The U.S. Navy’s first supercarrier, the now-decommissioned USS Forrestal (AVT-59), has been sold for one cent to Texas-based All Star Metals. What does the company plan to do with its new purchase? Take the supercarrier apart and scrap it.
The Navy awarded the contract to the company on Oct. 22. The net price proposed by the company “considered the estimated proceeds from the sale of the scrap metal to be generated from dismantling,” according to an official statement.
Now, All Star Metals will develop a plan to tow the aging carrier — first launched in 1954 and decommissioned in 1993 — from Philadelphia to Brownsville, Texas.
Despite its long service life, the ship is perhaps best known for a tragic electrical accident that triggered an explosion onboard in 1967, resulting in 134 deaths and more than 300 injuries, according to Fox News.
“It’s something that the Navy is caught between a rock and a hard place,” Ken Killmeyer, historian for the USS Forrestal Association and a survivor of the 1967 incident, told Fox. “They have to have these vessels no matter how big or small they are, and they use them as you would your car until they’re no longer financially viable. So, they decommission them.”
The Navy attempted to make the ship into a museum or memorial, but didn’t get any viable offers, according to NPR.
