USS Forrestal Sold For 1 Cent, Heads To Scrapyard

The USS Forrestal is heading to the scrapyard.

The USS Forrestal, the Navy’s first “supercarrier,” is being sold for 1 cent to All Star Metals. The shipbreaker will have the supercarier towed to Brownsville, Texas where it will be scrapped over the next few years.

All Star Metals said that it was finalizing its plan to get the USS Forrestal to the scrapyard. The company said that the ship is expected to leave the Navy’s inactive ship facility in Philadelphia by the end of the year.

NPR reports that the supercarrier was first launched in 1954. The ship was in service for nearly 40 years until it was decommissioned in 1993.

Stars And Stripes reports that the Navy tried to get the Forrestal into a museum but the government did not receive any suitable applications. The ship is the first of three carriers scheduled to hit the scrapyard over the next few years.

The USS Forrestal is best known for a devastating fire on July, 29, 1967. Stars And Stripes reports that 134 soldiers died in the fire off the coast of Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The website reports that “stray voltage” triggered a rocket to launch from an F-4 Phantom. The rocket hit an A-4 Skyhawk. Fuel spilled onto the flight deck and soon the ship was engulfed in flames.

Stars and Stripes writes: “In the aftermath, 134 men were killed and more than 300 injured. The ship was heavily damaged, and more than 26 aircraft were destroyed and more than 30 damaged. More importantly, the Forrestal fire prompted changes to the way the Navy handles damage control and helped improve disaster training.”

Here’s a video about the fire aboard the USS Forrestal in 1967.