Sinking of USS Ranger
I read last night in the german mag ” Klassiker der Luftfahrt 2/2005″ an article about the museum carrier USS Intrepid.
In the last part of that article, there also plans to sunk the USS Ranger CV-61 as an artificial reef, if the carrier can’t be made a carrier museum.
Here a part of a newsletter from USS Ranger Museum Foundation:
COULD THE RANGER BECOME AN UNDERWATER REEF?
Sure… if the USS RANGER Museum Foundation is unsuccessful, it could happen.
Procedure from Decommissioning to the end of a carrier’s life is structured. Here is a view of this structure:
Decommission
Mothballs (Mobile Reserve)
Removed from active duty
Stricken from Navy Roster
When the Navy strikes a ship from its roster, it is transferred to the Disposal List. That list has two branches:
(1) Ships Donation List,
(2) (a) sold to the highest bidder for scrap, or
(b) used as a target by active duty forces and sunk in an exercise (SINK EX), or
(c) made environmentally safe and carefully sunk and used as an artificial reef.
Last June the Foundation sent a letter to NAVSEA requesting that Ranger be placed on the Donation list. When the Ranger was stricken from the active ships list NAVSEA asked the CNO to put Ranger on the Donation List. The anticipated approval is expected in the next two weeks. When ships are placed on the Donation List the Naval Sea Systems Command, (NAVSEA) places a notice in the Federal Register. There is a six months wait to see who applies for the ship. The Ranger Museum Foundation is working hard to find a site and we are making good progress. When a non-profit organization makes an application, the ship is held in Ships Donation status.
So, could the RANGER become a huge underwater reef? Sure – if we don’t do something about it. Personally, your editor doesn’t want to visit the ship using a snorkel, a wet suit and flippers! That is why it has been so important for Rangermen to come forth with funds to keep us going (we are all volunteers) and to show potential large donors that her crew and friends really want to save her! Large donors want to put their money when they think they have a sure deal. To hire the experts, put a four-inch thick proposal together, do site, traffic, impact, environmental, etc. studies costs money. These studies convince big donors to step up to the plate and NAVSEA that the project will succeed. By the way the foundation is you. We are not some big corporation seeking to make bucks; we are former Rangermen who want to save our ship. We get no pay, even pay our own expenses and we cannot do it alone.
We sincerely thank those shipmates who have already made donations to save our ship. All donations are starting to pay off – we will save our ship and make it the best carrier museum.
Source: USS RANGER MUSEUM FOUNDATION – Newsletter
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