Ex - USS John F Kennedy (CV-67) (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) | military, aircraft carrier, United States Navy

 military, aircraft carrier, United States Navy

Laid down on October 22nd, 1964 at Newport News Naval Shipyard as the fourth and final member of the Kitty Hawk Class of conventionally powered Supercarriers, the USS John F. Kennedy commissioned into active Navy Service on September 7th 1968. Named in honor of John F. Kennedy, the former 35th President of the United States who was assassinated in 1963, the ship was sponsored by his daughter Caroline Kennedy and christened by his widow Jacqueline Kennedy.

Joining the US Atlantic Fleet after her shakedown cruise, the JFK began the first of many deployments to the Mediterranean Sea to monitor events in the Middle East, but found herself involved in two notorious collisions with other US Naval vessels: One with the USS Belknap (CG-26) in 1975 which caused such severe damage that the Belknap to be completely rebuilt, and another with the USS Bordelon (DD-881) in 1976 which damaged the destroyer so severely that she was decommissioned. Earning the nickname "The Can Opener", the JFK entered the 1980's and found herself part of several notable actions in the Med, including the US reprisal for the 1983 Marine Corps barracks Bombing in Lebanon, and a pivotal role in the 1988 Gulf of Sidra Incident, where two of her F-14s shot down two Libyan fighters.

During the 1990's the JFK would be heavily involved with the First Gulf War, operating from the Red Sea and launching 114 airstrikes and nearly 2,900 sorties against Iraq, which delivered over 3.5 million pounds of ordnance in 1991. In 1993 she was part of the UN coalition operating off the coast of Yugoslavia, and in 1999 she made her 16th Mediterranean deployment in support of US forces in Iraq as part of Operation Southern Watch, enforcing a No-Fly Zone over Southern Iraq.

The JFK was the only US Aircraft Carrier on deployment at the start of the year 2000, and after a repair period found many of her flight deck systems to be in need of major refits she was kept under repairs through much of late 2000 & early 2001. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11 the JFK operated off the coast of New Jersey and provided airspace command along the mid-Atlantic seaboard until September 14th, when she was released to prepare for immediate deployment to Afghanistan. After a hasty refit, she deployed in January 2002 and her planes would eventually drop over 31,000lbs of ordinance before she returned home in July. Her final military deployment came in 2004 when she operated in the Persian Gulf in support of US Forces in Iraq, which was mostly uneventful until "The Can Opener" had yet another collision, this time with a Dhow fishing in the Gulf.

After her final military deployment the JFK was in need of major refit in order to stay operational with the Navy, and was deemed by Navy Brass too expensive to keep in operation. After failing to receive flight deck certifications to safely operate aircraft in 2005, the Navy annouced that the JFK would be decommissioned. She made a final ceremonial trip to her adopted 'homeport' of Boston in the Spring of 2007 and after returning to Mayport was fomally decommissioned on March 23rd, 2007, 18 months shy of 40 years of active US Navy service. Her decommissioning left only her sistership, USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), as the only non-nuclear powered Aircraft Carrier in the US Navy.

The Ex-USS John F. Kennedy was towed from Mayport harbor to Norfolk on July 26th, 2007 where she was layberthed and had many of her spare parts removed to support both her sistership and the active Nimitz Class. She was towed from Norfolk to the former Philadelphia Navy Yard on March 22nd, 2008, where she now remains in mothballs as the Navy decides on her fate. Presently the JFK (CV-67) Memorial Foundation is mounting an effort to save the ship as a museum in either Miami FL, or Boston MA.

www.savethejfk.com/
www.nvr.navy.mil/SHIPDETAILS/SHIPSDETAIL_CV_67_5149.HTM...
www.navsource.org/archives/02/67.htm

Pics of the JFK in reserve:
navysite.de/cvn/cv67philly.htm