Aircraft carrier in P'Cola??

[sirenia]

While I was down in Florida last weekend, I saw what looked like a probably decommissioned carrier in Pensacola Port. Does anyone know if one of those is there? Or maybe it was an amphib. Couldn't tell from the angle I was looking at it. Any ideas?

 

[kray1395]

That was the USS Oriskany. She arrived here about 2 or 3 weeks ago from Corpus Christi. Pensacola has been waiting her arrival for a while now. She is slated to become the largest artificial reef in I believe the entire world. The ship will be in Pensacola Port for the next few months while they continue to work some environmental issues. They will sink her about 25 miles off the coast sometime this summer.

 

[flynsail]

USS Oriskany (CVA-34)

NAS Pcola

When you go look at it, there is a real appreciation for why our ships are being repainted.

 

[sirenia]

Thanks for the info. It attracted a lot of attention from people stopping to see and caused quite the traffic jam. Interesting that it will be turned into an artificial reef.

 

[heynowlookout]

So as an aspiring naval aviator, should I feel guilty about being anxious to see an aircraft carrier on the bottom so I can dive on it?

 

[A4sForever]

According to A.P. as of 30 December 2004:
"U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Jacksonville, said he and U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, D-Fla., were notified by Navy Secretary Gordon England last week that the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), one of two remaining conventionally-powered aircraft carriers, could be decommissioned as the Pentagon attempts to save $60 billion over the next six years. In an appearance in Jacksonville in April 2004, England pledged to keep the Kennedy at Mayport Naval Station, northeast of Jacksonville, until 2018."

"Florida's top elected officials vowed Thursday to fight a proposal to mothball the USS John F. Kennedy, with one congressman saying that scrapping the Mayport-based aircraft carrier would be ``long on wrong-headedness.'' The Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce says Navy salaries bring about $2 billion a year to the region and the Navy has a $7 billion financial effect on the local economy."

USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) is planned to decommission in 2009 (?) and be replaced by USS George H.W. Bush. When Kitty Hawk decommissions, she was to have been replaced by the JFK (I guess that's all changed, now?) as the Navy's forward-deployed Pacific Fleet carrier.

 

[A4sForever]

2018?!?!? The guys I know that have cruised on that ship within the last 2-3 years have all said it's a rust bucket. I know the ship missed a cruise date back in 2001 (?) because it couldn't get underway due to disrepair.

Yeah, I know, the JFK staying in Mayport until year 2018 does not make a lot of sense --- but then I'm just copying the quote. But you know how the news "gets it right", right?

JFK has been a "pig-boat" for some time and caused the demise of at least one skipper. She is only rivalled in recent times for poor material readiness by the long-gone, lamented USS Ranger.

USS RANGER CV-61

They probably meant 2008 for the JFK in Mayport, FL --- which would dovetail a little better with her being the "Hawk's" projected 2009 West-Pac "replacement"?

 

[UncleFester]

I just got back from a cruise on that piece of **** boat. No one who cruised on it would ever want to go again, and we're all glad to hear it's gonna be scrapped.

 

[bch]

It being decommed would be the GREATEST thing to happen to front gate traffic in mayport, you know, for those horrible days (1 a week or so) we u have to get to work during SWO hrs!

 

[UncleFester]

I'd bet my bollocks to a barn dance there won't be a carrier missing from Mayport for long, though. I hear the governor of Florida has an in with the President. If not a nuke - they have to do a big overhaul of the pier to support a nuke, and dredge as well, I think - then maybe a big-deck gator like an LHA. Florida got smacked hard by previous BRAC rounds, and after voting for Bush twice in a row, the Republicans will want to keep them friendly.

 

[bch]

Word on the street around here now, is that if JFK gets scrapped, a big deck amphib will most likely be moving in. Mayport is not equipped to handle nuke boats, can't see the nav putting the money into making it capable of doing it either.

 

[HooverPilot]

I just had the pleasure of a limited (Persian Gulf) world tour aboard the good ship JFK, and no matter how much I want my Navy to be a 12 carrier Navy, I don't see how that ship can last until 2018. That isn't a typo either, they really have been planning on using the JFK until 2018. I think the Navy could use the $400,000,000 that they are planning on the JFK's overhaul for something with a better return on it's investment. Heck, I bet that much money could easily fix up Mayport for Nuke AND start the funding for the next carrier after the USS George H.W. Bush.

I'd put my $$ on Festers prediction too, FL will be mucho mad if they don't get a nuke in return for the JFK.

 

[UncleFester]

Besides, that damn boat is falling apart, and probably cursed to boot. One captain fired, one skipper sent home, one admiral with cancer, DCAG almost rolling over the side and almost decapitating a Hornet guy, one dhow kill, and a nice little f*ck-you extension as a Christmas present before we go home. I say, good riddance. Maybe the E-2s will get moved to Jax in order to salve the irate citizens? That'd be a good thing.

 

[snizo]

slightly off topic (well ... on topic) I saw the carrier down there last week - that thing looks straight out of a damn horror flick...a ghost ship

 

[HooverPilot]

If they move the E-2's to JAX, PLEASE move the COD's too!