Indy is moving from Bremerton, WA to Brownsville, TX for scrap today. I have a shipmate there witnessing the event.
She served us well. 1959-1998

USS INDEPENDENCE, CV62, OZ Div, Dec 1977- Nov 1980.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: djinco,

Three old carriers already being scrapped at Brownsville.

https://www.google.com/maps/pl...017472!4d-97.4974838

Last time i saw the Indy was in 1998 in Pearl

As far as the Brownsville link i only see the Saratoga

^
You didn't see the two other hulls just across the canal to the southeast. Can't read the hull numbers.

Ok, i see them now. I on my phone so i missed them

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
^
You didn't see the two other hulls just across the canal to the southeast. Can't read the hull numbers.

One is 60, that would be the Saratoga.

Have any of you Navy guys ever gone down to the shipbreakers and tried to get something from the ship before it is scrapped? If I spent a lot of time on a ship, I would like to have something from it to commemorate my time. Even a small piece of steel from the hull would be cool!

It's foggy as shit outside, the chance of seeing something slipping out of Bremerton today are nearly zilch. What time? Funny, they don't broadcast their AIS transponders ...

Not from any ship that has been decomissioned, but i do have this.



Its a peice of the damaged deck and shoreing from the USS Princeton after we hit a mine.

I also have a peice if the hull they removed and was cut into a shape of an anchor.


I git yo watch another ship i deployed on be sunk off Hawaii, USS Kinkaid. We had our Helo up and i watched as 2 Harpoon missiles slamed into her.

OK I see an aircraft carrier being towed by the biggest tugs I've ever seen ... it's about 3 miles away so it's a bit hard to see the detail through the fog; just north of Blake Island right at the Bremerton exit into the Puget Sound area. Super cool… Hard to catch these because you have to be looking out the window at exactly the right time. Thank you guys for the heads up; seeing a carrier is a rare event although I've seen three in the last two months. That tells me something is afoot.

My Dad served two cruises (flew A-4s then A-7s) on the Independence.

The rain is making it near impossible to get a photograph… Specially through a telescope compressing the rain/fog. Truly a wonderful site wish I could share it with you but it's just a foggy silhouette at this point. If it gets closer I'll try to get a snapshot.

AIS tracking shows the master tug, the DINO CHOUEST as the lead tender ... it tracks back to Bremerton and is moving quite slowly at 1.3 kn. Not quite sure just what it's doing with the aircraft carrier in tow at the moment.

That is a weird place to be messing around as at least four cargo ships that are from the defunct Chinese or Korean line (Han Chin???) are being stored over there, and perhaps they're just trying to wiggle around them?

Update: that seems to be the case now moving through the anchored/moored cargo ships, now pointed towards the south end of Bremerton island. Complicating matters is there is an active cargo shipping lane with freight moving north and south of there ... going to have to navigate around these ships. Amazing sight!

Too far away for an iPhone ... used a spotting scope for the close up.

Sad to see these ships heading to the rendering plant.

I served on the Truxton, Jason, and Klondike. All of them are gone.

Time marches on.

Mike

For a sailor who served on carriers (USS Forrestal, 1980-84), it is a sad, sad thing to see your former home sold to be used for razor blades.