Hi All:
Take a moment to reflect on the post below. The last Essex Class Carrier is about to be disposed of by the Navy, and an era will come to an end. Too bad! I had hoped maybe the Oriskany would be saved as a museum ship too, but I guess no one could raise the interest/capital in these times.
Bill Shuey posted from the SMML list.
By Matthew Sturdevant Caller-Times January 9, 2004
An 888-foot Korean War-era aircraft carrier will arrive at the Port of Corpus Christi next week to have its innards cleaned of solvents before the ship is sunk offshore to create an artificial reef.
Officials haven't announced yet where the ship will be sunk. The USS Oriskany will be towed Tuesday from Beaumont and will arrive later in the week at the Port of Corpus Christi, said Denise Johnston, manager of government contracts for Resolve Marine Services. The company is one of two contracted to clean aircraft carriers. "The tow will commence depending on weather conditions," Johnston said. "It could be in Corpus Christi on the 15th, the 16th, the 17th - it depends on the weather." Resolve Marine Services of Florida, and a Brownsville company, Esco Marine, were jointly awarded a $2.18 million U.S. Navy contract to remove oily solvents from hundreds of tanks and bilge compartments on the ship, according to federal contract information. Cleaning the Oriskany is expensive because the ship has chemicals and substances that are regulated by the federal government for special disposal, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, mercury and asbestos, Johnston has said. The Navy and U.S. Maritime Administration are evaluating applications from five states for four sites - three in the Gulf of Mexico and one off the Atlantic coast - and will decide later this month or in February where it will be sunk. The Oriskany is the last of the Essex Class carriers, the same type as Corpus Christi's museum ship, the Lexington. The Oriskany was used during the Korean and Vietnam wars from 1950 to 1976. It will be the largest ship deliberately sunk as an artificial reef, according to the Maritime Administration.