Decommissioned in 1993, the 1,039-foot carrier that saw extensive action during the Vietnam War will be stripped over the next few years for possible final service as an artificial reef off the coast of Delaware. It’s also possible that due to the high cost of preparing the vessel for reef duty, it may ultimately be cut apart to salvage steel.

Four Delaware River pilots and two Philadelphia docking pilots boarded the U.S. Navy salvage tug Apache off Cape Henlopen as it towed the historic Forrestal past the Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse and into the mouth of Delaware Bay. Long since cleared of its armament and electrical and mechanical equipment, the carrier towered above its escorts, a ghostly hulk and a far cry from the floating military base that once carried 100 aircraft and a crew of 4,000. Launched in 1954, the Forrestal was built at the Newport News Shipyard near Norfolk.

Pilot Jerry Medd of Lewes said the trip to the ship’s final destination was expected to take 21 hours. Because of the tricky nature of Delaware River and Bay currents and channels, and towing a vessel the size of the Forrestal, he said two pilots would be on duty for each shift during the duration of the trip.

Once the vessel neared Philadelphia on Friday, the two docking pilots were to take over. Greg Newman, one of the docking pilots, said the Forrestal would be placed alongside the carrier U.S.S. Kennedy and their flight decks chained together to keep them stable in the face of high winds and storms.

The most infamous story involving the Forrestal was the July 29, 1967 fire that struck when the vessel was off the coast of Vietnam. When a missile from an aircraft aboard the vessel accidentally fired, it triggered a conflagration that ultimately killed more than 130 crewmembers and seriously injured dozens more.

Eyed as a Delaware reef

Jeff Tinsman, director of Delaware’s artificial reef program, said the Forrestal is on a short list of vessels the Navy has identified as reef candidates. “There are no immediate plans for the Forrestal at this point,” said Tinsman. “Two Navy vessels will be sunk in the next five years for reefs and one of those is the 563-foot ex-destroyer Radford to be sunk this summer 26 miles southeast of Indian River Inlet, 20 miles due east of Fenwick Island.

There is some doubt in the Navy community about whether they can afford to remove the toxic material well enough to reef the carrier. Another option would be to take it to deeper waters off the continental shelf and sink it there with target practice. The environmental requirements for those deeper waters are less stringent than they are for artificial reefs,” said Tinsman.

He said he suspects that Delaware doesn’t currently have a reef site deep enough to handle the vertical profile of the Forrestal. “But we may make an attempt to get a deeper site. If we took everything down to the flight deck we may be to shoehorn her in.” Tinsman said Delaware is in a position to make a viable bid for the vessel since towing costs are relatively affordable here compared to other locations. “To tow her to Florida, for example, could cost a million dollars or more,” he said.

Regardless, it will take two to three years to strip down the Forrestal for whatever its next assignment will be. A final option for the vessel, said Tinsman, would be to cut it apart for scrap metal.