USS FDR

Jimz,

I dont have much information about the incident but I do know that CV-42 was stricken on October 1, 1997 and subsequently scrapped.

You might want to try these sites for info:

www.navsource.org
www.hazegray.org

Navsource has a nice photo set on the FDR

What I read, the FDR was one of three Midway class carriers. There was not any information about a major accident on her. She was decommissioned in 1977 and scrapped in 1979. However, since I spent time around Bremerton, it is not uncommon for accidents such as falls, fire, and explosions to happen on ships while in storage and make the local newspaper. This may have happened but never made the major headlines.

The FDR is sometimes mixed up with the Essex class Ben Franklin CV13. This was the carrier that was badly damaged by kamakazies and sailed halfway around the world to NewYork under her own power.

The Coral Sea was finally stricken in 1997 and scrapping began in 2000. Only Midway is left and she just took a final cruise from Alameda to SanDiego to become a museum.

My father was on the FDR in 1974 to 1977. The only incident that took place in that time frame was a brush with a Tropical storm coming home to Mayport, Fl. from the Med. She was damaged but still seaworthy. She was taken out of service in 1977.

So was she taken out of service due to the damage from the above mentioned storm?
Was she subsequently replaced by a new one say maybe the IKE? Just looking for a straight answer. Thanks.

You are kinda right. Ships are replaced based on the cost to maintain and service. Hazegrey and Underway has an excellent website that explains this system. Since the Carl Vinson was joining the fleet, then a carrier needed to be taken out. The DOD looks at balance sheets, and the FDR may have had the highest cost to service and maintain in the fleet, and added repairs from a storm may had an effect. So they may have decided to decommission her instead of trying to keep her combat ready. It makes no sense sometimes. I was on the Ranger after a $8 million modernization to keep the ship ready for another 20 years. She was decomissioned two years later. Also, the Navy will make repairs to a ship even though they will decomission it because it is going into reserves. A ship will continue to be maintained until it is stricken (sold out of government inventory) and sold off as either scrap, for use in another navy, or for private use. I have been wondering and searching the web for why the Navy struck the FDR so fast as well and have found nothing.

Scott