Aircraft carrier Saratoga heads off to be scrapped

[unhappycamper]

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/08/aircraft-carrier-saratoga-heads-be-scrapped



The decommissioned aircraft carrier Saratoga is towed on her final voyage on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014, from Newport Naval Station in Newport, R.I., to the Esco Marine ship recycling plant in Brownsville, Texas, where it will be scrapped. The ship arrived in Newport on Aug. 7, 1998, after spending four years in storage following her decommissioning in 1994.

Aircraft carrier Saratoga heads off to be scrapped
By Jennifer McDermott
The Associated Press
© August 22, 2014

NEWPORT, R.I.

The decommissioned aircraft carrier Saratoga left its port in Rhode Island on Thursday for its final journey to Texas, where it will be scrapped.

The ship departed Naval Station Newport and made its way down Narragansett Bay to the Atlantic Ocean. It is heading to the Esco Marine ship recycling plant in Brownsville, Texas. The Saratoga was supposed to leave Wednesday, but the voyage was postponed because of concern that storms were developing along the route.

Esco Marine is being paid a penny by the Navy to dispose of the Saratoga. It plans to make money by selling what it recovers from the ship.

"It's a sad day in a way to see a great lady finish her career by being towed off to be scrapped," said Bill Sheridan, who was involved in the effort to try to save the ship by turning it into a museum.

--

The Esco Marine web site:

http://www.escomarine.us/#

[underpants]

1. Lucky for us we have 3 more in re-production

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_carriers_of_the_United_States_Navy

[unhappycamper]

2. The new Ford-class up the ante:

Nimitz-class aircraft carriers usta cost around $4.5 billion dollars ( $4,500,000,000 ) sans people and aircraft.



Our new Ford-class aircraft carriers cost somewhere between $16 billion ( $16,000,000,000 ) and $40 billion ( $40,000,000,000 ) sans people and aircraft.

Ka Ching!

[underpants]

3. Something tells me the Saratoga is going to end up at some small town police department

The "Ford class" ? is it going to trip and fall down a lot or just missfire into the crowd (golf reference ) ?

[unhappycamper]

4. I know they have two gyms in this thing.

and they will be using a brand new EMALS catapult.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMALS

...

Systems that use or will use electromagnetic aircraft launch systems

EMALS is a design feature of the Ford-class carrier.[13] Such a launch system was also considered as a retrofit for carriers of the Nimitz class aircraft carriers, but was not workable due to the high electrical power requirements of the EMALS catapults, requirements that the two Westinghouse A4W reactors on board the ships of this class could not provide. [14] John Schank stated: "The biggest problems facing the Nimitz class are the limited electrical power generation capability and the upgrade-driven increase in ship weight and erosion of the center-of-gravity margin needed to maintain ship stability." [15] Therefore the newer Ford class' carriers were equipped with powerplants that produce more power than the ship actually needs as of now. This allows unforeseen technological advances to be implemented later, something which evidently was not possible with the Nimitz when the possibility for EMALS was considered on this class.

Converteam UK were working on an electro-magnetic catapult (EMCAT) system for the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier.[16] In August 2009, speculation mounted that the UK may drop the STOVL F-35B for the CTOL F-35C model, which would have meant the carriers being built to operate conventional (CV) take off and landing aircraft utilizing the UK-designed non-steam EMCAT catapults.[17][18]

In October 2010, the UK Government announced it had opted to buy the F-35C, using a then-undecided CATOBAR system. A contract was signed in December 2011 with the General Atomics Company of San Diego to develop EMALS for the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers.[16][19] However, in May 2012, the UK Government reversed its decision after the projected costs rose to double the original estimate and delivery moved back to 2023, cancelling the F-35C option and reverting to its original decision to buy the STOVL F-35B.[20]

Rear Admiral Yin Zhuo of the People's Liberation Army Navy has said that China's next aircraft carrier will also have an electromagnetic aircraft launch system.[21]

[TheBlackAdder]

5. Each launch will subject those below deck to MRI levels of magnetism.

Between the two reactors and the EMALS system... life expectancy will drop.

Because we know how the military takes care of it's sailors, just like the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan's crew.