Forrestal, Navy’s 1st ‘Supercarrier’ Sold for 1 Cent - Navy - Stripes
Only one cent? Color me suspicious of a special deal.
The Forrestal, a decommissioned aircraft carrier aboard which more than 130 sailors died amid a series of explosions and massive fire in 1967, has been sold for a penny.
All Star Metals bought the ex-Forrestal on Tuesday for scrapping and recycling, the Navy said in a statement. Before the end of the year, it’s expected to be towed from the Navy’s inactive ship facility in Philadelphia to All Star Metals’ facility in Texas.
The Navy’s first “supercarrier,” the Forrestal was in the Gulf of Tonkin the morning of July 29, 1967, for the Vietnam War effort when stray voltage triggered a rocket to launch from an F-4 Phantom on the flight deck.
The rocket struck an armed A-4 Skyhawk — piloted by a young Lt. Cmdr. John S. McCain III — rupturing the fuel tanks and sparking a chain reaction of fires and explosions on the deck, which was parked full of planes.
More: Forrestal, Navy’s 1st ‘Supercarrier’ and Site of Disaster, Sold for 1 Cent - Navy - Stripes
