On a chilly, dreary Thursday in Philadelphia, a smattering of individuals got here to the waterfront to see the previous Kitty Hawk class plane provider U.S.S. John F. Kennedy (CV-67) start its ultimate journey. Nicknamed “Massive John,” the Kitty Hawk class sub-variant started a visit from the U.S. Navy’s Inactive Ships Upkeep Facility to the Worldwide Shipbreaking Restricted facility in Brownsville, Texas. There will probably be reduce up and its remnants bought for scrap.
After 17 years in Philadelphia, Massive John is anticipated to reach at its ultimate vacation spot someday subsequent month, a Naval Sea Techniques Command (NAVSEA) spokesman advised The Struggle Zone. It should transit south by means of the Atlantic Ocean, across the Florida peninsula, after which throughout the Gulf of Mexico. No date has but been set for the ship’s dismantling.
Massive John and the previous USS Kitty Hawk had been bought for a penny apiece in October 2021 after years of debate about their fates. For a short time this even included discuss of returning Kitty Hawk to service and rumors of promoting Massive John to India. There have been a number of extra grounded however unsuccessful makes an attempt to maintain them from the scrapper’s torch. The Navy set the John F. Kennedy apart for doable conversion right into a museum ship after it was decommissioned. A number of teams tried to safe the vessel for that objective, however none of these efforts proved profitable. Nuclear powered supercarriers can’t be museum ships, so these had been the final alternatives for such a second life for the Navy’s largest warships.
Commissioned on Sept. 7, 1968, the flattop was the primary Navy ship to be named John F. Kennedy and was the final U.S. conventionally powered plane provider constructed. It was retired from service in 2007, 39 years later.
The united statesJohn F. Kennedy on the U.S. Navy’s Inactive Ships Upkeep Facility. (Brian W. Schaller by way of Wikicommons)
The vessel was a one-of-a-kind spinoff of the Kitty Hawk class design initially supposed to be nuclear-powered. It entered service on the peak of the Vietnam Struggle, however didn’t see service there. Nevertheless, it did help a wide range of different missions, together with the U.S. response to the bombing of Marine Corps Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983 and the primary Gulf Struggle in 1991. The provider and its air wing had been referred to as upon to supply fight air patrols after the 9/11 terrorist assaults, and the ship additionally took half within the early phases of the struggle in Afghanistan.
An aerial view from off the port bow of USS John F. Kennedy within the Atlantic Oceano. The ship was deployed to the New York space in response to terrorist assaults on September 11, 2001, in New York Metropolis and Washington, DC. (Picture by Lisa Marcus/Courtesy of the US Navy/Getty Photos) U.S. Navy
That such a big and storied ship – greater than 1,000 toes lengthy and displacing 87,000 tons – was bought for a penny highlights the problem and expense of scrapping such massive vessels. That drawback is just about to get much more amplified. Scrapping a nuclear powered vessel of comparable measurement is way extra sophisticated and plagued with hazards. By comparability, the online value to dismantle the previous USS Enterprise – the Navy’s first nuclear-powered plane provider – may very well be as excessive as $1.55 billion, in line with a 2018 Authorities Accountability Report.
This received’t be the final flattop to bear the thirty fifth president’s identify. The longer term Ford class USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), the second Ford class supercarrier, was procured in Fiscal 12 months 2013 and scheduled for supply this July, in line with Navy paperwork.
Some Photos of the united statesJohn F. Kennedy (CVN 79) throughout the development section at Newport Information Shipbuilding, Newport Information, Virginia, USA.
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As of Thursday night, the decaying Massive John was nonetheless near shore within the Delaware River, a sea-going tugboat towing it down the channel to the Atlantic Ocean. In line with NAVSEA, as soon as the ship hits open waters, it received’t be seen once more from shore till it nears the Texas metropolis of San Padre Island on the Gulf of Mexico.
Right here’s to the Massive John’s legacy and all of the sailors who referred to as her residence!
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