Brazil sinks asbestos-laden warship in Atlantic despite fears of ‘incalculable’ damage

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."'Tragic and regrettable'
Brazilian authorities said it was better to sink the ship on purpose rather than allow it to sink spontaneously on its own.

The Navy insisted it had chosen a spot for sinking that considered "the security of navigation and the environment" and "the mitigation of the impacts on public health, fishing activities and ecosystems."

A judge overruled a last-minute legal bid to stop the operation, saying in his decision that an unplanned sinking could be even worse for the environment or pose a danger to crews, the G1 news outlet reported.

He called the situation "tragic and regrettable," according to G1.

Built in the late 1950s in France, whose navy sailed it for 37 years as the Foch, the aircraft carrier earned a place in 20th-century naval history.

It took part in France's first nuclear tests in the Pacific in the 1960s, and deployments in Africa, the Middle East and the former Yugoslavia from the 1970s to 1990s.

Brazil bought the 266-meter (873-foot) aircraft carrier for $12 million in 2000."...