Navy’s Third Ford-Class Aircraft Carrier to be Named...

[Arioch]

As some of you may know, the first nuclear aircraft carrier CVN-65 USS Enterprise, in service since 1961 is due to be retired in 2013 and replaced by CVN-78 USS Gerald R. Ford, the first of a new class of aircraft carrier.

During the ceremony on Friday in which Enterprise was inactivated, the Navy announced that the ship's name would be transferred to a new vessel, the third Ford-class carrier to be built (CVN-80), which is planned to be in service some time around 2025.

http://www.defense.gov/releases/release ... seid=15708

(For any who were wondering, CVN-79 is planned to be named John F. Kennedy.)


"Task Force 1" in 1964: Enterprise with nuclear-powered escorts Long Beach and Bainbridge

[NOMAD]

YAHOOOOO, the ENT name still lives on.

i hope the old CVN is turned into a museum, long chances of that happening, but the Enterprise name is famous in history and sci-fi circles.

Glad is see the US navy will still have a various of the "Grey Ghost'

[fredgiblet]

Good news indeed.

[Smithy]

I still can't believe they scrapped USS Enterprise (CV-6) in the late 1950's. That hunk of steel was the epitome of a fighting ship at war.

So in a way every Big-E after the Yorktown class just seems a little sad to me..

[GeoModder]

Well, even capital ships grow old...

[Arioch]

One the one hand, it's too bad that the plans to make CV-6 into a museum fell through; if any ship deserved such honors it was certainly the Big E. But on the other hand, I think having the ship preserved might have prevented the name being used again, and that would be too bad... CVN-65 was, I think, a worthy successor, being the first nuclear carrier, the only member of her class, to this date the longest naval vessel ever built, and the longest-serving vessel in the history of the US Navy (with the exception of USS Constitution, which is only formally still in commission).

(And if the name had never been reused, there's a certain well-known starship that might have ended up with a different name...)

My impression is that CVN-65 is already scheduled to be scrapped.

[Wintermute]

Before anyone gets up in-arms about the CVN-65 most-likely-not going to be turned into a museum (I'm sad too), remember that to decommission the ship they need to remove a whole-lotta stuff from the inside, including the nuclear powerplant (and associated facilities). From what I've read, by the time they finished with that, there wouldn't be a whole lot of "ship" left to be turned into a museum.

[GeoModder]

Ah, the ease of using fossile fuel-propelled capital ships! You can turn them into museums without the hassle of removing power plants.

Just checked how many capital ships were turned into musea in the US. Thirteen battleships and carriers already? Wow...

[fredgiblet]

I'm pretty sure that percentage-wise that's not very high.

[GeoModder]

About 64 battleships, and 77 aircraft carriers, have been existence or are still in service in the US Navy. That's about 10% turned into museums after service life.
There's not many nations retaining this percentage of former military vessels as musea...

[Trantor]

About 64 battleships, and 77 aircraft carriers, have been existence or are still in service in the US Navy. That's about 10% turned into museums after service life.
There's not many nations retaining this percentage of former military vessels as musea...

Do diving destinations count? Then the germans have 100%.

scnr.

[Absalom]

About 64 battleships, and 77 aircraft carriers, have been existence or are still in service in the US Navy. That's about 10% turned into museums after service life.
There's not many nations retaining this percentage of former military vessels as musea...

Do diving destinations count? Then the germans have 100%.

scnr.

No, that would be a tourist trap.

[GeoModder]

Do diving destinations count? Then the germans have 100%.

Well... no!
(this would up the percentage of museums all over the world )

[JQBogus]

Do diving destinations count? Then the germans have 100%.

scnr.

/Pedant ON

Actually, not that many German capital ships (Battleships, Battlecruisers, Carriers) are available as diving destinations.

WWI era : 26 Battleships and Battlecriusers built (plus one seized from the Russians, for 27 total)
1 Scrapped by Germany
20 Scrapped by other than Germany (Many after being awarded as reparations, more scuttled at Scapa Flow, but raised & scrapped before WWII)
2* Sunk as targets (one was reparation ship, other was recovered from Scapa Flow).
3* Scuttled at Scapa Flow, never raised.
1* Scuttled after severe damage at Jutland.

WWII era : 7 Battleships (3 Deutschland class "Pocket Battleships", 2 Scharnhorsts, 2 Bismarcks)
4 Heavily damaged or sunk in port/canals/shallows, were scrapped rather than repaired.
1* Blown up by its own crew off S. America
2* Sunk in Battle

So the ones marked with a (*) are theoretically available to divers. 9 out of 34, or about 26.5%. No German dreadnought era capital ships remain afloat in any capacity.

Also note that there is some debate about the Deutschlands actually being capital ships.

/Pedant OFF

[Arioch]

And most of those are far too deep to be visited by divers... but I don't think that was the point of the joke.

[Trantor]

Actually, since this topic is about aircraft carriers, the Graf Zeppelin is available to divers.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graf_Zeppelin_(1938)

100%.

[JQBogus]

I didn't include it because it was never commissioned, but I probably should have included it since it was launched.

[GeoModder]

Actually, since this topic is about aircraft carriers, the Graf Zeppelin is available to divers.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graf_Zeppelin_(1938)

100%.

How about a link to the English article?

[Suederwind]

How about a link to the English article?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_air ... f_Zeppelin

Btw: its more than 87 m under water and so diving there is not easy.

[Dragoon]

Well that's sad, my father helped build that ship and has always been very proud of that fact. Gonna hate to have to tell him their putting her down.

Still Fifty some years of very active service. A couple of wars, more than a few missions, and surviving a fire that could have well sent her to the bottom in the sixties...Not bad. She can rest easy.