USS John F. Kennedy (hull number CV-67; formerly CVA-67), the only ship of her class, was an aircraft carrier, formerly of the United States Navy. Considered a supercarrier, she was a variant of the , and the last conventionally-powered carrier built for the Navy, as all carriers since have had nuclear propulsion. Commissioned in 1968, the ship was named after John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States. John F. Kennedy was originally designated a CVA, for fixed-wing attack carrier, however the designation was changed to CV, for fleet carrier.
After nearly 40 years of service, John F. Kennedy was decommissioned on 1 August 2007. She was 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.
On 16 January 2025, John F. Kennedy left the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and started the voyage to Brownsville, Texas, where she will be scrapped.USS John F. Kennedy leaving Philadelphia's Navy Yard to be dismantled in Texas She arrived at Brownsville on 2 February 2025 for her final arrival.
She has been succeeded by the Pre-Commissioning Unit , laid down in July 2015, launched in October 2019, and scheduled to enter service in March 2027, after missing the delivery date July 2025.
Ship history
Design and early years Designed under Ship Characteristics Board project SCB-127C, the ship's keel was laid on inclined Shipway 8 at Newport News Shipbuilding on 22 October 1964. Initial construction proceeded on the inclined way for several months, during which a 280-foot midbody "machinery box" section (between frames 93 and 163, extending to the fourth deck and out to the second longitudinal bulkhead) was erected. To reduce occupancy time in the graving dock, this section was subsequently launched from Shipway 8 and transferred to Shipway 11, where final assembly and construction continued until the ship's launch. The ship was 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 operational readiness inspection (ORI) conducted by Commander, Carrier Division Two, John F. Kennedy left for the Mediterranean Sea 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. Kennedys 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. During the 1970s John F. Kennedy was upgraded to handle the F-14 Tomcat and the S-3 Viking.
After her 1973 overhaul, John F. Kennedy was planned to deploy to Vietnam but her orders were changed to deploy European waters after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. 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.Zumwalt, 'On Watch', 1976, 436–448 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 possible arson, suffering eight fires, with no injuries, while at port in Norfolk, Virginia.Naval Sea Systems Command DC Museum "USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV-67)" 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. Kennedys overhanging deck, JP-5 fuel lines were ruptured spraying fuel over an adjacent catwalk, and fires ensued aboard both ships. Belknaps 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 of Scotland. Both crew members ejected and landed on the deck, injured but alive.Popular Mechanics, June 1977, Volume 147, #6 A naval race (surface and submarine) followed between the Soviet Navy and U.S. Navy to get back not only the plane (because of its weapon system), but also its missiles. After a prolonged search, the U.S. Navy retrieved the aircraft and its missiles.
In 1979 John F. Kennedy underwent her first year-long overhaul, which was completed in 1980. While the carrier was at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia for the overhaul, arson attacks were carried out on the ship on two occasions. On 9 April 1979, she experienced five fires which killed one shipyard worker and injured 34 others, and on 5 June 1979 the carrier was the target of two more fires; no one was injured in the latter incident. In 1979 she won her second Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award.
1980s
On 4 August 1980, John F. Kennedy left Norfolk, Virginia and voyaged to the Mediterranean Sea. John F. Kennedy S-3 Division during departure from Norfolk, Virginia to the Mediterranean Sea, 4 August 1980.
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, U.S. 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, President Mohammed Siad Barre. 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, with Commander, Carrier Group 6 (CCG-6) embarked, was diverted to Beirut, Lebanon from her planned Indian Ocean deployment, after the Beirut barracks bombing killed 241 U.S. 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 U.S. 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.United States Department of Defense, Secretary of Defense Maintenance Awards
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 she 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. Kennedys Carrier Air Wing 3 commenced the 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.