Kinda sad tonight...

Starting a rant...I thought they should have signed the Surrender (VJ Day) on the USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6) rather than the Might Mo'. That carrier was in more campaigns during Pacific Theater action than any other ship. I'm off now.

Sad to hear the NEW ORLEANS is now MIA after two cities couldn't get her. The rest of the "Sprucans" are on their way out of the Navy also. Literally only a handful left.

At least we can point to a good news story...the USS CONSTITUTION is still afloat and on Active Duty. What other country can say that they have an original warship from the 18th Century still afloat on active register? HMS VICTORY comes close, but she is on display in drydock in Portsmouth, England.

Semper Fi to all those who sailed the seas in these mighty ships and to those who flew the skies in those man-made Angels of Mercy.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Jeff_Herne There's a long list of ships that we as a society should have saved, not because we miss them today, but because they were historically significant back then, and we knew it...but the anxiety of war, and the desire to wipe away the images of those years of conflict, destined many to the scrapper's torch. Just off the top of my head: USS Enterprise CV-6 USS Saratoga CV-3 USS San Francisco USS Fletcher any one of the Civil War Monitors HMS Dreadnought HMS Sheffield

I agree wholeheartedly... the only reason the Lexington survived is because enough aviators went across her decks when she was a trainer to make a "voice" to save her be heard... there's not enough of us to save em... sadly enough... the NEw Orleans was supposed to be bought by the city of New Orleans to have as a museum... that fell through... then Long Beach wanted her, they were going to put her right next to the Queen Elizabeth... no dice there, they couldn't dish up the money the governement wanted and preserve her as well... so where is she now??? waiting to be towed off shore to be used as target practice...

As a side note... at least (through a private foundation) the CSS Hunley is getting the respect it deserves... they are moving into the preservation phase soon I understand... it would be neat one day to go see the worlds first reported sub used in combat...

It certainly makes you depressed...although I'm not former Navy, at this point in my life, ships are a passion...I wonder now what my reasoning for wanting tanks over ships was so many years ago.

There's a long list of ships that we as a society should have saved, not because we miss them today, but because they were historically significant back then, and we knew it...but the anxiety of war, and the desire to wipe away the images of those years of conflict, destined many to the scrapper's torch. Just off the top of my head:

USS Enterprise CV-6
USS Saratoga CV-3
USS San Francisco
USS Fletcher
any one of the Civil War Monitors
HMS Dreadnought
HMS Sheffield

I read over on Steelnavy that the Chinese have actually built a 1:1 scale model of one of their early pre-dreadnought battleships...the name escapes me at present, but this ship is beautiful...and was launched amidst much fanfare and celebration. For us, we can't even take care of the historic ships we have now (USS Olympia is rotting away). We're so concerned with everyone else's financial woes in the world that we neglect our own historical preservation...when you think about all the foriegn aid we provide to the world, why can't 50 million be put aside every couple of years and divided amongst our museum ships, battleground sites, and other historical places?

Sorry for the rant...

Jeff

QUOTE: Originally posted by therriman I know your pain. I served on the USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7) for 3 years (81 to 84). The Intrepid museum wanted to buy her and put her there, but funding fell short. And one day I was one one of my Referance sites ( www.navsource.org ) and found photo's of my last ship USS Caron (DD-970) (the one I was on during Desert Storm no less) going down. Here is one of the photo's:

another survivor of a gator frieghter!!!

I saw that pic of the Caron.... that's sad... at least the Guam went quickly... The Guadalcanal, Inchon and New Orleans are the only survivors of them all according to that navsource link you sent me.

for those of you who haven't been on a ship, it really is like seing a person die in a wierd way, when it was "your" ship at least... the ship really is the men and stories attached to it.. there is a literal attachment to the ship and your "home" In a sense the ship is "alive" and we spoke of her like a person or a living thing... our brothers in green like Grandadjohn hit it right when he said about the Huey's.. "They were our friends"

here's therriman's photo 'snatched' from their website, I guess they don't allow linking...

I know your pain. I served on the USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7) for 3 years (81 to 84). The Intrepid museum wanted to buy her and put her there, but funding fell short.
And one day I was one one of my Referance sites ( www.navsource.org ) and found photo's of my last ship USS Caron (DD-970) (the one I was on during Desert Storm no less) going down. Here is one of the photo's:

QUOTE: Originally posted by Dragonfire I could be wrong, but I think LPH-11, USS NEW ORLEANS still survived. She was supposed to become a museum down on the New Orleans riverfront. All isn't lost yet.

Really? cool! I'll have to check in and make sure that is the same hull design as the Guam and see if I can find anything... it would be nice to go back and take those pics you never got to take, smell the smell of JP-5 again (although I know it won't be there) Walk through the areas I used to spend my time in...

thanks!

--Tom--

Here...Here....John.

It is always sad to see an "old friend" go. Although I was in the Army, I felt the same thing the first time I saw a HUEY used for target practice, we served in them and they became our "friends". Sad to see them go, wish they could be preserved. But they still remain in our(and others) memories.
John
Helicopters don't fly, they beat the air into submission

I could be wrong, but I think LPH-11, USS NEW ORLEANS still survived. She was supposed to become a museum down on the New Orleans riverfront. All isn't lost yet.

Thanks Al, I think you are right.. the ship really was an entity of her own when we were out..

Carl, yeah that was the Guam.. some new anti shipping weapon they were working on... Thinking about this morning, maybe that is a better way for a warship to go than rotting in mothballs waiting to be sold for scrap...

Kinda sad they didn't use any of the LPH's as museums... not quiet the attraction as aircraft carriers and such... and it's understandable... there really wasn't anything to them without the air wing and marine detachment on board...

Thanks yall for letting an old sailor cry in his beer like that... I feel better now...

"Doc",

Is that the USS GUAM? Didn't know they took her out that way. I can't sympathize with you (the ships I floated on are still on Active Duty) but to me it doesn't seem the way for a warship to go (as target practice). I know a lot of the ships my Dad served on were either sold to foreign navies, scrapped, or turned into museums (USS MIDWAY). I'm sorry about that Doc. She'll always be on float as long as you have memories of her.

Semper Fi!

Carl

I was in the Army, so I don't really know. I went through my training at Ft Benning in those old wood frame fire-traps built in WW2, and they were torn down in the late 80's but I don't think it's exactly the same. I had friends who were in units which had ceased to exist in the Table of Organization (like the 501 and 503 Inf Regts, now restored, I understand, but they had been disbanded), but I don't think that's exactly the same thing either.

John Keegan, in The Price of Admiralty, says when speaking of the HMS Victory, that there's something special about a fighting ship, and the weight of history it carries, like it's the ship, not the area of ocean that the battle took place in, that is the actual battlefield. And when a ship is preserved it's like the battlefield is preserved in the actual condition as the time of the battle.

People have been lamenting the fate of great and storied ships going to the breaker's yard for at least 200 years. There's a well known painting by (I think) William Turner, called The Fighting Temereraire, showing that famous ship headed for the breakers. How close was the Constitution, and even the Victory, to being broken up at one time or another? Thank goodness we've saved as much as we have.

Al