A YN, I am also attempting to bring the personnel office and the Captain’s office back up to snuff. I have plenty of old manuals that are from the 60’s and 70’s when I was on active duty, but the general public probably will not be… Read more »
CPO … USS Edson (DD-946) “the Grey Ghost of the Viet Nam Coast and Top NGFS Ship” was my second ship out of Newport before it went to NYC at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.
How generous we are, throwing away perfectly good carriers… at some point (with our debt, etc.) we can’t afford to keep doing this and then we’ll but up the creek.
Lets look at that statement,
How are they being thrown away? They are being scrapped. While its not the romantic end it meets a need.
The Day the contract to scrap the Sara was signed the government made a Penny. They also turned over responsibility. The thousands of dollars a day it takes just to let one sit stopped.
Scrapping it will take 2 to 3 years, creating jobs, its materials will be recycled Saving resources.
These things were built to take a huge amount of damage and still float. They are tools of war, not the family ford.
The company that takes her apart has a huge undertaking ahead of it. They were not given anything, any profit they make will be hard won.
Every effort to turn her into a museum was exhausted. Those efforts cost the taxpayers allot.
We used to sell our old ships to India to be dismantled. They had a nasty habit of selling them to third world countries to be used against us.
For MCPO NYC: Was it a happy ship? I have met some of those who rode her and they did not very nice things to say. After seeing some of the living conditions aboard, I would have probably agreed. I served on CVS and CVA’s and we seemed to have lots of room. Felt sorry for you guys during re-fueling in rough seas. BZ
I dont know if this is still true. The Museum ships used to remain the property of the Navy under long term lease to the organization that got it. The lease was not very much.
The navy could still take needed items as long as they were replaced an Equal.
There was a catalog of usable parts. Any of you guys that have worked on the Museum ships ever deal with that aspect?
Sara arrives at the scrappers:
http://www.inquisitr.com/1474914/uss-saratoga-completes-final-mission-arriving-in-texas/