A sad sight going past our windows this afternoon as CV62, the USS Independence made her final voyage



The great ship rode at the end of a tow-line behind a giant ocean-going tug.
It had been foggy with drizzle all day
...and then the sun came out!



Her voyage from the mothball fleet at Bremerton to Brownsville, Texas will take 4 1/2 months, circumnavigting South America and passing through the Straits of Magellen. 16,000 N. Miles!



The Independence was one of four super carriers in the Bremerton mothball fleet.  Gone before her were the Constellation and the Ranger.  Now, only one remains - the Kitty Hawk.





A tug at both ends for the long trip



Forlorn, with her number painted out.

BREMERTON — USS Independence (CV-62), moored at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard since its decommissioning in 1998,  embarked on its final journey Saturday, 11 March 2017.

The aircraft carrier will depart the shipyard's Inactive Ships Maintenance Facility en route to Brownsville, Texas, for dismantling by International Shipbreaking LTD. The ship will go around South America through the Straits of Magellan to the Atlantic Ocean and is planned to arrive this summer in Brownsville.

The Independence, commissioned Jan. 10, 1959, was the fourth and final of the Forrestal-class carriers. The ship made one tour off Vietnam in 1965, carried out airstrikes against Syrian forces during the Lebanese Civil War and enforced the no-fly zone over southern Iraq as part of Operation Southern Watch.

History
United States
Name:	USS Independence
Namesake:	Freedom of control by others; self-government.
Ordered:	2 July 1954
Builder:	New York Navy Yard
Cost:	$182.3 million
Laid down:	1 July 1955
Launched:	6 June 1958
Commissioned:	10 January 1959
Decommissioned:	30 September 1998
Struck:	8 March 2004
Motto:	"Freedom's Flagship"
Fate:	Stricken to be scrapped
Status:	Towed to Brownsville, TX
General characteristics
Class and type:	Forrestal-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	60,000 long tons (61,000 t) standard 80,643 long tons (81,937 t) full load
Length:	1,070 ft (326.1 m)
Beam:	130.0 ft (39.63 m) waterline 270 ft (82.3 m) extreme
Draft:	37 ft (11.3 m)
Propulsion:	4 Westinghouse geared turbines, four shafts, 280,000 shaft horsepower (210,000 kW) 8 Babcock & Wilcox boilers
Speed:	33 knots (61 km/h)

A lot of history there, at the end of the towline, on her Final Voyage