Best fate for a decommed ship?

What in your opinion is the best or most appropriate of the common fates that await old or retired naval vessels?

Turn them in to razor blades, then fill a dry dock with them and some salt then drop you in with them.

Wasn't on the poll so i added my own.

museum could generate slight revenue

Depends on the vessel in question.

If it was historically significant enough, there was a place for it and it will be properly maintained, turn it into a museum.

Otherwise, use it as a target.

It still irks me that the last light carrier (The USS Cabot) was sent to the breakers nearly ten years ago.

There are no light or escort carrier museum ships.

Clean 'em, sink 'em, and use 'em to grow an underwater reef like they do with subway cars.

Not every ship can be turned into a museum.

Failing that, tow her out to see and let her perform one last service for the Navy. Let an air wing run an alpha strike on her, or do a Torpex, Bombex, Missile Shoot, or let the Navy test their shiny new railgrun on her. Let her die like a fighting ship; let her find her final rest on the bottom in the salty brine, where the marine wildlife will turn her into a more natural part of the landscape that defined her element.

Turn old cars into razorblades. Fighting ships of the U.S. Navy deserve to rest in Davy Jones Locker.

Pretty much covered, if there is signifigant historical value and the placement area is capable of upkeep then there ya are. There's one in Corpus and one at San Jacinto here.

Friend of mine was involved in setting/sinking the Lexington in place.
For those who don't know, they're not a floating vessel, they're set on a pad/seabed.

I hear that somewhere on the bottom of Lake Michigan, theres a Captured WWI German Sub that was used as target practice and sank back in the early 1920's

What's the point of that?

Recycle them into starships.

But do they get Wave Motion Guns?

Of Course

Best fate, stay in mothballs until brought back to life like the Mighty Mo was in gulf war 1.

I like the reef thing, done the way Marso suggests.

Keeping an old warship in display condition is an enormous undertaking. Alabama has done a great job with the Battleship Alabama and IIRC the submarine USS Drum. I agree with ShootER that the lack of a monument to the light carriers of WW II is a shameful oversight. They and their crews rendered heroic service, often as at Leyte Gulf, doing jobs they were never designed for. A cynical navy joke was that their CVE designation stood for "Combustible, Vulnerable and Expendable." For all those who served on them

Second star to the right, and straight on 'til morning.

I know this is a bit off subject but I love old ships that are still commissioned, like old iron sides or this baby. I got all weak kneed when I finally layed eyes on her. She is amazing being kept so long and so much history and all from the past. I love old ships of the line and nearly cried, t'is the holy grail of ships.

I'm not 100% certain it's the primary reason, but a lot of these ships are in areas prone to hurricanes. Bedding them down on sand or concrete (with attaching devices) makes them much more weather resistant.

In fact, the USS Alabama is so stable and still water tight, she is a Hurricane Shelter in Mobile. I know that if I lived down there, that's where I'd go.

You can even stay overnight on the battleship New Jersey:
http://www.battleshipnewjersey.org/overnights/

Or go to a beer festival on the deck of the battleship:
http://www.battleshipnewjersey.org/news_events/index.php#161

There's a restored Liberty ship in Tampa that goes out on cruises. Liberty ships were cramped, slow and ugly. But they could be built faster than the U-Boats could sink them. If you're a history buff check this out... http://www.americanvictory.org/

Convert all battleships to cruise liners. Have floating targets the guests get to blow up.

Everybody say w00t!

Why can't they be scrapped, melted, and turned into new ships?

I suspect there's a metalurgical reason why recycled steel might not be high enough quality to serve the same purpose. Can anyone confirm or debunk that? On the other hand, even if you're not earmarking the scrap from old ships for building new ones, you're still saving an enormous amount of metal and energy required for digging up and processing raw ore into high grade steel. It kinda comes to the same thing...

Well, in general we're more focused on the building and fixing of Naval vessels here than their decommissioning.

Save them. We'll need a place for refugees when we're overrun by Zack.

Didn't the Drum get banged around in a hurricain some years ago?

Do I detect some major tongue in cheek there?