USS Saratoga Heads To The Scrap Heap
By John Ostapkovich
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A piece of US Navy, and Philadelphia, history is headed for the scrap heap.
The aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, commissioned in 1956, upgraded in Philadelphia in the '80's, and stored here after decommissioning in the 90's, has been sold to a Texas scrap firm for a penny.
Brad Senter, President of the Saratoga Association, seems resigned to Super Sara's end even though the ship's second stay here might have yielded a different future for it.
"After the ship was decommissioned in '94, in '95 it was taken to Philadelphia to put in mothballs and that's when the effort was underway to save it as a museum for Jacksonville and when that effort went away then the ship was moved to Newport, Rhode Island."
Senter says one job during mothballing at the Navy Yard was to take out anything valuable and when he went through it later for keepsakes, well, there wasn't much left. Still, he has prevailed on the scrap company to give him 500 pounds of Super Sara to melt into medallions.