The decommissioned aircraft carrier, USS
Independence has just passed by Costa Rica on its final mission, from Bremerton
and onward to Brownsville, Texas.
This is the first leg of a long 16,000 mile
journey that will take the 60,000-ton super carrier around the tip of South
America, transiting the Strait of Magellan and eventually into EMR Group’s
International Shipbreaking Ltd. yard in Brownsville, Texas.
USS Independence left on her final journey on
Saturday, March 11th from the Kitsap Naval Base in Bremerton, Washington to
Brownsville, Texas and is expected to take just under three months.
The carrier is being towed by a tug named the
Dino Chouest and the journey will involve navigating down the West coast of the
Americas and then back up the East coast of South America. She follows two of
her fellow Navy vessels to the same site in Brownsville – the USS Constellation
and the USS Ranger (of Top Gun fame).
The Brownsville site is a metal recycling
yard operated by International Shipbreaking Ltd., part of the EMR Group. The
company won the Navy bid to recycle the 60,000-ton vessel, the last of the
Forrestal-class of “supercarriers.”
Chris Green, the senior manager of the
Brownsville site commented: “The scale of the logistical and towing preparation
to set the USS Independence on her final voyage has been enormous. Preparations
at the Brownsville yard are complete and the team is ready in anticipation for
her arrival.
“We take great pride in having been awarded
another US Navy ship recycling contract. It’s testament to our parent company
EMR’s investment in the International Shipbreaking Ltd. facilities that we are
able to complete large scale ship recycling contracts in a safe and
environmentally responsible manner.”
The arrival of the USS Independence in
Brownsville, likely to be in early June will be celebrated with a beach-side
event.
Source: marine
link. 3 April 2017
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