NCL’s Independence Headed for the Scrap Yard

The Independence, a 57-year-old ocean liner purchased by Norwegian Cruise Line in April 2003 for a reported $4 million, left its berth in San Francisco on Feb. 8 and headed to a scrap yard in Asia.

Peter Knego, a maritime historian with MaritimeMatters.com, was in San Francisco to see the vessel, recently renamed the Oceanic, leave a U.S. port for the last time.

He said that the ship, currently owned by Global Maritime, a company called that sells vessels for scrap, was untied last week and is bound for Singapore.

NCL bought the vessel along with the United States, another U.S.-flagged historical ocean liner, but that the Independence was in much worse shape than the United States.

The Independence is a sister ship to the Constitution, an ocean liner that sank while being towed to Asia to be scrapped in 1997; that ship had also been renamed the Oceanic.