The USS Independence is just a week away from arriving in the Rio Grande Valley. The decommissioned aircraft carrier is scheduled to arrive Tuesday, May 30.
The USS Independence is just a week away from arriving in the Rio Grande Valley. The decommissioned aircraft carrier is scheduled to arrive Tuesday, May 30.
The Port of Brownsville says the ship should reach the sea buoy at 6 a.m. and once it is cleared to enter the port, the Independence should reach the jetties on South Padre Island about 9 to 9:30 a.m.
The carrier left Bremerton, Wash., on March 11 for the 16,000 mile trip that included traveling south to the Strait of Magellan.
The ship will be recycled by International Shipbreaking at the Port of Brownsville. The company recently finished breaking the USS Constellation and is scheduled to start right away on its next carrier, the former USS Ranger, which arrived in July 2015.
International Shipbreaking Vice President Robert Berry said the company is planning a ceremony at Isla Blanca Park for veterans who served on the Independence, which was commissioned in 1959 and decommissioned in 1998.
