(Staff photos by Sergio Trevino)
The USS Saratoga is seen traveling through the Jetties on South Padre Island Friday, Sept. 12.
By PAMELA CODY
Special to the PRESS
For the second time in seven months, area residents gathered along the beaches and jetties on South Padre Island to witness a piece of floating history, as the USS Saratoga made its final journey through the shipping channel early Friday morning.
One of only four Forrestal-class supercarriers built by the U.S. Navy in the 1950s, the Saratoga’s final destination was the Port of Brownsville, where the venerable warship will be cut up and sold for scrap.
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1 comments
I was stationed on the U.S.S. Saratoga from 4/78 to 8/79.
I did the only international travel of my entire life on that ship.
I went to Spain, France, Italy & Egypt. In Egypt, in December 1978, I went from Alexandria to Cairo. We saw the Pyramids & I have a picture of myself inside the King’s chamber of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. We toured the Cairo museum, where I saw the 90% of the King Tut exhibit that WASN’T touring the U.S.A. at the time. Afterward, I bought a pair of alabaster busts of Nefertiti in TAHRIR SQUARE. [Who knew?]
I just wanted people to have a tiny sample of the memories of one of 5000 crew on that cruise alone. The Saratoga was a year older than me – she was born in 1956 & I was born in 1957.
Imagine how many more memories are tied to that ship. She was supposed to be converted to a museum, but that fell through. For the Ship that bombed Gaddafi & captured the hijackers of the Achille Lauro – for the ship that served in a generation’s worth of wars, She deserved better.