Friday, March 04, 2005
Final days for USS AMERICA
Capt. Lou Colbus (U.S. Navy, retired) directs me to a story about USS America (CV 66) that will surely elicit mixed emotions from sailors and Marines who were privileged to stroll her decks.
According to John Lumpkin of the ASSOCIATED PRESS, "The Navy plans to send the retired carrier America to the bottom of the Atlantic in explosive tests this spring, an end that is difficult to swallow for some who served on board the ship, which was based in Norfolk during its 31-year career.
The Navy says the effort, which will cost $22 million, will provide valuable data for the next generation of aircraft carriers, which are now in development. No warship this size or larger has ever been sunk, so there is a dearth of hard information on how well a supercarrier can survive battle damage, said Pat Dolan, a spokeswoman for Naval Sea Systems Command."
See story in its entirety here.
On a personal note, I remember USS America as one of several ships that Marines from my Sea School class were deployed to during the early-1980's. I was slated to go aboard either the America or the carrier USS Carl Vinson, but traded with another Marine and got the USS Holland, a submarine-tender then-based out of the Charleston (S.C.) Naval Weapons Station (I later deployed to an infantry battalion).
Of course, several years after I left President Ronald Reagan's Marine Corps, President Bill Clinton removed Marines from carriers, battleships, tenders, and others - leaving security of warships in the hands of sailors - thus destroying a 200-plus year tradition of Marines serving on Sea Duty.
Of the America, which was decommissioned in 1996, Lou remembers it as the warship where his retirement ceremony was held.
For more information on USS America, visit either ussamerica.org or the official U.S. Navy website.
Semper Fi,
WTSjr
According to John Lumpkin of the ASSOCIATED PRESS, "The Navy plans to send the retired carrier America to the bottom of the Atlantic in explosive tests this spring, an end that is difficult to swallow for some who served on board the ship, which was based in Norfolk during its 31-year career.
The Navy says the effort, which will cost $22 million, will provide valuable data for the next generation of aircraft carriers, which are now in development. No warship this size or larger has ever been sunk, so there is a dearth of hard information on how well a supercarrier can survive battle damage, said Pat Dolan, a spokeswoman for Naval Sea Systems Command."
See story in its entirety here.
On a personal note, I remember USS America as one of several ships that Marines from my Sea School class were deployed to during the early-1980's. I was slated to go aboard either the America or the carrier USS Carl Vinson, but traded with another Marine and got the USS Holland, a submarine-tender then-based out of the Charleston (S.C.) Naval Weapons Station (I later deployed to an infantry battalion).
Of course, several years after I left President Ronald Reagan's Marine Corps, President Bill Clinton removed Marines from carriers, battleships, tenders, and others - leaving security of warships in the hands of sailors - thus destroying a 200-plus year tradition of Marines serving on Sea Duty.
Of the America, which was decommissioned in 1996, Lou remembers it as the warship where his retirement ceremony was held.
For more information on USS America, visit either ussamerica.org or the official U.S. Navy website.
Semper Fi,
WTSjr
# posted by W. Thomas Smith, Jr. @ 8:48 AM 
