mike_s
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Who wants to dive the Forrestal ???
http://www.newportdailynews.com/articles/2006/08/23/news/news2.txt
Navy may sink carrier Forrestal
By Joe Baker/Daily News staff
If the Navy has its way, the Forrestal, the Navy's first "supercarrier," eventually may become a fish farm and a site for adventurous divers.
Decommissioned in 1993, the Forrestal was moved to Pier 2 at Coddington Cove in Middletown in September 1998. A nonprofit group based in Maryland has been trying to raise money to turn the carrier into a museum and move it to Baltimore Harbor.
But that effort may be for naught. The Forrestal has been "identified as a disposable asset," said Patricia Dolan, public affairs officer for the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C., which oversees the disposal of decommissioned Navy ships. The Navy would like to strip it and sink it as an artificial reef. But getting approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is a lengthy process, Dolan said.
"It has been designated for scrapping," Dolan said. "Right now we have no plans for what to do with it, but it is a potential reef candidate."
Maryland officials were not aware the Navy had decided to scrap the Forrestal until informed by The Daily News. The effort to bring the decommissioned carrier to Baltimore had stalled because of security and space issues, according to Henry Fawell, press secretary for Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
Richard Scher, spokesman for the Maryland Port Administration, said there simply is not enough space in the port for a ship the size of the Forrestal. Also, the public does not have access to the port, Scher said, meaning it could not be a public museum.
Ehrlich, despite those obstacles, is "interested in seeing (the Forrestal) brought to Baltimore," Fawell said.
A nonprofit group has been raising money to move the Forrestal's next-door neighbor, the Saratoga, from Pier 2 to Quonset Point in North Kingstown, where it would be used as a museum.
The Navy sunk its first ship for a reef in May. About five years after it announced its plans to do so, the Navy sunk the former aircraft carrier Oriskany in 212 feet of water 24 miles off the coast of Pensacola, Fla. Florida was chosen from among four states because it already had a permitted reef site and an active reef-monitoring program, Dolan said.
The Pensacola Bay Area Convention and Visitors Bureau already is promoting the sunken ship as an opportunity for divers and deep-sea fishermen. It calls the Oriskany "the largest artificial reef in the world" and informs fishermen they "will be able to reel in popular game fish such as grouper, snapper and amberjack" at the site.
Although reefing ships is not cheap, Dolan said, it still would cost less than dismantling and scrapping the Forrestal, which is 1,046 feet long and weighs 59,900 tons.
According to a Navy Web site on the Oriskany reefing, it cost about $20 million to assess the risks, develop the plan, clean the ship and tow it to the reef site. It would have cost the Navy $24 million to dismantle the 32,000-ton carrier.
Dolan said the Navy had to go through a lengthy permitting process with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to sink the Oriskany. The Navy is now trying to get a secure a "national permit" from the EPA so it does not need to go through the process every time it wants to reef a ship, Dolan said.
Before a ship can be sunk, asbestos, fuels and certain paints must be removed, Dolan said. The Navy has hired a maintenance contractor - Global Associates Inc. - to tend to the Forrestal and the Saratoga. The company is conducting "environmental preparations" on the Forrestal now, Dolan said.
http://www.newportdailynews.com/articles/2006/08/23/news/news2.txt
Navy may sink carrier Forrestal
By Joe Baker/Daily News staff
If the Navy has its way, the Forrestal, the Navy's first "supercarrier," eventually may become a fish farm and a site for adventurous divers.
Decommissioned in 1993, the Forrestal was moved to Pier 2 at Coddington Cove in Middletown in September 1998. A nonprofit group based in Maryland has been trying to raise money to turn the carrier into a museum and move it to Baltimore Harbor.
But that effort may be for naught. The Forrestal has been "identified as a disposable asset," said Patricia Dolan, public affairs officer for the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C., which oversees the disposal of decommissioned Navy ships. The Navy would like to strip it and sink it as an artificial reef. But getting approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is a lengthy process, Dolan said.
"It has been designated for scrapping," Dolan said. "Right now we have no plans for what to do with it, but it is a potential reef candidate."
Maryland officials were not aware the Navy had decided to scrap the Forrestal until informed by The Daily News. The effort to bring the decommissioned carrier to Baltimore had stalled because of security and space issues, according to Henry Fawell, press secretary for Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
Richard Scher, spokesman for the Maryland Port Administration, said there simply is not enough space in the port for a ship the size of the Forrestal. Also, the public does not have access to the port, Scher said, meaning it could not be a public museum.
Ehrlich, despite those obstacles, is "interested in seeing (the Forrestal) brought to Baltimore," Fawell said.
A nonprofit group has been raising money to move the Forrestal's next-door neighbor, the Saratoga, from Pier 2 to Quonset Point in North Kingstown, where it would be used as a museum.
The Navy sunk its first ship for a reef in May. About five years after it announced its plans to do so, the Navy sunk the former aircraft carrier Oriskany in 212 feet of water 24 miles off the coast of Pensacola, Fla. Florida was chosen from among four states because it already had a permitted reef site and an active reef-monitoring program, Dolan said.
The Pensacola Bay Area Convention and Visitors Bureau already is promoting the sunken ship as an opportunity for divers and deep-sea fishermen. It calls the Oriskany "the largest artificial reef in the world" and informs fishermen they "will be able to reel in popular game fish such as grouper, snapper and amberjack" at the site.
Although reefing ships is not cheap, Dolan said, it still would cost less than dismantling and scrapping the Forrestal, which is 1,046 feet long and weighs 59,900 tons.
According to a Navy Web site on the Oriskany reefing, it cost about $20 million to assess the risks, develop the plan, clean the ship and tow it to the reef site. It would have cost the Navy $24 million to dismantle the 32,000-ton carrier.
Dolan said the Navy had to go through a lengthy permitting process with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to sink the Oriskany. The Navy is now trying to get a secure a "national permit" from the EPA so it does not need to go through the process every time it wants to reef a ship, Dolan said.
Before a ship can be sunk, asbestos, fuels and certain paints must be removed, Dolan said. The Navy has hired a maintenance contractor - Global Associates Inc. - to tend to the Forrestal and the Saratoga. The company is conducting "environmental preparations" on the Forrestal now, Dolan said.
