- The former USS John F. Kennedy was the last conventionally powered aircraft carrier built for the Navy.
- This aircraft carrier was also the site of one of the greatest military pranks.
- After nearly 40 years of service, the flattop was retired and sold for a penny to a scrapyard.
The retired premier aviation supercarrier, the former USS John F. Kennedy, is headed to the scrapyard after nearly 40 years of service.
That legacy will live on in the stories of the new supercarrier and the crazy shenanigans that once happened on its deck.
first in class
Kennedy was a derivative of the Kitty Hawk class carrier and was designated CVA-67 as an attack carrier.
After a series of modifications, Kennedy's classification was changed to CV-67, the only ship of her type, indicating that the carrier could support anti-submarine fighters like the S-3 Viking.
The last conventionally powered aircraft carrier built for the U.S. Navy
It was the last conventional aircraft carrier built for the Navy, which replaced it with nuclear-powered Nimitz-class and Ford-class carriers.
Kennedy was propelled by eight conventional boilers and four steam turbines and could reach speeds of 34 knots.
The height from keel to mast is the same as a 25-story building.
This giant aircraft carrier is nearly 200 feet tall and more than 1,000 feet long, and if erected upside down, it would reach the 84th floor of the Empire State Building.
It was as wide as a World War I destroyer was long.
The flight deck was as wide as a World War I destroyer, measuring over 250 feet at its widest point.
armed
Its weapons included two launchers for Sea Sparrow missiles, an automated close-in weapon system, and two rolling airframe missile launchers.
introduction
After her maiden voyage to the Mediterranean, Kennedy participated in 18 official deployments during her 38 years of service.
Notably, the warship participated in Operation Desert Storm after the 3rd Carrier Air Wing, then aboard the Kennedy, conducted airstrikes against Iraqi forces in 1991.
During a six-month deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, in October 2001 after 9/11, aircraft aboard the Kennedy directed more than 64,000 pounds of firepower against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets.
Biggest military prank in history
Aside from its historic military service and functions, the Kennedy was also the site of one of history's greatest military pranks.
In 1986, Kennedy was scheduled to relieve the Kitty Hawk-class supercarrier USS America after a six-month deployment in the Mediterranean Sea.
What was supposed to be a routine change of command quickly turned into a surprise as America's astronauts unloaded an unusual cargo on the new arrivals: three greased pigs dyed with red, white, and blue food coloring. It turned into a hilarious prank.
Brian Kristoff, a crew member with the USS America's HS-11 helicopter squadron, shared a video of the incident in a since-deleted post on Facebook in 2023.
“We had just completed a six-month deployment to the Indian Ocean/Mediterranean Sea,” Kristoff wrote. “We were being rescued by the USS Kennedy. Fighter Jock joined us and we came up with a plan, based on a long-standing tradition, to release greased pigs onto the deck of the rescue ship. .”
“I painted three pigs with red, white and blue food coloring and lathered them in grease,” he continued. “Kennedy didn't see it coming!”
Worried about budget cuts
In 2005, Kennedy was proposed for retirement due to maintenance costs, freeing more than $1 billion from the Pentagon's budget at the time.
Two years later, the ship was officially retired “with dignity and honor” and removed from the Naval Ship Register in October 2009.
sold for 1 cent
In 2021, several years after being decommissioned, the iconic warship was sold for pennies to a Texas-based shipbreaking company due to the high costs of towing and recycling it.
USS Kitty Hawk was also sold to International Shipbreaking Ltd. for 1 cent and arrived at a scrapyard in Brownsville, Texas, in 2022.
The Kennedy was scheduled to follow in mid-December 2023, but Robert Berry, vice president of International Shipbreaking Ltd., said the ship had not yet appeared and he did not know why.
“I wish I had done that,” Berry told Texas newspaper the Monitor in late December. “I really do. Thousands of people are making fun of me about this, and I just don't have any dates scheduled. ” he said. “Until the Navy comes out and tells us something, I have nothing.”
“What I say is probably wrong,” he added. “Due to my contract, I can't say too much. I actually thought I'd be able to see it in December, but that didn't happen.”
“Crying on rusted metal”
A group of veterans who served aboard the Kennedy during the Vietnam War mourned the ship's impending demolition. Don Russo, one of the group's founding members, recalled a time when he was aboard a super-aircraft carrier.
“We were on the same ship at the same time, we were in the same division, we worked together, we drank together,” Russo told the Grant County News. “I can't tell you anything else. Our wives are here.”
The group, dubbed “Our Division,” toured the decommissioned aircraft carrier last year in an emotional final visit.
“The five of us were crying on a piece of rusty metal,” they said.
Next JFK
While CV-67 is headed to the scrapyard, another ship by that name is already at sea. USS Kennedy (CV-79) is her second ship of the Gerald R. Ford class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
Officially launched in 2019, the Navy's newest warship commands a hefty $11 billion price tag, although it's $2 billion shy of the $13 billion USS Gerald R. Ford.
The carrier recently conducted its test New electromagnetic aircraft launch system Last month, a large vehicle was launched into the James River to see if it could handle a real fixed-wing aircraft catapult.