Aircraft Carriers II (Closed to posting)

kwaigonegin said:

yup! scrapping CV-6 was a HUGE mistake and a real shame. There was absolutely NO REASON for that.. at least with CVN 65 I can sorta understand the decisions because of her nuclear reactors etc.. but CV-6 they could easily have converted her to a museum or sell it to a private party. Heck even if they did nothing (after striping off her limited sensors and weapons) but dock her somewhere on some river or some small port until a future date it would have been still be ok. She played a big part in US history and certainly WW 2.

With the USN only having CVN's now I'm afraid there will be NO carriers that can be kept from now on because from what I understand you have to pretty much break the ship apart to take those powerplants out.

Click to expand...

bd popeye said:

Not going to happen Jeff. After the Big E is gutted of her nuke core which will leave a gaping hole about 300 feet long and about 75 feet wide from the hangar deck down to the 6th deck she just won't be safe. One report states there will holes cut in the flight deck.

Click to expand...

Jeff Head said:

It may not happen...but it ill not be because it can't. They could easily structurally repair that and make it safe...just not operable.

Think of the massive repairs that went into several WW II carriers that returned them to duty, including CV-6, the USS Enterprise.

Think of the repairs to the modern carriers that were racked by explosions and fire in the Vietnam war due to accidents on deck.

No, we certainly could repair the holes that have to be cut to extract the reactors enough for museum status.

We simply have to find an organization willing to do so, and turn her into a museum that would provide an acceptable ROI for that. Given the crowds that visit the Midway and Intrepid, near a million per year each...with a $10 charge, and with accepting donations, I can see such a company bringing in upwards of 20 million a year, less half of that for expenses. In ten years they could profit $100 million dollars and easily pay for the repairs necessary for safety and a structural, but not operable vessel.

That's what it is going to take, and if the economy comes back, someone will become creative and add a lot more to such a museum, where they can profit from other things in ddition to the carrier itself and memorabilie associeted with it.

Such a museum would be around for 100 years...maybe more. Easily a long term profitable exercise...and one that preserves an essential part of US NAvy, and world-wide naval technological achievement.

Click to expand...

P.S. Does anyone knows how many discarded carriers the US has laying around. Those that are decommissioned but not yet gutted but have no chance of becoming a museum.

Click to expand...

Equation said:

If I had a billion dollar I would purchase the Enterprise and fix her up as a cruise ship or a platform for launching rockets that carries small satellites and stuff. Why can't some rich people in the US start purchasing it and do some creative development for the old girl?

Click to expand...

We are going to mount a HUGE effort to make sure they do wth the Enterprise.

Click to expand...

bd popeye said:

Sure.. only one US CV is being held as a museum donation..the ex-USS John F Kennedy (CV 67).

US Navy retired CVs .."laying around";

Forrestal..Philadelphia PA
Saratoga.. Newport RI
Ranger.....Bremerton WA
Independence...Bremerton WA
Kitty Hawk.....Bremerton WA
Constellation...Bremerton WA
John F Kennedy...Philadelphia PA

All super carriers^^^. many major components have been removed.. such as anchors, anchor chains, catapults and many other components needed to keep the rest of the carrier fleet in working order. Pumps, fire fighting apparatus, electronics etc etc..

All these ships have been stricken from the Navy list..

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Stricken = A ship or service craft formally removed from the Naval Vessel Register by SECNAV on recommendation of CNO. A legal preliminary to disposal.

Click to expand...

I'd heard it was the Ranger that was likely to become a museum, but that's what you get for trusting the internet!

Click to expand...

Ed Shay served on the USS Ranger from 1959 to 1963, making "two-and-a-half WestPac cruises" -- action in the western Pacific Ocean in support of fleet operations.

Now the Navy veteran from Damascus wants to see the decommissioned aircraft carrier in the Columbia River, moored at Fairview as a memorial and museum.

In working to bring the Ranger to Oregon, he's joined by hundreds of other local residents as well as city, county, state and federal representatives.

"They don't have the sentimental attachment to it we do, but they're just as passionate about getting it here," said Shay, a volunteer with the USS Ranger Foundation.

In fact, they see dollars, said Lonnie Dicus, senior adviser to the USS Ranger Foundation. The foundation in 2010 commissioned a $50,000 analysis by ConsultEcon Inc., an economic research firm specializing in tourism and museums, that concluded a USS Ranger museum would attract 350,000 visitors and $46 million annually and generate 500 jobs.

Private industry sees the potential, too, Dicus said. Last month, Columbia Edgewater, a development company, donated 30 acres of property in and on the Columbia River. The company plans a commercial development adjacent to the USS Ranger site.

"When people are willing to donate time, energy and money -- that's how I measure a successful project," Dicus said.

Really? They believe hundreds of thousands of people will flock to Fairview -- a 3.1-square-mile city 15 miles east of Portland?

"Two million people a year go to Multnomah Falls. They drive right by on (Interstate) 84," Dicus said. "When they drive by, they'll see the Ranger. They can't miss it."
GS.51RANG105-02.jpgView full sizeThe proposed USS Ranger site is at the end of Northeast 223rd Avenue in Fairview, where it meets the Columbia River.

Like the former Multnomah Greyhound Park dog racing track in Wood Village and the McMenamins Historic Edgefield property in Troutdale, the USS Ranger can become a Portland attraction positioned in east Multnomah county, said Travis Stovall, executive director of East Metro Economic Alliance. He noted that although Portland didn't want the carrier, the Portland City Council has given official support to a mooring in Fairview.

Todd Davidson, CEO of the Oregon Tourism Commission, buys the analysis that says the USS Ranger could become a major attraction.

"We've seen this kind of success with similar yet smaller museums in other parts of the country, so we can only expect a positive impact for what will become the largest floating museum in the country," Davidson said.

State officials last year signed a resolution of support for the effort. Members of Oregon's congressional delegation also are advocating for the ship: In January, U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer cosigned a letter to BNSF Railway Co. saying they're "disappointed" it decided not to temporarily remove a bridge span across the Columbia -- necessary for the USS Ranger to reach Fairview.

Dicus said the foundation is negotiating with the railway.

"The Ranger is a key catalyst to expand the tourism that happens throughout east county," Stovall said. "There's a ripple effect and this ties it all together."

Carrier attraction

Ranger supporters cite the USS Midway Museum in San Diego when they assert that tourists will pay to visit a carrier.

The Midway, a Navy carrier decommissioned in 1992, arrived in San Diego in 2004 after a 12-year effort, said Scott McGaugh, marketing director for the museum and a volunteer for the last eight years of recruitment.

"San Diego is the birthplace of naval aviation. We're a Navy town and proud of it, yet we didn't have a naval museum," McGaugh said. "Community leaders recognized that we could save that artifact and turn it into a museum, and stuck with it."

After 36 state permits and a 3,000-page application to the Navy -- including a detailed maintenance plan for each day of the year -- the USS Midway has become a top attraction in San Diego.

The business plan focuses on customer service, from the cleanliness of the women's restrooms to selling points for a swath of demographics, McGaugh said.

By its third year, the museum was debt-free. In 2011, the museum marked its third consecutive growth in annual visitors, breaking the 1million mark. Each year, it hosts an average of 250 events and 40,000 students on field trips.

Wide-ranging support

Supporters hope the USS Ranger will be a similar draw.

"It's right by the highway. In the metro area it draws on, within 45 minutes we have 2million people," Dicus said.

It will be "one of the places to be in Oregon, in the Northwest," he said. "The Ranger dwarfs most other things, and it complements (the region's) other attractions."

Its history attracts veterans, but other interests have built wide-reaching support and drawn 130 community volunteers, Dicus said.

Click to expand...