USS Ranger (CV-61) - Decommissioning

Decommissioning

Ranger was decommissioned on 10 July 1993, and is at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, Washington. This decommissioning came instead of a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) refit scheduled for the same year. Such an extension would have extended to Ranger's life into 2002, requiring a re-authorization in 1994. According to U.S. Navy plans, the pier space it currently occupies at the facility is available until September 2014. In September 2010, the not-for-profit USS Ranger Foundation submitted an application to Naval Sea Systems Command proposing the donation of Ranger for use as a museum ship and multi-purpose facility, to be located on the Columbia River at Chinook Landing Marine Park in Fairview, Oregon. As of September 2011, the re-fitted Ranger at its new permanent mooring is scheduled to open to the public in October 2015.

If it becomes clear that the USS Ranger Foundation will miss the Navy's September 2014 removal deadline, the Ranger will be sold for scrap. If the foundation is successful, the Ranger will become the world's largest floating museum, joining projects such as the USS Midway Museum and Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum.