USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

USS "John F. Kennedy" (CV-67) (formerly CVA-67) is the only ship of her class (a variant of the "Kitty Hawk" class of aircraft carrier) and the last conventionally powered carrier built for the United States Navy. The ship was named after the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and was nicknamed "Big John". "John F. Kennedy" was originally designated a CVA (fixed wing attack carrier); however, the designation was changed to CV.
After nearly 40 years of service in the United States Navy, "John F. Kennedy" was officially decommissioned on 1 August 2007. She is berthed at the NAVSEA Inactive Ships On-site Maintenance facility in Philadelphia, formerly the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and, until late 2017, was available for donation as a museum and memorial to a qualified organization. In late 2017, the Navy revoked her "donation hold" status and designated her for dismantling.
The name has been adopted by the future "Gerald R. Ford"-class aircraft carrier "John F. Kennedy" (CVN-79).
Ship history.
Design and early years.
Contracted as Ship Characteristic Board SCB-127C, the ship's keel was laid on inclined Shipway 8 by Newport News Shipbuilding on 22 October 1964. By 1965, the larger semi-submerged Shipway 11 became available, where final construction was completed. The ship was officially christened 27 May 1967 by Jacqueline Kennedy and her 9-year-old daughter, Caroline, two days short of what would have been President Kennedy's 50th birthday. The ship entered service 7 September 1968.
"John F. Kennedy" is a modified version of the earlier s. Originally scheduled to be the fourth "Kitty Hawk"-class carrier, the ship received so many modifications during construction she formed her own class. The ship was originally ordered as a nuclear carrier, using the A3W reactor, but converted to conventional propulsion after construction had begun. The island is somewhat different from that of the "Kitty Hawk" class, with angled funnels to direct smoke and gases away from the flight deck. "John F. Kennedy" is also shorter than the "Kitty Hawk" class.
After an ORI (operational readiness inspection) conducted by Commander, Carrier Division Two, "John F. Kennedy" left for the Mediterranean in April 1969. The ship reached Rota, Spain on the morning of 22 April 1969 and relieved . Rear Admiral Pierre N. Charbonnet, Commander, Carrier Striking Forces, Sixth Fleet, and Commander, Carrier Striking Unit 60.1.9, shifted his flag to "John F. Kennedy". The turnover complete by nightfall, the carrier, escorted by destroyers, transited the Strait of Gibraltar at the start of the mid watch on 22 April. The next day, "John F. Kennedy" refueled from , and acquired the company of a Soviet (Pennant No. 383).
1970s.
"John F. Kennedy"s maiden voyage, and several of her subsequent voyages, were on deployments to the Mediterranean during much of the 1970s to help deal with the steadily deteriorating situation in the Middle East. It was during the 1970s that "John F. Kennedy" was upgraded to handle the F-14 Tomcat and the S-3 Viking.
"John F. Kennedy" was involved in the Navy response to the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East in October 1973, with her actions and the larger U.S. Navy picture being described in Elmo Zumwalt's book "On Watch".
In 1974, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet.
On 20 June 1975 "John F. Kennedy" was the target of arson, suffering eight fires, with no injuries, while at port in Norfolk, Virginia.
On 22 November 1975, "John F. Kennedy" collided with the cruiser , severely damaging the smaller ship. As a result of the collision with "John F. Kennedy"s overhanging deck, JP-5 fuel lines were ruptured spraying fuel over an adjacent catwalk, and fires ensued aboard both ships. "Belknap"s superstructure was gutted almost to the main deck, and seven of her crew killed. Aboard "John F. Kennedy", smoke inhalation claimed the life of Yeoman 2nd Class David A. Chivalette of VF-14, CVW-1.
On 14 September 1976, while conducting a nighttime underway replenishment north of Scotland, the destroyer lost control and collided with "John F. Kennedy", resulting in such severe damage to the destroyer that she was removed from service in 1977. Earlier the same day, one F-14 Tomcat, following a problem with the catapult, fell off of the flight deck of "John F. Kennedy", with AIM-54 Phoenix missiles in international waters, off the coast Scotland. Both crew members ejected and landed on the deck, injured but alive. A naval race (surface and submarine) followed between the Soviet Navy and US Navy to get back not only the plane (because of its weapon system), but also its missiles. After a prolonged search, the US Navy fished up the plane and its missiles.
In 1979 "John F. Kennedy" underwent her first, yearlong overhaul, which was completed in 1980.
On 9 April 1979 she experienced five fires set by arson while undergoing overhaul at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia. The fires killed one shipyard worker and injured 34 others.
On 5 June 1979 "John F. Kennedy" was the target of two more fires at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia. No one was injured in the incident.
In 1979 she won her second Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award.
1980s.
On August 4, 1980, "John F. Kennedy" left Norfolk, Virginia and voyaged to the Mediterranean Sea.
On 4 January 1982, "John F. Kennedy", with Carrier Air Wing Three (AC), sailed as the flagship for Carrier Group Four (CCG-4) from Norfolk, Va. on her ninth deployment, and her first visit to the Indian Ocean after port visits to St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, Malaga, Spain, and transiting the Suez Canal. In her time in the Indian Ocean "John F. Kennedy" conducted her only port visit to Perth/Fremantle, Western Australia, anchoring in Gage Roads on 19 March 1982 for a R&R visit, departing on 25 March back to the Indian Ocean. During this time "John F. Kennedy" played host to the first visit of the Somali head of state. Her cruise ended with port visits to Mombasa, Kenya and Toulon, France, and another visit to Malaga, Spain before returning home on 14 July 1982.
In October 1983 "John F. Kennedy" was diverted to Beirut, Lebanon from her planned Indian Ocean deployment, after the Beirut barracks bombing killed 241 US military personnel taking part in the Multinational Force in Lebanon, and spent the rest of that year and early 1984 patrolling the region. On 4 December 1983 ten A-6 aircraft from "John F. Kennedy" along with A-6 and A-7 aircraft from took part in a bombing raid over Beirut, in response to two US F-14 aircraft being fired upon the previous day. The Navy lost two aircraft during the raid: an A-7E from "Independence" and an A-6E from "John F. Kennedy" were shot down by SAMs. The A-7E pilot was picked up by a fishing boat, but the A-6E pilot Lt. Mark Lange died after ejecting and the B/N Lt. Robert "Bobby" Goodman was taken prisoner and released on 3 January 1984.
In 1984 the ship was drydocked at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a one-and-a-half year complex overhaul and upgrades.
In 1985 "John F. Kennedy" received the initial awarding of the Department of Defense Phoenix Award for Maintenance Excellence for having the best maintenance department in the entire Department of Defense.
Setting sail in July 1986, "John F. Kennedy" participated in the International Naval Review to help mark the Re-dedication of the Statue of Liberty. "John F. Kennedy" served as the flagship for the armada before departing on her eleventh overseas deployment to the Mediterranean in Augusthighlighted by multiple Freedom of Navigation exercises in the Gulf of Sidra, and operations off of the coast of Lebanon as a response to increasing terrorist activities and U.S. citizens being taken hostage in Beirut. The ship returned to Norfolk, Virginia in March 1987 and was dry-docked a second time for fifteen months for critical upgrades and major repairs.
In August 1988 "John F. Kennedy" departed on her twelfth overseas deployment. During this deployment, a pair of MiG-23 Flogger fighter aircraft from Libya approached the carrier task force, which was off the shore of Libya near the declared Libyan territorial waters of the Gulf of Sidra. "John F. Kennedy" launched two F-14 Tomcats from VF-32 "Fighting Swordsmen" to intercept the incoming MiGs. The U.S. planes were sent to escort the MiGs away from the task force. During the course of the intercept, the MiGs were determined to be hostile and were both shot down.
1990s.
"John F. Kennedy" returned to the U.S. in time to participate in Fleet Week in New York and Independence Day celebrations in Boston, Massachusetts before receiving an "All-hands" recall on 10 August 1990, for Operation Desert Shield. The ship was empty of fuel, and ordnance and equipment as it was ready to join the yards for some SRA maintenance. Once the Warning order was issued, the ship went into 24-hour supplies replenishment procedures. She took on all the supplies and equipment she had just been offloading. She took on additional fuel and ordnance while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. She departed the United States combat ready faster than any ship had accomplished since the Vietnam War. She departed on 15 August 1990, and became the flagship for the commander of the Red Sea Battle Force. At midnight on 17 January 1991 "John F. Kennedy"s Carrier Air Wing 3 commenced the very first strike operations against Iraqi forces as part of Operation Desert Storm. Between the commencement of the operation and the cease-fire, "John F. Kennedy" launched 114 airstrikes and nearly 2,900 sorties against Iraq, which delivered over 3.5 million pounds of ordnance. On 27 February 1991 President George H. W. Bush declared a cease-fire in Iraq, and ordered all U.S. forces to stand down. "John F. Kennedy" was relieved, and began the long journey home by transiting the Suez Canal. She arrived in Norfolk on 28 March 1991.
While at Norfolk the ship was placed on a four-month selective restricted-availability period as shipyard workers carried out maintenance. Extensive repairs to the flight deck, maintenance and engineering systems were made. Additionally, the ship was refitted to handle the new F/A-18C/D Hornet.
With the upgrades completed, "John F. Kennedy" departed on her 14th deployment to the Mediterranean, assisting several task forces with workup exercises in anticipation of intervention in Yugoslavia. When "John F. Kennedy" returned she was sent to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where she underwent a two-year extensive overhaul. Upon completion of the overhaul the ship was transferred to the Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville, Florida, which remained the ship's home port.
On 1 October 1995, "John F. Kennedy" was designated to be an operational reserve carrier and Naval Reserve Force ship with a combined full-time active duty and part-time Naval Reserve crew complement, assigned to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. "John F. Kennedy" would be available to deploy with either an active or reserve carrier air wing when mobilized in support of urgent operational requirements. In this capacity, "John F. Kennedy"s new primary function would be to provide a surge capability, and in peacetime, to support training requirements. She would participate in routine fleet exercises, aviator carrier qualifications, and battle group training. The impetus for this initiative was post-Cold War defense spending in the mid-1990s, however, the Naval Reserve was never adequately funded to accomplish major maintenance actions for the "John F. Kennedy", further exacerbated by additional defense cutbacks that eliminated Carrier Air Wing Reserve 30 and the downgrading of Carrier Air Wing Reserve 20 to a non-deployable Tactical Support Wing and the return of many of the Reserve's front-line combat aircraft to the active duty force. Following the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, the Operational Reserve Carrier concept was discontinued and "John F. Kennedy" was returned to the active duty fleet and placed back in the same maintenance rotation as active duty carriers.
"John F. Kennedy" made a high-profile visit to Dublin, Ireland during an Atlantic deployment in 1996. Here, more than 10,000 people were invited to tour the ship at anchor in Dublin Bay. The visit was also intended to honor two personalities who had made a great impact on history: John F. Kennedy, for whom the ship was named, and Commodore John Barry, a native of County Wexford, Ireland who played an instrumental role in the early years of the United States Navy. Officers and crew from "John F. Kennedy" joined local military and civilian organizations in celebrating Barry's achievements at his statue in Crescent Quay, Wexford, and three F-14 Tomcat fighters flew at low level over the town. Jean Kennedy Smith, sister of John F. Kennedy, was the U.S. ambassador to Ireland at the time, and was among those who welcomed the ship to Ireland.
During her visit to Ireland, high winds in Dublin Bay caused the boarding pontoon to tear a large hole in "John F. Kennedy"s hull.
"John F. Kennedy"s 15th Mediterranean deployment included two transits of the Suez Canal, and four months deployed in the Persian Gulf. One night in the Gulf two Iranian F-14's were flying low altitude at high speed heading toward the ship. The AEGIS cruiser acquired the jets on radar and warned them to turn away, which they did. She returned in time to participate in Fleet Week '98 in New York City.
Shortly before "John F. Kennedy"s 16th deployment, she became involved in a rescue mission when the tug "Gulf Majesty" foundered during Hurricane Floyd in mid-September 1999. The ship successfully rescued the crew of the vessel, then headed toward the Middle East, where she became the first U.S. aircraft carrier to make a port call in Al Aqabah, Jordan, in the process playing host to the King of Jordan, before taking up station in support of Operation Southern Watch.
"John F. Kennedy" was the only conventionally powered U.S. carrier underway at the end of 1999, arriving back at Mayport on 19 March 2000. After a brief period of maintenance (Advanced combat direction system was installed), the carrier sailed north to participate in 4 July International Naval Review, then headed to Boston for Sail Boston 2000. The City of Boston arranged this independent event to take advantage of the transit of Tall sailing ships participating in Operation Sail 2000 as they passed by from New London, Connecticut en route to their final port-of-call in Portland, Maine.
2000s.
During "John F. Kennedy"s last round of refits the ship became a testbed for an experimental system for the Cooperative Engagement Capability, a system that allowed "John F. Kennedy" to engage targets beyond original range.
In 2001, during a pre-deployment trial, "John F. Kennedy" was found to be severely deficient in some respects, especially those relating to air group operations; most problematic, two aircraft catapults and three aircraft elevators, which are used to lift aircraft from the hangar deck to and from the flight deck, were non-functional during inspection, and two boilers would not light. As a result, her captain and two department heads were relieved for cause.
As the 11 September attacks of 2001 unfolded, "John F. Kennedy" and her battle group were ordered to support Operation Noble Eagle, establishing air security along the mid-Atlantic seaboard, including Washington, D.C. "John F. Kennedy" was released from Noble Eagle on 14 September 2001.
During the first six months of 2002, "John F. Kennedy" aircraft dropped 31,000 tons of ordnance on Taliban and al Qaeda targets in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
In August 2002, "John F. Kennedy" visited the city of Tarragona in Spain.
In July 2004 "John F. Kennedy" collided with a dhow in the Persian Gulf, leaving no survivors on the traditional Arab sailing boat. After the incident the Navy relieved the commanding officer of "John F. Kennedy". The carrier itself was unscathed, but two jet fighters on the deck were damaged when an F-14B Tomcat assigned to VF-103 slid into an F/A-18C Hornet assigned to VFA-81 damaging the wing of the F-14 as well as the upper section of the radome and forward windscreen of the F/A-18 as the ship made a hard turn to avoid the tiny vessel. A popular misconception is that "John F. Kennedy"s captain waited to make the turn at the last possible moment to recover aircraft critically low on fuel returning from airstrikes. The official review board determined this was not the case and the aircraft could have remained safely aloft until "John F. Kennedy" maneuvered to avoid the dhow.
"John F. Kennedy" was the most costly carrier in the fleet to maintain and was due for an expensive overhaul; budget cutbacks and changing naval tactics
prompted the U.S. Navy to decide to retire her. On 1 April 2005 the Navy formally announced that the carrier's scheduled 15-month overhaul had been cancelled.
Before decommissioning she made a number of port calls to allow the public to "say farewell" to her, including a stop at her "homeport" Boston Harbor. "John F. Kennedy" also took part in the 2005 New York City Fleet Week festivities at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. She was decommissioned in Mayport, Florida on 23 March 2007.
The ship's unique in-port cabin, which was decorated by Jacqueline Kennedy with wood paneling, oil paintings, and rare artifacts, was disassembled, to be rebuilt at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.
Ex-"John F. Kennedy" was towed to Norfolk, Virginia on 26 July 2007. She remained in Norfolk until a shoaled area near Pier 4 in Philadelphia could be dredged to enable the ship to safely dock. On 17 March 2008 at about 1700, she was seen leaving Norfolk Naval Station under tow of the tug "Atlantic Salvor". On 22 March 2008 ex-"John F. Kennedy" arrived, with the afternoon high tide, at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia. She is currently laid up in the Philadelphia reserve fleet.
Possible future plans.
In November 2009, the Navy placed "John F. Kennedy" on donation hold for use as a museum and memorial. A report in the "Boston Herald" newspaper on 26 November 2009 mentioned the possibility of bringing "John F. Kennedy" to the Boston, Massachusetts area, as a museum or memorial at no cost to the city, if desired.
In August 2010, two groups successfully passed into Phase II of the U.S. Navy Ship Donation Program:
On 4 January 2010, Portland, Maine City Council unanimously endorsed the efforts of the USS "John F. Kennedy" Museum while Gov. John Baldacci also offered his support. One year later on 19 January 2011 the Portland, Maine City Council voted 9–0 to not continue with the project to bring the ship to Maine.
Plans as of September 2014 had the Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame working to secure Pier 2 of the Naval Station Newport. These developments come after the former was sold for scrapping earlier after years of being moored in Newport.
With the advent of the nuclear carrier, and "John F. Kennedy" are the last two candidate carriers to become museum ships as they have conventional propulsion. Nuclear carriers, such as and the , require extensive deconstruction to remove their nuclear reactors during decommissioning, leaving them in an unsuitable condition for donation. In October 2017, it was announced that "Kitty Hawk" would be disposed of by scrapping, leaving "John F. Kennedy" the last available carrier capable of conversion to a museum.
In late 2017, the Navy revoked "John F. Kennedy"s "donation hold" status and designated her for dismantling. There are still several groups, from Florida, Maine and Rhode Island, with the assistance of the USS "John F. Kennedy" Veteran's Association, hoping to persuade the Navy to reinstate the "donation hold" status, while they pursue the goal of obtaining her as a museum.
In popular culture.
The TV series "Supercarrier" was partially filmed on board the ship between September and November 1987, while the ship was undergoing a period of upkeep.