Nation In Brief - USS America

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
November 27, 2006
Pg. 5


NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The retired carrier USS America sits about 320 miles southeast of Ocracoke, N.C., and more than three miles below the Atlantic Ocean, the Navy has revealed. The location of the 1,037-foot, 71,886-ton vessel, scuttled by the Navy in May 2005, had been closely guarded, but a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by the USS America Carrier Veterans Association prompted the disclosure.
 
Did they scuttle her conventionally, or did they give her a dignified ending by sending her under with naval gunfire?
 
America was chosen to be a live-fire test and evaluation platform in 2005, to aid the design of future aircraft carriers. There was some objection to a ship being named for the nation being deliberately sunk at sea, and a committee of her former crew members and other supporters attempted to save the ship for use as a museum ship. Their efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. On 25 February 2005 a ceremony to salute the USS America and her crew was held at the ship's pier in Philadelphia, attended by former crew members and various dignitaries. She departed the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility on 19 April 2005 to conduct the aforementioned tests.
The experiments lasted approximately four weeks. The Navy battered America with explosives, both underwater and above the surface, watching from afar and through monitoring devices placed on the vessel. These explosions were designed to simulate attacks by torpedoes, cruise missiles and perhaps a small boat suicide attack like the one that damaged the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.
After the completion of the tests, America was sunk in a controlled scuttling on 14 May 2005 at approximately 1130, although the sinking was not publicized until six days later. At the time, no warship of that size had ever been sunk, and effects were closely monitored; theoretically the tests would reveal data about how supercarriers respond to battle damage.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_America_(CV-66)
 
Well I'm glad that a grand ship like that went to good use. It's been the case in the past that Aussie warships are sunk by naval gunfire, a fitting end for a warship....




and if it's a North Korean ship the RAAF just hits it with a flight of F-111s:p
 
Well I'm glad that a grand ship like that went to good use. It's been the case in the past that Aussie warships are sunk by naval gunfire, a fitting end for a warship....




and if it's a North Korean ship the RAAF just hits it with a flight of F-111s:p

AMEN :rockin:
 
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