The decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Independence passed by Edmonds Saturday afternoon on its way from Bremerton to Brownsville, Texas. According to The Maritime Executive, the ship is being towed around South America through the Strait of Magellan to International Shipbreaking where she will be dismantled.
The USS Indepence entered service in 1959, with its early years spent in the Mediterranean Fleet, The Maritime Executive noted. It made a single tour off the coast of Vietnam in 1965 during the Vietnam War and also carried out airstrikes against Syrian forces during the Lebanese Civil War and operations over Iraq during Operation Southern Watch, the enforcement of the no-fly zone over southern Iraq.
USS Independence was decommissioned in 1998 after 39 years of active service. Since then, it has been in mothballs at Bremerton’s Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
I remember the ship. During that single tour to Vietnam, my Father, Richard Allen Bihr was the weapons officer and my Uncle, Harrison Badger Southworth was a squadron commander on board. It always was thrilling when the ship came into port after a tour of duty, to see loved ones after a long time away 6 to 9 months at a time.