The United States Navy has awarded a contract for the towing and dismantling of the decommissioned aircraft carrier 'Ranger' (CV 61) to International Shipbreaking, with the Navy paying US$0.01 to the company.
"The price reflects the net price proposed by International Shipbreaking, which considered the estimated proceeds from the sale of the scrap metal to be generated from dismantling," commented the Naval Sea Systems Command Office of Corporate Communication.
"This is not a sales contract; it is a procurement contract. $0.01 is the lowest price the Navy could possibly have paid the contractor for towing and dismantling the ship."
The ship will be towed from the US Navy's inactive ships maintenance facility in Bremerton, Washington, to International Shipbreaking's ship dismantling facility in Brownsville, Texas, for complete dismantling and recycling. The ship is expected to depart Bremerton via tow in January or February and arrive in Brownsville after four-to-five months.
The ship is too large for passage through the Panama Canal and must be towed around South America.
'Ranger' was the third Forrestal-class aircraft carrier to be built. The ship was laid down in August 1954 by Newport News Shipbuilding and commissioned in 1957.
'Ranger' was the only ship of the Forrestal class to spend its entire career in the Pacific. The ship made a total of 22 Western Pacific deployments, was an active participant in the Vietnam War, and was the only West Coast-based carrier to deploy in support of Operation Desert Storm.
'Ranger' was decommissioned in July 1993 after more than 35 years of service. It served as a retention asset for potential future reactivation until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on March 8, 2004, and redesigned for donation.
After eight years on donation hold, the USS Ranger Foundation was unable to raise the necessary funds to convert the ship into a museum or to overcome the physical obstacles of transporting her up the Columbia River to Oregon.
As a result, 'Ranger' was removed from the list of ships available for dismantling and designated for dismantling.
"While there are many veterans with strong desires that the Navy not scrap the ship they served on, there were no states, municipalities or non-profit organisations with a viable plan seeking to save the ship," concluded the US Navy.
"The Navy cannot donate a vessel unless the application fully meets the Navy's minimum requirements for donation and cannot retain inactive ships indefinitely."
