International Shipbreaking Ltd. just finished dismantling
one aircraft carrier at the Port of Brownsville and is about to take delivery
of another one.
The company, part of the EMR Group, lifted the last piece
of the former USS Constellation — a roughly 12,000-pound propeller shaft strut
— out of the water on May 10, two years and a few months after the steel
behemoth arrived at Brownsville for scrapping, according to International
Shipbreaking Vice President Robert Berry.
The decommissioned USS Independence, which left
Bremerton, Wash., March 11 under tow for the 16,000-mile trip around the tip of
South America to Brownsville, is expected to arrive May 31 or June 1, he said.
Berry said he’s trying to get a firmer
estimated-time-of-arrival, since the company is planning a ceremony at Isla
Blanca Park for veterans who served on the carrier, which was commissioned in
1959 and decommissioned in 1998.
The company is holding the ceremony in response to
feedback from numerous veterans of other carriers that have come to
Brownsville, who felt a tribute of some sort should take place. The
Independence will be the fifth Navy “supercarrier” to arrive at the port for
scrapping.
Berry said taking apart such a large vessel is a
monumental undertaking, while the ships themselves can mean a great deal to the
people who were stationed on them. Tens of thousands of people will have served
on a carrier by the time it’s decommissioned, and according to veterans groups
as many as 85 percent of those stationed aboard vessels that were retired in
the last 20 years are still living, he said.
“When it’s a fighting ship there’s always a lot of
memories and a lot of reflection over the life of that ship and all the people
that served on it,” Berry said.
The company also fields inquiries from many veterans and
their families seeking mementos — the plastic plaques above ships’ doorways are
much in demand, for example, he said. The company has an eBay store with such items
from recycled vessels, Berry said.
“We move a lot of stuff,” he said. “It’s not what we do
for a living, but it’s part of what we do because we think it’s the right thing
to do.”
Source: Brownsville Herald. 15 May
2017
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