It's a real shame how we let our old ships go. The destroyer USS Halford (DD-480), one of the early Fletcher Class models, earned 13 battle stars in WW2 and wound up in San Diego where she was scrapped in the 1970s. We did save the USS Midway (CV-41) but so many others have gone the way of scrap. My favorite tough old gal was the USS Saratoga (CV-3) who survived the first A-test at Bikini Atoll. My understanding is that it took another A-bomb about 1500 yards away to finally sink her. She slowly went down, not quickly, as if to say, "I'm doing this because I want to, not because you made me." It's almost like these machines that have seen so much human courage and sacrifice take on that spirit and have a life of their own. I ain't superstitious, but it seems like there's really something there.