I was checking out the Bremerton, WA Naval facility on Google Earth and saw the three carriers there currently awaiting disposal (Connie, Independence and Ranger) and some other surface combatants and subs. But what is this long-ass ship with the five subs tied up to it? Isn’t it too long (and for that matter, too lean) to be an old sub tender? I couldn’t match up that vessel with the admittedly incomplete lists of ships there I found.
I belive it is the USS Long Beach CGN-9 The first Nuclear powered Cruiser. I know she has been at the Shipyard in Bremerton, at least the Hull has been, Her Superstructrure was striped. It makes sense that it is tied up with the subs as they probally had nuclear power plants too. The Carriers moored there are all conventional I believe.
Can’t belive I am the first to answer!
Thats it, according to that wikipedia entry and the link a bit below the photo. Forgot about that boxy superstructure on the Long Beach. thanks!
There is something sad about seeing the ship I served on awaiting disposal. I was on the Ranger from 85 to 88. The 3 carriers listed were indeed conventional. At one point all three were lined up nose to tail in Coronado while I was there. All on active duty of course. The Ranger and Independence were both Forrestal class carrier, the first true Super Carriers.
The Forrestal CV-59 (Fiery Forrestal, John McCain flew off of her) & Independence (Indy) CV62 are scheduled to become artificial reefs. The Ranger (Danger Ranger) CV61 is scheduled for an undetermined disposal and only the Saratoga (Sorry Sara) CV-60 is too escape as a museum. The Ranger hopefully will also become a museum.
She was a good boat.
Jim
We knew her as the “Forest Fire” - the nickname originated with a tragic 1967 fire on board, that killed over 100 of her crew.
A friend’s older brother was on her when she lit up. We called her either the “Fiery Forrestal” or the “Fiery Forry”. The “Danger Ranger” part was in relation to her deadly main space fire in 1984 and the supply ship she hit just before that*. Of course the “Shitty Kitty” was just for the sake of a good rhyme. Then we had CVN-65 the “Big E” which was nothing but respect and really a nickname she inherited to the most decorated of Carriers, CV-6 USS Enterprise.
Jim
- Apparently the Ranger sheared a sponson off the supply ship.
How about mine: CVN-68, the Numbnuts?
She was on the wrong coast when I was in, we never saw or talked about her. I never knew her nickname.
I wonder why the Kitty got to be the last of the conventional Carriers. She’ll be retired about the time CVN-77 George H. W. Bush comes on-line.
I wish they would go back to the traditional Aircraft Carrier names. There is something sad about there still not being another Yorktown.
Jim
But it’s so much better to name ships after the various SecNavy’s of the latter half of the twentieth Century. They were such an inspiration to the men they led. :rolleyes:
Now, if someone wants a challenge: Take a look at the mothball fleet at Fort Eustis, VA. I wonder if anyone else can assign a name to more than one of the images there. (Free hint: The low-lying fruit is the catamaran hulled ship. Beyond that, I’m stumped.)
Provide the Link and I might be able to do any Carriers. Are there any Carriers or BBs there? I can’t do anything with the tincans.
Jim
No. Mostly supply ships and small combatants.
And there is a mothballed fleet in Portsmouth, VA too, near the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
I thought there was something that looked like a very small carrier here.
Is this a submerged submarine at Norfolk?
That is a small Straight decked ship. It has the #7 on it and I am sure it is not the CV-7 The Wasp, in fact it looks like no US Aircraft Carrier ever built.
However, in does look like an amphibious assault ship which might make it the USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7)
I strongly believe it is, here is an old shot of her underway: http://www.navybuddies.com/lph/lph7_6.jpg
Jim
What are the pink objects on the dock arranged in the shape of a ship?
Which picture?
"What is this long assed ship?"
I don’t know, strange container arrangement. That is a good question.
I had the same question, except I was going to say “wharf” instead of “dock,” because as all nitpicky Dopers know the “dock” is the empty space where the ship goes, and the “wharf” is the thing you walk on next to it (as long as it’s parallel to the shoreline; if the thing you walk on sticks out perpendicular to the beach, it’s a pier; either way you can’t walk on the dock unless you’re, y’know, Jesus). 
It’s interesting that the cargo appears to be arranged in a vaguely shiplike configuration. I wonder if they’re staging it like that because for some reason they need to know how it’s going to go on an actual boat?
Nope, she’s surfaced at the pier. Or at least I can’t imagine why a submerged sub would have three brows set up.
On further looking, I can ID at least one modern LST in the Fort Eustis fleet, but beyond that I’ll admit I’m fairly stumped.
Here’s a link which should show the USS Ortolan, and the LST I’ve spotted.
carnivorousplant, I don’t think those are cargo containers at all. I think we’re looking down at an actual dry dock, and those are the blocks set to recieve the weight of one of the birdfarms there.
ETA: Yeah, if you look at the front of that area you’ll note, from the shadows at the ‘front’ of that area, it’s below the level of the wharfs to either side of it.
I think that’s a drydock, and those objects are there to hold up the ship once the water gets pumped out.