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USS Forrestal supercarrier on final trip to scrap heap

USS Forrestal: The massive aircraft carrier left under tow early Tuesday to begin its 17- or 18-day trip.

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Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/AP
Tugboat Alex McAllister pushes the USS Forrestal into the Delaware River on the aircraft carrier's final voyage from Navy Shipyard in south Philadelphia for a dismantling and recycling facility in Brownsville, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 4.
  • By Associated Press

| PHILADELPHIA

The Navy's first post-World War II supercarrier has left Philadelphia on a final trip to a scrapping facility in Texas.

The Philadelphia Inquirer says the massive aircraft carrier USS Forrestal left under tow early Tuesday to begin its 17- or 18-day trip.

The 60-year-old ship is being taken to a Brownsville, Texas, recycling facility owned by All Star Metals, which was paid 1 cent to haul away and dismantle it.

The USS Forrestal was decommissioned in September 1993, after more than 38 years of service.

It's best known for a 1967 fire on its flight deck that killed 132 crewmen and injured 62 others.

The Navy made the USS Forrestal available for donation as a museum or memorial but says it received no feasible applications for reuse.

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