Sunday, February 19, 2006
This is Just Bizarre
It's turning out that foreign aircraft carriers are having more interesting careers after they are decommissioned than before. And I'm not just talking about the French carrier Clemenceau, currently retreating to France from a Greenpeace-like verbal assault. The Soviets produced just one full sized nuclear carrier, or kind of produced one, the Ulyanovsk, which was broken up after 40% completion in 1992, and several what we called, during WWII, jeep carriers, one of which was the Minsk. It was in service from 1978 to 1989 and was sold for scrap to South Korea, but ended up in China instead, where it was made into a military themed amusement park--a harmonious combination of carrier appreciation, military recreation, typical seaside lifestyle in south China and military atmosphere.
I know when I'm thinking of having a good time with the family, I'm thinking about an aging, cramped, dank Russian warship.
Despite the sunshine of promise in refitting a small carrier with Russian dancing stage shows, movie theaters, restaurants and children's rides (think more Branson than Las Vegas) the venture failed. It will be sold Monday at a bankruptcy sale perhaps for as little as $16 million. As I asked with the Clemenceau, now what?
I know when I'm thinking of having a good time with the family, I'm thinking about an aging, cramped, dank Russian warship.
Despite the sunshine of promise in refitting a small carrier with Russian dancing stage shows, movie theaters, restaurants and children's rides (think more Branson than Las Vegas) the venture failed. It will be sold Monday at a bankruptcy sale perhaps for as little as $16 million. As I asked with the Clemenceau, now what?
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 8:16 AM 
