Navy's first supercarrier bartered for one cent

USS Forestall headed to the scrapyard

She is 1,067 feet long and was once a modern marvel.

Now the USS Forestall is heading for the scrapyard and the Navy paid a company one penny to take her.

The ship may be best known for a 1967 missile accident that killed 134 sailors and injured over 300 more. One of the people on the boat at that time was a young pilot named John McCain.

The Navy first tried to donate the carrier as a floating museum or exhibit. But the expense of repairing and maintaining such a ship is so high, there were no takers.

All Star Metals in Texas will be the company to dismantle and recycle the giant. Despite the fact they only paid one cent, the cost of moving and preparing the ship will cost six figures.

The cost to build the Forestall was $217 million, that's almost $2 billion today. The Forestall remained an active duty Navy ship until 1993 when she was decommissioned.