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It seems from 1959-1962, we took a lot of reserve battleships (Tennessee onwards) and decided to scrap them. Same might be said of various cruisers, a few CVL's.
Was there something happening at the time to cause this "purge" or was it just decided in 1947 when they went into mothballs that time would be up about 12 years later?
In the case of the Tennessee and similar vessels, I would say that it was at the end of its useful life, cost too much to maintain, and was an obsolete platform that could not be readily updated. The Tennessee was launched in 1919, so she didn't go to the breaker's yard until she was 40 years old.
It seems from 1959-1962, we took a lot of reserve battleships (Tennessee onwards) and decided to scrap them. Same might be said of various cruisers, a few CVL's.
Was there something happening at the time to cause this "purge" or was it just decided in 1947 when they went into mothballs that time would be up about 12 years later?
Well the USS Tennessee was an old ship and even with various modernizations she was out dated by the 1950's. The original plan was to have her laid up (mothballed) but that eventually gave way to scrapping.
WWII taught the United States military/navy many lessons they would learn from and apply going forward. One thing far as the navy was concerned was that battleships were a thing of the past. Modern naval warfare with its use of torpedoes, guided missiels, mines and air power meant battleships were sitting ducks.
Here is a list of all USS Navy Battleships and their fates (scrapped, sunk, etc...)
The question is really not about why the Tennessee was scrapped but rather, why were all those ships scrapped in that time period.
Ie, around 1975 or so, we had the Fleet Realignment and also around those years, I believe we had a SECNAV or a SECDEF, look up, realize that a lot of his ships were from WWII and sought to update them. Okay, that would be a reason for a purge and reorganization.
Or if most of the WWII diesels disappeared in a few years (don't know if they did or not, but say they did) because of a push to have an all or near all nuclear sub fleet. Okay, that would be a reason for a purge.
What I am asking is why did the US decide to scrap a bunch of major WWII ships in 1959-1962. Was there a reason for such a purge?
Ships seem to have a useful life of about 30 years, so I would imagine that a good number of the ships being scrapped in the late 50s-early 60s had been built in the early 30s. But beyond that, the Cold War was in full swing at this time, and it seemed likely that if it ever got hot, the primary weapons would be missiles, long range bombers, and submarines. Battleships were certainly considered outdated, but so too were escort carriers (because they were too small to launch jet planes) and probably some classes of destroyers as well.
And finally, because World War II in the Pacific (and even a bit in Europe) was a naval war, we had built a huge number of ships during the war to meet our needs. Many of them would have been facing midlife overhauls by the time period in question, and it was probably decided that because so many ships would not be needed in a potential future conflict, it made more sense to turn them into razor blades than to undergo the expense of doing midlife overhauls.
I understand what you are asking. Without researching when all of the keels were laid (do you have a list of the ships?), my guess is that a lot of them became obsolete/reached the end of their useful life at about the same time, so they were disposed of.
Last edited by joe from dayton; 10-29-2015 at 09:05 AM..
They had not value and needed to go away. The battleships never did much other than suck up fuel and people. Some shore bombardment but the carriers were a better weapon.
They were looking at the cost of maintenance and the future potential usefulness. We had a lot of newer ships that were ready to be decommissioned and go into reserve or be scrapped so why keep the older ones around.
By the way the scrapped heavy ships had their armor belts used for a very specific purpose. The armor (which had been forged before the first nuclear explosions in the atmosphere) had different atomic background qualities than any metal forged since then. They provided the shielding for many of the top nuclear research facilities (both military and civilian)
Even a "mothballed" or reserve ship requires maintenance to keep it from rotting away. Having hundreds of ships that were already obsolete laying around served no purpose. It is often far cheaper to build new ships that fit within the naval strategy then it is to retrofit existing ones (as seen when we resurrected the Iowa's in the 80's) to try and make them useful. The navy had come up with better tactics and more efficient designs. The ships that won WW2 were not needed and the cost of keeping them from rotting at their moorings was a drain on resources.
The shipyards in Curtis Bay, Maryland, pumped out Liberty ships (and others) around the clock during the war. During the '50's and '60's they broke those same ships into scrap metal on a somewhat less hectic schedule.
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