A Long Beach group is seeking a last-minute donation to save the aircraft carrier USS Ranger, a ship long based in San Diego, from a trip to the scrapyard.
In less than three weeks, the Ranger – the carrier prominently featured in the movie “Top Gun” – is scheduled to be towed from Bremerton, WA, to be scrapped in Brownsville, TX.
Top Gun Super Carrier of Long Beach Inc. issued a plea Wednesday for emergency donations to allow sufficient time to present options for preservation, including a possible permanent berth in Long Beach Harbor. The group said it already has commitments totaling $14 million.
“Right now, we just want a stay of execution,” said project manager, Michael B. Shanahan, an architect. “As a brand new team charged with re-purposing the USS Ranger, we want to work with Navy, NAVSEA and City of Long Beach for the best possible outcome.
“We know that saving the USS Ranger would have significantly more far-reaching economic, historic and social benefits than scrapping it. This is our last chance to stop the loss of an irreplaceable cultural and historic asset.”
The group has also set up a online petition.
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.
