What happens to decommissioned aircraft carriers?

Answer 1

Nearly all decommissioned aircraft carriers are (sooner or later) re-cycled (scrapped). Rare exceptions are the USS Saratoga which was sunk as a nuclear target at Bikini Island in 1946; and the USS Oriskany which was sunk as an artificial reef in the 21st century. The light carrier USS Independence was also sunk off of California in the 1940's, however, her fate was also the result the of the atomic bomb...she was highly contaminated...and sunk years after the A-Bomb explosion. The USS America may also have been scuttled.