USS Saratoga will be hanging around Newport for a while longer thanks to a family of peregrine falcons that have made a home of the decommissioned aircraft carrier.
The Navy has delayed the Saratoga's final voyage to Texas where it will be scrapped until the fledglings have their wings and can leave.
"We wanted to do the right things by these birds," Naval Station Newport spokeswoman Lisa Rama said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service sent experts to look at the nest built by the falcons on the aircraft carrier under the elevator that raised and lowered fighter jets above and below deck.
The bird is a protected species under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act and moving them could be a violation.
The nest was discovered in the spring and the fledglings are expected to be ready to move on by August.
There are about 10 nesting pairs in the state, according to the state Department of Environmental Management.
The Navy sold the ship to Texas recycle ESCO Marine r for one cent.
The decommissioned aircraft carrier will be dismantled and recycled using proceeds from the sale of scrap metal to offset the cost of operations, the Navy said in a release.
The USS Saratoga is an important ship with a storied history that includes a role in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam and Gulf wars and other events.
The ship will depart for Texas this summer, ending any dim hopes that she could be preserved or turned into a museum.
Navy officials said the ship was available for donation for public display or memorial but in 12 years, no viable applications came in.
“The Navy continues to own the ship during the dismantling process,” Naval Sea Systems Command officials said in a news release. “The contractor takes ownership of the scrap metal as it is produced and sells the scrap to offset its costs of operations.”
The USS Saratoga was commissioned in 1956. She was decommissioned in 1994 after more than 38 years of service.
Also known as "Super Sara," the vessel was also involved in an 1986 airstrike against Libya.
“[It is] emotional in that we who served on ‘Sara’ feel that our ‘surrogate mother’ is passing from our lives,” Sammy King, secretary of the USS Saratoga Association, told FoxNews.com in an email. “We owe her a lot. We went aboard as ‘snot-nosed kids’ and left as ‘men.’ Some of us are very sad and some are very angry at the decision to scrap her.”
popeye's note.. Saratoga was also know as "Big Sixty..from Dixie"..
