RE: What makes a carrier, a carrier?

Mike:

For what it's worth, the Cabot was built on a light cruiser hull,
originally 
designated the Charleston. It was sold to Spain after WWII and renamed
the 
Dedalo. A couple of years ago, a group of Navy vets in the New Orleans
area 
obtained the ship from Spain with the intention of using it as a
floating museum 
in the Algiers area of New Orleans. As is so often the case, their good 
intentions faltered in the face of their lack of cash and the Cabot has
been 
tied up at a wharf on the edge of the French Quarter ever since; it is
currently 
in the process of being condemned by the Coast Guard as a hazard to
navigation 
and will probably be scrapped.

I remember the day the Cabot arrived here. I went down to take a look
and was 
struck by how incredibly filthy the ship and its crew were. The rust
spots on 
the hull had been painted over so many times there were blisters three
and four 
feet long along the sides. The rating on duty at the gangplank was
wearing a 
dirty uniform and frayed webgear and his rifle was so rusty I doubt it
could 
ever have been cleaned. Bear in mind that at that point in time, this
ship was 
the *flagship* of the Spanish navy. Makes the Armada a bit easier to
understand.

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