The US Navy sold two aircraft carriers to a shipbreaking company for the symbolic sum of a penny each.
Naval Sea Systems Command, a sub-agency of the US Navy, has declared the sale of the aircraft carriers USS Kitty Hawk and USS John F. Kennedy to the international company Shipbreaking Limited (ISL).
The warships are to be towed to Brownville, Texas for scrapping in the coming months. The ridiculous price of a penny is explained by the fact that the company will profit from the sale of the metal of the ship for scrap.
However, towing and dismantling is an expensive process. According to the daily Brownville Herald, the United States Navy has previously paid large sums to recycle its ships.
“The contract gives the company the right to benefit from the subsequent sale of scrap steel, iron and non-ferrous metal ores,” the US Navy said in a statement.
If the two aircraft carriers were decommissioned in 2009 for the USS Kitty Hawk and in 2017 for the USS John F. Kennedy, they are nevertheless an integral part of history.
Historic aircraft carriers
Both aircraft carriers were launched in the 1960s. The Kitty Hawk was deployed during the Vietnam War while the John F. Kennedy was mobilized for the Gulf War.