Retiring America's Flagship

[thedrifter]

Retiring America's Flagship

By James W. Crawley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

August 4, 2003

The four giant steam turbines are still, the vast flight deck barren.

Miles of passageways are eerily quiet and empty for the first time in more than 41 years. The galley's stainless steel kettles are cool to the touch.

The padded lounge chairs in the squadron ready rooms have been hauled away.

And in a few days, the aircraft carrier Constellation will be crewless.

The flattop known as America's Flagship will be decommissioned Thursday in a ceremony at the North Island Naval Air Station pier that has been the warship's home for much of its service.

The Constellation – 1,069 feet long and displacing about 80,000 tons – was the world's largest warship when it was commissioned Oct. 27, 1961. Only the Navy's nuclear-powered carriers surpass it in length and displacement.

Known affectionately as the "Connie," the ship made 21 cruises, including eight combat deployments – seven times off Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s and in the Persian Gulf during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Early next month, an oceangoing tug will secure a line to the carrier's bow and begin a two-week-long journey to a ship graveyard in Bremerton, Wash.

While war and accidents couldn't stop the carrier, finite Pentagon budgets did.

The Navy's $114.7 billion fiscal year 2004 budget has enough money to support 12 aircraft carriers. However, with last month's commissioning of the carrier Ronald Reagan, the fleet has 13 flattops.

Keeping the Connie on active status would cost about $500 million annually. Despite the Constellation's $800 million facelift and upgrade 10 years ago, which extended the ship's projected life span to 2008, repair and upgrade costs have been increasing each year, officials said. The Navy is seeking to save money so it can build new ships and aircraft.

Meanwhile, the Reagan – which will be based in San Diego – joins the fleet with the newest computers, communications and electronics, plus the latest high-tech weapons. And, because it's brand new, the initial upkeep costs will be less.

The Constellation "has done so much for the country that it had to build a USS Ronald Reagan to replace it," said the Connie's skipper, Capt. John "Fozzie" Miller.

But shutting down a veritable floating city isn't easy. You don't just turn out the lights, close a hatch and walk away.

"It's an enormous undertaking," Miller said. "Anyone who's moved understands the challenges. We're moving 5,000 people."

Before crew members pack up and leave for new assignments, they have been preparing the ship for mothballing just in case the Constellation will be needed again someday.

Hundreds of thousands of parts and items – perhaps a million – must be inventoried and removed.

"If it's not welded or bolted down, it's leaving the ship," Capt. Mark Petersen-Overton, ship maintenance chief for the Pacific Fleet's aircraft carriers, said recently.

In 4-foot-by-4-foot cardboard boxes lining the hangar deck, crewmen have been depositing a swap meet's worth of cots, water pumps, chairs, exercise equipment, hoses, fire extinguishers, paper shredders, telephones, medical scales and hundreds of items familiar and unfamiliar.

Some equipment, from phones to life rafts to large turbines, is being parceled out to other warships or Navy warehouses. The unwanted remainder will be sold through the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service.

In all, about $350 million worth of spare parts will be salvaged off the carrier, said Cmdr. Jim Davis, the ship's supply officer.

Some items, like catapult pistons and fire pumps, will remain on board.

"We have to account for all parts – computers, phones, faxes, staplers and staple removers, even classified documents," Miller said.

Items of historical value – such as the ship's silver service and a wooden model of the first Constellation, an 18th-century frigate – have been sent to the Naval Historical Center in Washington for safekeeping.

The decommissioning process is being measured by the inch.

Each morning, a sailor has diligently logged how deep the warship rides in the water.

The massive vessel rose several inches when more than a million gallons of fuel was drained from its tanks in June. On other days, when sailors carted off furniture, phones, mattresses and gear, the ship rose imperceptibly.

Since June 2, the flattop has risen almost 7 feet out of the waters of San Diego Bay.

"You can noticeably see the ship is farther out of the water," said Cmdr. Bob Hickey, the ship's damage control assistant.

Using the ship's draft measurements as a guide, approximately 20,000 tons – 40 million pounds – of material has been removed from the Constellation. For every 250 tons removed, the ship rises an inch, Hickey calculated.

Once gear is offloaded, the crew and private contractors systematically inspect its former home, removing rust and corrosion and repairing any damage.

That means going through more than 2,600 compartments, fuel and water tanks, engine rooms and mechanical spaces, said Cmdr. David Wallace, the ship's officer overseeing the shutdown process.

Sailors have mixed feelings about decommissioning their ship.

"It's kind of cool knowing we're the last crew," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Kelvin Hugley, who was working recently in one of the carrier's crowded engine rooms. "I'm on the last one to steam it."

But, while peeling white sticky paste from his hands a couple of weeks ago, Hugley said repairing pipe insulation, called lagging, is "meaningless."

"We can't understand why are we going through all this work when we're letting the ship die," he said.

Other sailors complained that the carrier's month-late return from its last deployment has caused them to work long, arduous hours when most would like to be home enjoying time with their families after a long wartime cruise.

"This is a six-month effort crammed into 90 days," acknowledged Petersen-Overton, referring to the time between the Constellation's return and its anticipated departure under tow.

While the ship is being shut down, the remaining crew members have been forced to abandon ship, leaving their on-board berthing areas for a hotel barge tied up alongside the Connie.

But for many, the new, albeit temporary, home – with more spacious bunks, larger bathrooms and a quieter atmosphere – was better than the crowded berths aboard the carrier.

"Compared to the ship, this is five-star," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Christian Weibull.

But like anyone moving, Weibull was surprised by all the stuff he had accumulated in 20 months aboard the Constellation. "When I came, I had one sea bag. Now, I have a duffel bag that has three times as much stuff."

He plans to give away or throw out the excess before he ships out later this month to the carrier John F. Kennedy in Florida.

Weeks before the berthing areas were closed, the ship's mess desks stopped serving food.

On June 30, Chief Warrant Officer Leon Quarles sat down in a nearly empty enlisted mess with a tray loaded with sliced turkey, lima beans and corn. It would be the final meal served by the Constellation's galley.

As food service officer, he'd already supervised the transfer of $200,000 worth of food to the carrier Stennis.

"When you shut down the (engine) plant and shut down the mess deck, the crew knows it's a done deal," said Quarles as he savored his lima beans, cooked soft just the way he liked them.

"I deserve the last meal," he said.

The next day, crew members began dismantling the tables and seats, which will be installed on the Ronald Reagan.

While the Constellation shut down, its skipper has kept busy cranking up the pride among his rapidly diminishing crew. He has marked daily musters with awards ceremonies and acknowledgements.

"The most important task is to take care of our sailors," Miller said.

He pushed to get transfer orders completed so sailors wouldn't have to rush to new assignments. Personnel evaluations were completed and classes held to assist moving sailors.

"Taking care of the sailors means they are motivated to take care of the ship," he said.

The effort appeared to pay off.

Weibull, the young petty officer, said, "I'll definitely remember the Connie," the only ship he has served aboard.

"It will be my best ship because you always compare every command with your first ship," he said.

James W. Crawley: (619) 542-4559; jim.crawley@uniontrib.com


continued........

[thedrifter]

Constellation history
Sept. 14, 1957 Keel laid at New York Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn.

Oct. 8, 1960
Launched and christened.

Dec. 19, 1960
Fire sweeps through forward section of ship while under construction. Sixty workers killed, 150 injured. Delays completion for seven months and increases cost by nearly $42 million.

Oct. 27, 1961
Ship is commissioned at total cost of $400 million.

Nov. 6, 1961
During sea trial, engine room fire kills two civilian workers and two sailors. Returns to shipyard for repairs.

Sept. 17, 1962
After departing New York and cruising around South America's stormy Cape Horn, the Connie arrives in San Diego, its home port.

Aug. 4, 1964
Launches air strikes against North Vietnamese targets following Gulf of Tonkin incident. First of seven Vietnam War cruises.

May 10, 1972
Lt. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Lt.j.g. Willie Driscoll, flying off the carrier in a two-seat Phantom fighter, become first and only Navy aces of the Vietnam War with five kills, shooting down three MiGs this day. Nowadays, Cunningham is a congressman from Escondido and Driscoll lives in Del Mar.

Aug. 20, 1981
During a visit aboard, President Ronald Reagan coins the nickname "America's Flagship."

April 11, 1990
Begins three-year, $800 million overhaul in Philadelphia. The Connie returns to San Diego on July 22, 1993.

Nov. 2, 2002
Begins 21st and final deployment. Steams to Persian Gulf in anticipation of war with Iraq.

March-April 2003
Air wing launches more than 1,500 sorites during Operation Iraqi Freedom, dropping nearly 1.3 million pounds of ordnance.

June 2, 2003
Arrives in San Diego. Shuts down boilers and engines for last time.

Aug. 7, 2003
Decommissioning.


Connie's dramatic beginning

It was marked by fires, deaths, dangerous seas

By James W. Crawley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

August 4, 2003

Marvin Gartenbaum can't forget his first day working aboard the aircraft carrier Constellation while it was being built at the New York Naval Shipyard.

It was Dec. 19, 1960.

At 10:29 a.m., he was walking through the cavernous hangar deck, crowded with construction gear and workers. Seconds after it passed Gartenbaum, a forklift speared a tank full of jet fuel, sending a river of volatile liquid down a bomb elevator. A welder's spark ignited the fuel.

"The explosion threw me like a golf ball," Gartenbaum remembered nearly 43 years later.

For six hours, he helped battle the fire that consumed much of the giant ship's forward section. Despite minor injuries, he carried six fellow workers to the pier, three alive, three dead, he recalled.

The explosion and fire killed 50 shipyard workers and injured 150 others

Several workers, including Gartenbaum and members of the first Constellation crew, bade farewell to the ship on a recent afternoon, walking around the 4-acre flight deck and large hangar deck.

With spouses, children and grandchildren along, they relived their time aboard the Connie, remembering construction, commissioning, its first sea voyage and combat cruises on Yankee Station off North Vietnam.

The Constellation had a painful birthing marked by fires, death and dangerous seas.

In all, nearly 60 men died on board before the carrier arrived in 1962 at its lifetime home port of San Diego. The shipyard accident was one of the deadliest construction fires in U.S. naval history.

Larry Duca, who was below deck testing electrical connections, remembered how he and several workers stumbled through cluttered, dark passageways, feeling their way by hand and the dim glow of a flashlight.

"I started to turn right, but my foreman said 'go left.' If I'd gone right, I'd have been in the fire," said Duca, who lives in San Diego and works at The San Diego Union-Tribune.

The blaze was so hot the Constellation's armored flight deck, built to withstand enemy missiles, buckled 2 feet. The heat melted the radar equipment and steel consoles in the combat information center into a 6-inch-deep pool of metal.

Two more workers died during later construction and, during sea trials, another fire erupted aboard the Constellation, killing four sailors and civilian workers. On its voyage around the southern tip of South America to San Diego, the ship was damaged by giant waves that crashed over the carrier's bow.

Before saying goodbye, Duca stopped at a bronze plaque on the hangar deck's starboard bulkhead. It memorializes the shipyard workers killed in the 1960 fire.

His fingers moved across the 50 listed names.

But he couldn't match the names with faces.

"I'm sure some of these people I knew, but I can't remember," he said.

Then, he called over his family and told them about that horrific day.

"I didn't think I'd get emotional," Duca said later, tears moistening his eyes.

There were good memories, too.

Ronald Glenzer was a radioman when he arrived at the Brooklyn shipyard to be a plankowner – a member of the original crew.

He met Doris, the daughter of a shipyard painter, and fell in love with her. But Glenzer left her behind when the Constellation departed New York for San Diego. He wasn't ready for marriage.

The perilous voyage changed his mind.

"I realized I needed Doris, so we got married," Glenzer said with his wife of 40 years at his side.

Is it time for the Connie to be retired?

No, said several of the builders and crew members.

"It's too early, but I'm not in charge," said Richard Durette, a retired master chief petty officer and Connie plankowner. "I thought they should keep her longer. This was the best ship I ever was on."


The Constellation – 1,069 feet long with a displacement of 80,000 tons – sailed from New York in 1961 for sea trials.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...4flagship.html


Sempers,

Roger

[marinemom]

Thanks for posting this one, Roger. It seems like yesterday that my high school class stood on the low bluff near what is now the Verrazano Bridge to watch the Constallation sail out of New York Harbor.

She was a magnificent sight then - and she served this country well. May she rest in peace at her last mooring - and never have to put to sea in time of war again.