Effort to save Spruance class destroyer Conolly fails

[Avery Boyer]

I have been informed that effort to save the Spruance class destroyer USS Conolly has failed and she will likely be sunk or scrapped. This is and was the only effort to save a Spruance class destroyer. Only seven members of the class are currently left afloat, Paul F Foster, Arthur W Radford, David R Ray, Conolly, Cushing, O'Bannon and Fletcher. Fair winds and following seas old girl.

[colin]

Why does a Spru-can need to be saved?

[Avery Boyer]

They were, up until the Arleigh Burkes the largest class of destroyer built post-war and were the backbone of the US destroyer fleet in the latter days of the cold-war. And because one day someone will wish that they could have walked the decks of one of these ships, same way many wish they could have walked the decks of Hood or Arizona.

[chuck]

Someone will wish to walk the deck of every ship that has ever been built.

[reigels]

Sorry to say but I have to agree on this one. It's too easy to make the jump from having a warship collection on the shelf at home to wanting a full scale collection available to visit as well.

I'm sure there are great memories on board for those who served, but by the same token we cannot save old high schools, drive-in theaters and sports areas for posterity either. The economics just don't work.

[Avery Boyer]

::sigh::

Have it your way. Chuck has a point, but the Spruance class are historically significant. There are reasons why the Navy has such a unforgiving system for warship preservation, you have already pointed out one: it is not economically feasible to preserve a member of every class of warship. But, it is a loss nonetheless.

Please don't reply as I started this topic for informational purposes, not to debate the ethics and economics of warship preservation.

I don't think I'll even bother anymore, just because we build models doesn't mean we have any affection for our subjects. This is the third time I've had people look negatively on an effort to save a warship and I'm pretty damn tired of it, so I'll just stop.

[Werner]

There are a few like Fletcher which might return to become a museum after foreign service, and there are their cousins the Ticonderogas which can give some idea of what a Spruance was like.

Remember, several WW.II ships on display in the USA spent decades under foreign flags.

I'm sad that none of the big missile frigates were preserved. My choice would have been Mahan or Halsey.

[lmo1960]

I'd like to see something of the nuclear navy saved, other than the Nautilus.
There are SSNs and SSBNs in Bremerton that could have their reactors removed without destroying the entire sub. They could then be re-floated to be used as museums. Only the US Navy could afford to do this work, and they would also have to get exemptions to some Soviet-era treaties. Considering most former USSR nuc subs ares rotting away at docks, or sunken at sea, I don't see why the Navy can't preserve 1 each of an attack sub and a boomer.

[reigels]

Or if nothing less I wish notable ships could be adequately documented before they were broken up. If we're going to lose them to history I wish someone would photograph the heck out of them before they head to breakers.