The USS FORESSTAL - Then and now -Sad (Page 4): My ship USS Boston CAG-1, (guided missile cruiser) 1st operational guided missile ship in the world operated with the Forestal during...

Morry Loc: Palm Springs, CA

My ship USS Boston CAG-1, (guided missile cruiser) 1st operational guided missile ship in the world operated with the Forestal during the 1955-1957 period of time from time to time. The Forestal was regarded as the very latest in aircraft carriers at that time. Sorry to hear that it is in the shape it is now in. I served on the Boston for about 2 years as a LI3 (Lithographer). I believe the Boston was broken up in the early seventies. Morry

tradergeorge Loc: Newport, Kentucky

DavidPhares wrote:

This weekend I was fly-fishing off of South Padre Island, Texas. One of the areas we fish is known as the Brownsville Chanel. It is mostly a pretty ugly recycling area where they salvage old ships at the end of their usefulness. As we motored up the Chanel we passed a carcas of an old U. S. Navy carrier, CVA-59, the U.S.S. FORESSTAL. I am sure there is some member of UHH that served on this glorious war ship. It was sad to see this end to a grand old warrior.

I am a 23 year Navy veteran and served on five ships. Every one of them has reached the end of its life cycle and is now gone. Three were sold to foreign navies and later scrapped. Two of them are serving as artificial reefs, one off Guam and the other somewhere elde in Micronesia. These are my favorites, because they are serving the sea, as they did in life...I never served on the Forrestal, but was on active duty in Norfolk, VA when she had her disastrous fire. It hit us all very close to home, and we were glad when she returned to the fleet to fight again.

I do not lament these warriors. All things have a life cycle, even us. It is how we served when we were active that counts most, not necessarily what becomes of our carcasses when we pass on to the next plane...Cheers!!

DavidPhares Loc: Chandler, Arizona

MoeUSMC wrote:

I am a plank owner Marine Detachment, on the USS Saratoga CVA-60 and it was just towed to the same place a month ago for scrap. It was sold for $1.00 like CVA 59. The sara was going to be a museum but the JFK beat us out. I wonder why? Chuck USMC

While going down the Brownsville Chanel last week we saw the Saratoga sitting right beside the Forrestal. It was not as far along in the scrapping process as is the FORESSTAL. The island is still on her at this time. Being in a small flats skiff next to those super carriers is a humbling experience!

DavidPhares Loc: Chandler, Arizona

Thank you all for commenting on this post. And, more importantly, Thank you all for your service to our country! You are heros, all.

the_imaginist Loc: St. Louis, MO

jwt wrote:

Grand old ship, my sea service consisted of destroyers, amphibious command ship, and back to back tours on CVN's but I remember her well from my early destroyer days. Thanks for posting.

I just re-read your post about being on an amphibious command ship. I was on the Pocono an amphibious communications command ship in '70 '71. She was actually decommissioned in 1971. When we'd go out an Admiral and his staff would be on board and in charge of the group from our ship. We'd usually have a contingent of about 350 Marines also.

One Rude Dawg Loc: Athol, ID

WereWolf1967 wrote:

Heck, that's easy, slip it in with Obama's budget deficit and tell him it's to honor fallen Muslims.

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Hal81 Loc: Bucks County, Pa.

DavidPhares wrote:

This weekend I was fly-fishing off of South Padre Island, Texas. One of the areas we fish is known as the Brownsville Chanel. It is mostly a pretty ugly recycling area where they salvage old ships at the end of their usefulness. As we motored up the Chanel we passed a carcas of an old U. S. Navy carrier, CVA-59, the U.S.S. FORESSTAL. I am sure there is some member of UHH that served on this glorious war ship. It was sad to see this end to a grand old warrior.

Remember her very well. Our tin plane guarded her when she was on a training mission in Cuba in the fiftys.

pjreed Loc: Tonopah, Arizona

Thank you for sharing.

MoeUSMC Loc: N.CA

I remember that trip also, 1956. At the time you could hear and see the shooting from the hills where Castro was getting close to Havana. We did not get our normal Havana liberty because of the fighting. C

New York Steve Loc: St. Augustine, Florida

I see this quite often; people believing we should maintain decommissioned ships as museums. Even for a ship like the Forrestal, it's simply not feasible. Usually the people who want that to happen are former crew of squadron personnel.

I was at Patriot's Point in Charleston, SC this past weekend, and spoke with one of staff regarding the USS Yorktown. According to him, the place is a money pit. More money is put into it every year than they can ever hope to recover.

While I understand the sentiment, with very few exceptions, turning ships into museums is a very, very bad idea...

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

New York Steve wrote:

I see this quite often; people believing we should... (show quote)

Your declaration puts you into a group that thinks in the manner of the protected. Freedom is too damned expensive when the enemy is not knocking at your front door. Go away!

New York Steve Loc: St. Augustine, Florida

davidrb wrote:

Your declaration puts you into a group that thinks in the manner of the protected. Freedom is too damned expensive when the enemy is not knocking at your front door. Go away!

I spent 20 years in uniform, scumbag.

Can you say the same?

I simply realize that it's not feasible to keep every ship we decom as a museum. It just can't be done. Patriot's Point, which is a wonderful attraction, apparently loses barge-loads of money. The city is so invested in it, though, that it refuses to let it go. Instead of simply closing it, they continue to build up the area in the hopes of drawing more visitors.

It's not been working as they'd hoped.

These attractions; like the USS North Carolina, the USS Intrepid and the USS Midway, are expensive to operate. The unfortunate reality is that they rarely pull in enough revenue to cover their operating costs.

It would be irresponsible to simply keep creating them simply because it's "sad" that a ship will otherwise be scrapped...

MoeUSMC Loc: N.CA

The Midway in San Diego has made a profit maker since the day it opened. Don't know about the others. The Sara raised several million to become a museum and that was not enough. The ship has to be just off duty and intact to convert profitably. Before being gutted. That is why the John F Kennedy was chosen. C

New York Steve Loc: St. Augustine, Florida

MoeUSMC wrote:

The Midway in San Diego has made a profit maker since the day it opened.

Not according to the people I know who've worked there...

tradergeorge Loc: Newport, Kentucky

MoeUSMC wrote:

The Midway in San Diego has made a profit maker since the day it opened. Don't know about the others. The Sara raised several million to become a museum and that was not enough. The ship has to be just off duty and intact to convert profitably. Before being gutted. That is why the John F Kennedy was chosen. C

As far as I know, every one of these "ship" museums has a budget from appropriated funds to supplement what is taken in from admissions and concessions. It is just too expensive to be otherwise, since the maintenance required just to keep them afloat is enormous. I wish it were not so, being a retired Navy man, but facts are facts. I was involved in bringing the Midway to San Diego. I cannot remember the exact figure, but she had a pretty good size budget then, and I cannot see how more age has made it smaller. Anyone who has served knows that most of the "person-hours" spent on a ship is doing maintenance of some kind; much more than is involved in keeping up a building. This is true even when all the "operational" parts are stripped and you mainly have a hull and a bunch of steel walls to try to keep rust at bay from, not to mention watertight integrity.