Posted on Mar 7, 2015
The USS Ranger underway on her final cruise. Thank you Ranger alumni for your service.
10.5K
62
32
6
6
0
USS Ranger towed from Bremerton; next stop Texas scrap yard
BREMERTON, Wash. — The mothballed aircraft carrier USS Ranger was towed out of Bremerton Thursday, starting a 16,000-mile trip from Puget Sound, around South America to a scrap yard in Texas.
The USS Constellation completed the same five-month journey in January to International Shipbreaking at Brownsville, Texas.
The Ranger was commissioned in 1957 and was active from the Vietnam War to Operation Desert Storm, the first Persian Gulf War. The carrier was decommissioned in 1993 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
USS Ranger leaving Puget Sound for Texas scrap yard
The Kitsap Sun reports the Ranger's departure will leave two carriers in the Bremerton mothball fleet, the USS Independence and the USS Kitty Hawk.
The Independence goes to Texas later this year. The Navy is holding Kitty Hawk in reserve until the supercarrier USS Gerald R. Ford becomes active in 2019.
BREMERTON, Wash. — The mothballed aircraft carrier USS Ranger was towed out of Bremerton Thursday, starting a 16,000-mile trip from Puget Sound, around South America to a scrap yard in Texas.
The USS Constellation completed the same five-month journey in January to International Shipbreaking at Brownsville, Texas.
The Ranger was commissioned in 1957 and was active from the Vietnam War to Operation Desert Storm, the first Persian Gulf War. The carrier was decommissioned in 1993 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
USS Ranger leaving Puget Sound for Texas scrap yard
The Kitsap Sun reports the Ranger's departure will leave two carriers in the Bremerton mothball fleet, the USS Independence and the USS Kitty Hawk.
The Independence goes to Texas later this year. The Navy is holding Kitty Hawk in reserve until the supercarrier USS Gerald R. Ford becomes active in 2019.
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 13
4
4
0
I never stepped aboard the USS Ranger, but I will mourn her passing.
I don't know if aircraft or armor guys feel the same way, but when a ship gets decommissioned and later "ceases to exist" - as we say in the canoe club - anyone who served aboard that ship experiences a sense of loss. Even if we didn't like the time we served aboard, we still feel like a "shipmate" is gone.
BZ to the USS Ranger and ALL who served aboard her.
Farewell, Ranger... Fair winds and following seas...
I don't know if aircraft or armor guys feel the same way, but when a ship gets decommissioned and later "ceases to exist" - as we say in the canoe club - anyone who served aboard that ship experiences a sense of loss. Even if we didn't like the time we served aboard, we still feel like a "shipmate" is gone.
BZ to the USS Ranger and ALL who served aboard her.
Farewell, Ranger... Fair winds and following seas...
(4)
(0)
SFC Mark Merino
They just retired my aircraft (OH-58D) and they are starting to show up at the aircraft graveyard right here in Tucson. It is like attending a funeral.
(3)
(0)
PO2 Steven Erickson
SFC Mark Merino, do pilots or crew chiefs follow individual airframes? I was wondering if there was a "bond" between man and machine in the Army / Air Force?
(1)
(0)
SFC Mark Merino
Oh Lord, YES. All the pilots are left to their fates. Only about 40% are reclassing to other airframes. The rest are left to become walking warrants or leave (the majority are leaving). The crewchiefs (15S) are having to reclass to other airframes or MOS's. The armament dawgs get additional identifiers to work on the 58's, so they will have to relearn other specialties. The big push is Apaches. I am a HUGE fan of the aircraft, but the scout mission just took a gigantic kick in the nards. When bad guys run ino crowded streets , the 58D could fly right over them and engage with an M-4. Many times the enemy dropped weapons and the scouts marked the location for the ground guys. I guess the Apache will just blow up the neighborhood and wave to the Al Jezeera camera crew.
(2)
(0)
PO2 Steven Erickson
Thanks, SFC Mark Merino.
BTW, I was in Phoenix about a month ago. Sweeeeet weather compared to Chicago.
Couldn't image August, tho. Never thought living 98 miles from the surface of the sun was a good time!!!!
BTW, I was in Phoenix about a month ago. Sweeeeet weather compared to Chicago.
Couldn't image August, tho. Never thought living 98 miles from the surface of the sun was a good time!!!!
(1)
(0)
4
4
0
This just makes me feel old. My best friend from HS was on the Ranger during DS/DS. Which means I was at OBC at the time, which means.... damn.
(4)
(0)
3
3
0
I made the 1979 Ranger cruise with the VF21 Freelancers flying the f4J. I was the AME Shop supervisor.
My last deployment was on the Connie as the Det Chief in Cubi Point. We flew the F14A Tomcat
The year was 1985 and once again I was a VF21 Freelancer.
They were great ships to sail on and it's sad to see them go.
My last deployment was on the Connie as the Det Chief in Cubi Point. We flew the F14A Tomcat
The year was 1985 and once again I was a VF21 Freelancer.
They were great ships to sail on and it's sad to see them go.
(3)
(0)
3
3
0
MAJ Matthew Arnold
Maybe we could put together a government grant to buy her and take civilians and wanabies on little cruses so they can see what it's like to live on a aircraft carrier. Why not, they give government grants for the dumbest things. And, "There is a sucker born every minute," PT Barnum. (I think.)
(0)
(0)
3
3
0
I am going to ask the ignorant question. Why are we going around the Cape Horn vice going through the Panama Canal?
(3)
(0)
MAJ Matthew Arnold
Next question. Why are we moving her around the tip of Southmerka to Texas? Aren't there any scrap yards on the West coast?
(1)
(0)
Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
Generally speaking, they're too big. The canal was never designed for our carriers.
(1)
(0)
CPO Emmett (Bud) Carpenter
Way too big. I went thru the Suez Canal on the USS Coral Sea and that was a little bit tight.
(1)
(0)
PO2 Steven Erickson
MAJ Matthew Arnold
Major, it's a simple question of capabilities and scheduling. There are very few shipyards that are capable of scrapping such a huge ship. Nuclear subs and the USS Enterprise currently being scrapped take years, so the other big ships play "musical chairs" to find a drydock big enough.
When you consider that these ships are towed to wherever their final resting place is, the towing cost is pretty much irrelevant compared to what's needed to scrap them.
Major, it's a simple question of capabilities and scheduling. There are very few shipyards that are capable of scrapping such a huge ship. Nuclear subs and the USS Enterprise currently being scrapped take years, so the other big ships play "musical chairs" to find a drydock big enough.
When you consider that these ships are towed to wherever their final resting place is, the towing cost is pretty much irrelevant compared to what's needed to scrap them.
(1)
(0)
2
2
0
Retired carrier Ranger reaches Texas for scrap ...
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2015/07/13/retired-carrier-ranger-reaches-texas-for-scrap/30085009/
SFC Mark Merino
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2015/07/13/retired-carrier-ranger-reaches-texas-for-scrap/30085009/
SFC Mark Merino
Retired carrier Ranger reaches Texas for scrap
The former aircraft carrier Ranger has reached a South Texas shipyard where it will be taken apart for scrap and recycling.
(2)
(0)
2
2
0
2
2
0
That is very, very sad. Even though I retired from the Air Force, I have always had a lot of respect for the ability of the Navy to project air power.
And of course, there is no plan to replace the tired, aged deserving of retirement vessel, because the cold war is over, and the 80's want their policy back...
And of course, there is no plan to replace the tired, aged deserving of retirement vessel, because the cold war is over, and the 80's want their policy back...
(2)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google