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Author Topic: Scrapping Super-Carriers  (Read 1435 times)

Ruckdog

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Scrapping Super-Carriers
« on: January 08, 2015, 10:21:27 am »
Looks like the Ex-CONSTELLATION is on her way to the breakers:

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/local-news/uss-constellation-nears-final-destination_91612057

This makes the third carrier in the last year or so we've sent to the scrapyard, including the Ex-FORRESTAL and the Ex-SARATOGA. For years, these venerable ships sat silent in places like Bremerton and Newport, but it looks like this quiet twilight retirement is coming to an end.
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Landlubber

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Re: Scrapping Super-Carriers
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2015, 01:16:05 pm »
Why do you put the "Ex-" in front of the ship's name? Because it's been decommissioned?

I remember you and I having a discussion about these old ships a few years ago when I visited you down at Norfolk. You were talking about how expensive it would be to keep them maintained and floating if they were to be turned into museums (something the news media hadn't quite caught on to at the time)---I can't remember which ship we were talking about.
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"Sometimes, you gotta roll the hard six."--Commander Adama

Ruckdog

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Re: Scrapping Super-Carriers
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2015, 03:49:32 pm »
Yes, that's correct; in official documentation and reference, the "USS" prefix is very specifically applied only to commissioned warships. New ships, prior to being commissioned, use the prefix "PCU" for "Pre-Commissioning Unit," and following decommissioning, gain the "Ex-" prefix.  So, the CONSTELLATION went from "PCU CONSTELLATION" during construction and trials, to "USS CONSTELLATION" while she was in commissioned service, to "Ex-CONSTELLATION" once she was decommissioned. Now, in informal discussion, it is fine to say "USS Constellation," like in a news story and the like (note the lower-case spelling...intentional...ship names are always in ALL CAPS when discussed in naval correspondence), but I have a habit of falling into the formal style since it is what I deal with on a daily basis ;).

I think it was the ENTERPRISE we were discussing when you visited Norfolk; at the time she had just entered Newport News for inactivation.
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markymark1970

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Re: Scrapping Super-Carriers
« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2015, 11:43:24 pm »
It's really kind of sad and tragic to see all of these immense machines, whether built for war, peace and the reality in between, rot away or be dismantled.  Especially ones with exceptional histories.  Airplane graveyards are fascinating, yet bum me out the same way.
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