Aircraft Carriers ID Philadelphia

[Leo]

There are a couple other excellent documentarys on the USS Forrestal and the USS Franklin. Situation Critical about the Forrestal fire that was produced in the mid 1990's for the Discovery Channel is one of the saddest I've ever seen and used the actual camera footage and pa recordings from that day.

And there was an episode of a documentary series from the 1980s called Survival that told the story of the Franklin during the kamikaze hit she endured and later, the the two bombs that nearly sunk her.

Sadly, Discovery never shows the Forrestal documentary anymore and I haven't seen the Franklin one on tv in over 20 years (Right around the 50th anniversary remeberances for the Pearl Harbor attack when networks were showing every WWII documentary in their archives). But both were available on VHS and used copies show up on Amazon from time to time.

[Dave F]

I visited HMCS Haida (which also served in WW2) in Hamilton four years ago and it is well worth the time. One of the docents was a former radio operator and he showed me how all the communication gear worked and described how they had replaced all of the electronic equipment which had been removed by the Navy when she was retired. Really interesting. On this board we often read that some ship or other should be made into a museum. Remember that it is up to us to support the museums we have now with our visits and donations of time and money.

[Guest]

I saw another documentary called the Sinking Of an Aircraft Carrier.It was the carrier Oreskinee (sp) They where going to sink her as a divers/tourist thing.the amount of work it took to get her ready was astounding.They had to make sure every tiny bit of oil and chemicals where gone plus any asbestous or other enviormental hazzard.She was then towed out of galveston (I believe) where explosive charges where precisely placed and then she was sunk to form an artificial coral reef (eventually) where recreational divers will be able to visit her.It is too bad that more of the great ships in your (US) history arent turned into museums or made into artificial reefs.In Canada 1 or 2 of our older destroyers have been turned into museums like the HMCS Haida from the Korean war and recently another destroyer was sunk in B.C. as a divers tourist spot.Most of the canadian old destroyers are just cut up for scrap or used for target practice.Although they recently made a documentary on sinking 1 where another destroyer a submarine,helicopter and finally 2 F 17 hornets all got a shot a sinking her.the frigate won as she went down just before the hornets arrived on the scene.

[Guest]

Someone posted an excellent documentary about USS Franklin (CV-13) on YouTube. It was done ca. 1968, as the ship was being scrapped. Several former crewmen were interviewed, including Capt. Leslie E. Gehres (later Rear Admiral). It is very good and covers the life of the ship from launching to the fiery ordeal at Okinawa through to the end at the scrappers' yard. It is at

[pcolachap]

Hello! I'm a Forrestal Sailor, a decommissioning crew member in fact.
We had spent 7 months in Pensacola as the training carrier before we left for Philadelphia in Sep '92. The plan then was to return "FID", the First in Defense, to Pcola as the training carrier. Unfortunately, the budget dictated otherwise. Six months into the overhaul, we were told it was now a decomissioning. Things were pretty bleak in late Feb of 93. Unfortunately, FID is not a good candidate for a museum. Much of the overhaul was not completed and many spaces were left as is, half done. I left the ship in Jul of 93 to go to Okinawa for a Marine tour. She certainly was a fine ship. And she served with pride. All the best. Mike

[Leo]

"But she'll have fine company in our memories at least. The fleet carriers Bunker Hill and Forrestal both went through disasters of similar scope, only to be forgotten and see the scrapyard a few years later."

That should read Bunker Hill and Franklin, not Forrestal.

Sorry for the typo.

[Leo]

That's the exact point I was making. If more Americans took a more active interest in their heritage, then something like preserving a supercarrier for future generations wouldn't be the daunting task it is.

It's certainly not the Navy department's fault. The Forrestal was on donation hold for years.

But too many people lack the spirit of generations past. At one time, school children raised $150,000 in pennies to help preserve the USS Constitution. If each child gave 1 penny each, 15 million kids gave towards the cause at the time. Imagine if the money the Navy is going to have to spend to scrap or sink her (Huge amounts, hardly trivial) was combined with some small generosity from the American public to preserve the memory of these ships and the sailers that served on them. Would certainly at least make for a fine start to making them be lasting memorials to the American spirit.

Seeing such an end for ship that survived what the Forrestal did is hard to take (The disaster aboard that killed 134 men, insured 171 more, and destroyed 21 aircraft), no matter what the realities of it are.

But she'll have fine company in our memories at least. The fleet carriers Bunker Hill and Forrestal both went through disasters of similar scope, only to be forgotten and see the scrapyard a few years later.

[aarcr]

Those would be the USS Forrestal, which was retired in 1993 due to budget turndowns as she was being refit to replace the WWII era Lexington as a dedicated training carrier. And the USS John F. Kennedy, the last conventional supercarrier built which was retired in 2007 (Although the Kitty Hawk outlasted her as the last oil fueled supercarrier in the Navy). The Forrestal has been there since June 2010 and the Kennedy since March 2008.

If any of these aging warriors deserve to be preserved, it's the Forrestal. It's ashame they're going to scrap or sink her in deep water after what she's survived and what she represents. The USS Forrestal and the USS Enterprise (When she's retired in a year or so) should both be preserved, one on each coast.

Too bad more people don't care about our proud history.

What would it cost to clean them, prepare them as a museum, preserve them and then maintain them forever? How many money losing museums can we afford when we can't pay our most basic of bills.

[Leo]

Those would be the USS Forrestal, which was retired in 1993 due to budget turndowns as she was being refit to replace the WWII era Lexington as a dedicated training carrier. And the USS John F. Kennedy, the last conventional supercarrier built which was retired in 2007 (Although the Kitty Hawk outlasted her as the last oil fueled supercarrier in the Navy). The Forrestal has been there since June 2010 and the Kennedy since March 2008.

If any of these aging warriors deserve to be preserved, it's the Forrestal. It's ashame they're going to scrap or sink her in deep water after what she's survived and what she represents. The USS Forrestal and the USS Enterprise (When she's retired in a year or so) should both be preserved, one on each coast.

Too bad more people don't care about our proud history.

[Patrick]

I was recently flying into Philadelphia, PA and saw 2 aircraft carriers docked side by side on the approach to the airport. They look like they have been there a long time. Thoughts?

Thanks