Keep Track of the Forrestal!

A reader sent me a link to a site he hosts!  It is totally worth a visit!  The photos alone are tremendous!  Here: http://navy.memorieshop.com/Forrestal/LAST-VOYAGE/index.html

USS Forrestal's Final Voyage

CVA-59/ CV/ AVT-59 USS Forrestal, laid down in 1952 and commissioned in 1955, was the first supercarrier, and carried the torch for freedom until 1993, when she was decommissioned.  She is 1039 feet long and four acres of American real-estate.  In 1963 she was host to a C-130 Hercules.   There was hope that USS Forrestal Museum Inc. could raise enough money, public interest, and premises to give her a permanent home as a museum ship.  The USS Forrestal Museum Inc., however, switched their efforts from USS Forrestal to USS Kitty Hawk, CV-63, for various reasons.  The result was that, in October 2013, the US Navy awarded a contract to All Star Metals of Brownsville, Texas, that infamous place on the gulf coast that eats old, brave navy ships, to recycle and dismantle her.  The Navy paid All Stars Metals one cent.  ONE CENT!!

The up-shot is, in the dawn hours of February 4th, the Ex-USS Forrestal was to begin her final journey to sea.  If you live near Philadelphia, along the East Coast, the Gulf Coast, or near Brownsville, Texas, and you see a proud ship under tow, please, take a minute, watch her in her glory.  Take a picture.  Share the moment with a child or loved one.  Say a prayer.  Remember the men who served aboard her.  Remember her service.  For she is a proud ship.

And, if you DO get a photo, send it my way to be posted.  Please!


      

End of Two Eras is Nigh?

I have been a big fan of the heavy hitting capability of the A-10 Warthog for a very long time.  I am also quite fond of the tradition, heritage, and capability of the U-2/TR-1 series of black jets.  They may not be with us much longer, though, according to Chief of U.S. Air Force Air Command Command Gen. Michael Hostage in an interview with Air Force Times.  

Because big business seems to be running things in Washington DC we can look forward to buying more drones like Global Hawk, but that leaves little money for the continuation of U-2/TR-1 service.  That then puts out of commission an entirely viable, of older technology.  Why are we letting big business wine and dine our politicians?  Is it good to have technology for technology sake?  I don't know the answers, but I wonder.

The A-10 may die because of the fact that it does not have a place on battlefield of the future.  Given the fact that we may be facing insurgents and un-organized hostile forces, this actually seems reasonable.  Still, the A-10 carries that badge of honor of being an ugly but capable weapons system.  

You can find out more here and here.