The USS Ranger, a carrier long based in San Diego, will be scrapped in Texas, the Navy announced.
The Navy awarded a contract Monday for towing and dismantling the decommissioned carrier to International Shipbreaking Ltd. The Navy is paying just $0.01 for the work, which it said was the lowest possible price.
The ship will be towed from the Navy’s inactive ships maintenance facility in Bremerton, WA, to International Shipbreaking in Brownsville, TX.
Ranger was the third Forrestal-class aircraft carrier to be built. The ship was laid down Aug. 2, 1954, by Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. and commissioned on Aug. 10, 1957. Ranger was the only ship of the Forrestal class to spend its entire career in the Pacific.
The ship made a total of 22 Western Pacific deployments, was an active participant in the Vietnam War, and was the only West Coast-based carrier to deploy in support of Operation Desert Storm.
Ranger was decommissioned July 10, 1993, after more than 35 years of service.
