Crowley Provides Final Lift For Aircraft Carrier

The former USSHornet, an Essexclass aircraft carrier, completed its final journey by entering the Golden Gate under tow and under the watch of the Crowley tug Navigator.

The former U.S. Naval vessel was decommissioned and sold to a private organization led by Astoria Metal Corp. and Pacific Rim Metal, Inc. Upon delivery from the U.S. government at the Naval Shipyard in Long Beach, Calif., the new owners contracted with Crowley Marine Services to tow the stripped vessel to San Francisco Bay for disassembly at Hunters Point Shipyard and resale as scrap metal. The tug Navigator, a 9,000-class Invader Series, high hp vessel, left Long Beach for the trip north to the Bay Area with t h e aircraft carrier in tow.