U.S. Navy to Sink Aircraft Carrier 'America'

In a controversial move the United States Navy has decided to conduct a full-scale test to see how the largest ships in the fleet can withstand battle damage. The target of this experiment is the decommissioned USS America, which will be sunk using explosives to simulate attacks by enemy weapons.


The Navy is spending approximately $22 million dollars to simulate a major strike on a capital ship, in this case a Kitty Hawk class aircraft carrier, to see how it holds up against a full-scale attack by conventional weapons.. There is much to be learned since no ship of this size or larger has been sunk by enemy action, but smaller vessels have been severely damaged by explosives, such as the USS Cole which was struck by a suicide boat bomb while harbored in Yemen. The data gathered will then be applied to the design of the next generation of supercarriers.

This test stirs up quite a bit of emotion among those who served on the America since she was commissioned in 1965 and retired in 1996. Most seem sad the the ship will be sunk instead of transitioning into a museum.

…Ed Pelletier, who served on the America as a helicopter crewman when the ship cruised the Mediterranean shortly after its commissioning in 1965.
He said he was "unhappy that a ship with that name is going to meet that fate, but happy she'll be going down still serving the country." Pelletier, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., is a trustee of an association of veterans who served on the America.

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[edit on 6-3-2005 by Spectre]

I know how those sailors feel. I looked up one of the ships I was on, the USS Terrebonne Parish (LST-1156), only to find that it had been scrapped. There can only be so many museums. This test will further the Navy's knowledge of how to protect warships and save lives. The ship will become an artificial reef and support marine life. I think that's a fitting end.

[edit on 05/3/6 by GradyPhilpott]

Will be fun to dive on something that big!! Its a sad end, but better than being turned into scrap and future navy ships will benifit from its sacrifice.

I do not like the fact that the one carrier which they want to sink is named "America"......

Couldn't they rename it to "Al Qaeda" or "Bin Laden" and then sink it?.

Maybe they could just paint a big bin Laden face on the flight deck and then bomb the hell out of it, or maybe paint Saddam's face on it, too, and let him watch the sinking live in his cell.

I wonder if some historian will find it in 3000 years and use it as 'proof' that the pax americana was fabricated by the 'ancient american empire'?

After all, physical evidence often proves or disproves accepted historical teachings. The discovery of a badly damaged super carrier from what would have been written down as america's golden age might lead some historian of the future to posit that the US Navy was badly attacked by an unknown adversary in the late 20th century.

Personally, I love the idea of artificial reefs from obsolete vessels. If anyone wants to read up on it here is some information - artificial Reefing FAQ

Yes, sinking a ship named America was what caught my attention. Sinking America! That probably got a lot of eyebrows raised. The rational is discussed in this section,

Why the America? No other retired supercarriers were available on the East Coast when the test was planned, Dolan said. The others - the Forrestal and the Saratoga - were designated as potential museums

Since we were on the topic of sinking big ships, get this.

Although no larger warship has ever been sunk, bigger civilian vessels have gone down. The largest ship in the world, the supertanker Seawise Giant, was sunk by Iraqi warplanes in the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Fully loaded, it displaced more than half a million tons. It was later refloated and renamed.

Egad! You can't keep a good one down, I guess!

Originally posted by onlyinmydreams
I wonder if some historian will find it in 3000 years and use it as 'proof' that the pax americana was fabricated by the 'ancient american empire'?

Intersting theory, but without a large amount of USN ships sunk, I may just be considered an oddity.

Edit: In regards to a super tanker vs. Carrier, Navy ships are designed differntly and no doubt contain a large number of bulkheads and bracing you may not find on a civilian ship.

[edit on 3/6/05 by FredT]

The Navy announced the sinking complete:

Carrier America sunk

By Matt Hilburn
Times staff writer


The carrier America now lies beneath the surface of the Atlantic, scuttled by the Navy.
Pat Dolan, a spokeswoman for Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC, confirmed the “controlled” sinking took place at approximately 11:30 a.m. on May 14.

The decommissioned ship, out of service since 1996, was the target of a series of tests designed to try out new defense and damage control systems for the CVN-21 carrier program. It was the largest ship deliberately sunk by the Navy.

In fact, the America was the largest warship ever sunk by any means, in war or peace.

Tom Tramantano, president of the USS America Carrier Veterans Association Inc., a group that had been trying to save the carrier and turn it into a museum, called it a “sad day.”

“I feel I really haven’t had time to mourn,” said Tramantano, who served on the America as a lithographer third class during the ship’s 1968 Vietnam deployment.

Tramantano said the group will now focus its efforts toward getting the next class of carriers named after the America.

“There’s some anger in me that they would allow a ship with the country’s name to be sunk,” he said. “But I’m also proud that the testing may do some future good.”

I personally do not understand this action, however, I spoke with a pilot that flew off her and he told me that the power plant was basically a leftover from a battleship that was not completed. This was done to save money but basically put America behind in technology at her construction. In addition, I have read that even the steel used in her was of a less capable grade than the other carriers of her day. If these ideas were indeed true, then cost cutting doomed her from the beginning, which could have lead to her early retirement, and sinking without the possibility of a museum.

So sad that they chose "America" but this sinking will at least go on to help save the lives of numerous other US and allied sailors possibly. Anyhow I wonder how much ordinance it took to sink that thing.

Originally posted by Muaddib
I do not like the fact that the one carrier which they want to sink is named "America"......

Couldn't they rename it to "Al Qaeda" or "Bin Laden" and then sink it?.

because of the symbolic importance of suicuiding an american icon. even i'm sad, and i hate warships.
goodbye, america.

RIP


USS AMERICA




I heard a rumor that her cats are on the DeGaule

Was it just me or did others on this board feel a great sadness sweep across them as they read that America had been sank and now rests at the bottom of the sea?
Very depressing stuff. I know it will benefit future ships and their sailors, but I can't help but feel as though we lost something important.

Originally posted by Muaddib
I do not like the fact that the one carrier which they want to sink is named "America"......

I find NWO irony in this.

I have a few friends who will be sadden to hear this. I can relate. None of the depots in Germany that I spent a good chunk of my youth are still there. Kind of strange.

So the US Military sunk America, when will the United states meet the same fate?

I am amused by the irony

Apparently, you and I are not looking at the same irony.

Playing the semantic card here, the United States is not America. America comprises North and South America.

An aircraft carrier with the name of a group of 2 continents was sunk. Does that lessen the apparent loss here?

Maybe if it were called "The United States of America" I could see your point.

It was NOT turn into an artficial reef if you read more you will find out they sank it in 6,000 feet of water.
reefs CANNOT grow at a Mile down. Sinking it at 6,000 feet is just about ussles for sea life . But they were not worryed about that they sank it where they did to minmise the chances of someone diving to it.

There is a reason you don't name ships after it's country. They found that out in 1812. Really makes bad press when the headline reads "Confederates capture the United States"

So the song "God Bless America", "America" and "America, the Beautiful" includes Canadians and Mexicans and not just 'americans' ?

[edit on 5/22/2005 by Jehosephat]

Originally posted by subz
Playing the semantic card here, the United States is not America. America comprises North and South America.

An aircraft carrier with the name of a group of 2 continents was sunk. Does that lessen the apparent loss here?

Maybe if it were called "The United States of America" I could see your point.

common usage of 'america' is to mean 'the united states of america'. if the ship were called 'the americas', i could see YOUR point.

this is a deliberate illuminati symbolic ritual. it signifies the official death of the once great nation.

sad.