A storied former U.S. Navy aircraft carrier is on its final voyage Friday , a slow journey from Rhode Island to a scrapyard in Texas . The former USS Saratoga ( CV-60 ) , a part of the Navy 's carrier fleet from 1956 to 1994 , is being towed down the Atlantic Seaboard by tugboat at about 7 mph , according to a report from the Maritime Executive . The voyage is expected to take about 16 days , the Navy says . The Navy in May announced it was paying ESCO Marine of Brownsville , Texas , one cent to take the carrier off its hands for dismantling and recycling . The company makes money by selling the metal it salvages from the ship . Saratoga veterans were among the crowds of people who gathered on Narragansett Bay on Thursday as the ship left Naval Station Newport on its final journey . `` A ship like this should n't be taken apart piece by piece , '' Mitchell Abood , who served aboard the Saratoga from 1985 to 1987 , said in an article from the U.S . Naval War College . `` It 's sad that she could not be turned into a museum , '' former crewman Darryl Fern was quoted as saying . He served aboard the ship from 1982 to 1984 . During its more than 38 years in the Navy , the Saratoga went on 22 deployments , including serving off North Vietnam in 1972 and 1973 . In 1985 , fighters from the Saratoga helped capture terrorists who hijacked the cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean , forcing a jetliner carrying them to land at an air base in Sicily . The carrier was also part of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and air operations over the Balkans in 1992 , 1993 and 1994 , according to Navy records . The ship carried all kinds of aircraft during its 38 years , but its final voyage had to wait for the departure of some other `` fliers , '' according to the War College report : While it was docked in Rhode Island , a pair of peregrine falcons had chicks in a nest aboard the carrier . `` After consultation with the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife , any movement plans were put on hold until after Aug. 15 to be certain that any fledglings would have ample time to learn to fly and move elsewhere , '' according to the report . The Saratoga follows the former USS Forrestal to dismantling in Texas . That ship was towed to All Star Metals of Brownsville earlier this year , with the Navy paying a penny to the ship recycler under a contract awarded last October .
Former USS Saratoga heads to scrapyard . The former U.S. Navy battleship was decommissioned in May after more than a century of service. Navy paid one cent to dispose of ship .