I don't know about that. Ship hulls don't last forever you know? Even with proper maintenance, they will get to the point where it's better to scrap them.

Steak said:

I don't know about that. Ship hulls don't last forever you know? Even with proper maintenance, they will get to the point where it's better to scrap them.

Thats if they are on active duty, she can be preserved I am sure there are some ships in museums that can't operate but still exist

Well, if you want examples of long living ships...

...there's the USS Constitution, a Wooden Hulled Heavy Frigate first set out to sea in 1797, that's is not only still technically in active service to this very day but also theoretically combat capable (against similarly built and armed vessels, of which there are almost none left). Last I heard, she's in near top condition still.

On a lesser note, there's the BB-35 Texas, a Dreadnought Battleship set to sea in 1912 that is ironically, due to the terminology of the US naval museum ship allowances, still held in the naval reserve and must remain combat ready should the US go into desperation mode again like we did in WW2... although, I admit, that little clause is likely something only remembered by history geeks and military enthusiasts. The Texas is in desperate need of a hull replacement and major overhauls (costing roughly $2 billion dollars) before she could ever see battle again, and this is merely to cover the decay that the systems have went through, so imagine the issues with modernization.

It's my estimation that a ship on active duty with top dollar support could actually survive nearly indefinitely if not for things such as radiation spills and other contamination issues which plagued the USS Enterprise. For instance, the Ohio-class Battleships were decommissioned for a lack of use, not that they were too expensive to maintain (even though that factor was brought up, it was not what brought down the metaphorical axe).

So yeah, she'd outlive him if she wasn't killed.

...
...Ah look, another Grand_Zero trademark redundantly long post! Sorry for the spill, guys and gals.

Edit: fixed an error

Translation bump.

Another example, the Ironclad Huascar, launched in 1865. Served for the Peruvian navy until 1879, then for the Chilean navy until 1930. Has survived 2 9.0+ earthquakes, serves currently as a museum ship (can be visited freely almost the whole year, except for maintenance times), and is still combat fit afaik.

Steak said:

I don't know about that. Ship hulls don't last forever you know? Even with proper maintenance, they will get to the point where it's better to scrap them.

Rather late, but since this is on the front of the comments page, anyway...

The thing is, modern ships are made with an internal structure ("bones") that has an outer hull placed around it, two layers nowadays, because that helps prevent flooding ("skin"), over which you apply paint to bear the brunt of the corrosion. The outer hull can be replaced infinitely without needing to replace internal components or structure of the ship.

Paint is what prevents corrosion on modern naval ships. "Proper maintenance" means that the US Navy goes through $3 billion a year on fresh paint just to stop corrosion.

There are also ships, like the USS Constitution, which is an ironclad (mostly wooden) frigate which has technically been an "active service navy ship" for over 200 years... although this is clearly a ceremonial position, and you run into the "Leviathan question" of whether it's really the same ship when obviously every single part on that ship has been replaced at least once by this point.

There's also Aurora, a certain ship that helped communists to take control of Russia in 1918. She's officially a museum, but also still listed as a ship on duty (marked symbolically as #1).

NWSiaCB said:

whether it's really the same ship when obviously every single part on that ship has been replaced at least once by this point.

This is called "Ship of Theseus", if you replace all of a ship, is it still the same ship. Even more interesting is that if you keep all the replaced old parts and assemble those into a ship, which one is the real ship.

Interesting context.

unicode said:

This is called "Ship of Theseus", if you replace all of a ship, is it still the same ship. Even more interesting is that if you keep all the replaced old parts and assemble those into a ship, which one is the real ship.

Well, it should be the same ship if enough time has passed. I mean, otherwise we all would be in the same shoes since over the period of a decade or so (except neurons), we replace most of the cells in our body. :)