Aircraft carrier sold for a penny? Meet the USS John F. Kennedy, an 87-ton aircraft carrier that will be scrapped in February this year.
Aircraft carrier sold for a penny: The legendary aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), of the iconic Kitty Hawk class, ended its glorious history in an unusual and sad way. After years of debate and failed attempts to transform it into a museum ship, the vessel was sold for just a penny to a shipbreaking yard in Texas. The decision marks the end of an era for the last conventional aircraft carrier in the United States Navy, decommissioned in 2007 after decades of service, including strategic missions in the Cold War and the Middle East.
A group of Navy enthusiasts and veterans gathered at the pier recently to witness the beginning of this giantโs final journey, which will be dismantled and recycled. Regardless of its demise, the USS John F. Kennedy will remain a symbol of an era when naval power was designed in a grand and imposing manner.
Check out when the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy will be scrapped
Nicknamed โBig Johnโ, the Kitty Hawk-class subvariant has begun a journey from the United States Navy's inactive ship maintenance facility to the International Shipbreaking Limited facility in Brownsville, Texas. There, it will be dismantled and its remains sold for scrap.
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After 17 years in Philadelphia, the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, which sold for a penny, is expected to reach its final destination for scrapping sometime next month, according to a spokesman for Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). The aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy will travel through the South Atlantic, around the Florida peninsula and across the Gulf of Mexico.
No date has yet been set for the ship's dismantling. The ship was sold for a penny in October 2021 after years of debate over its fate.
For a brief period, it was possible to consider additional attempts, but unsuccessful, attempts to save them from scrapping. The Navy has earmarked the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy for possible conversion into a museum ship after its retirement from service.
Several groups have tried to buy the penny-selling aircraft carrier, but none of those efforts have been successful. The nuclear-powered ship cannot be turned into a museum ship, making these the last opportunities for a second life for the Navy's largest warship.
A little history of the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy
Commissioned on September 7, 1968, she was the first Navy ship named after John F. Kennedy and the last conventionally powered aircraft carrier built in the United States. She was decommissioned in 2007 after 39 years. The carrier, sold for a penny for scrapping, was a one-off derivative of the Kitty Hawk-class design, originally planned to be nuclear-powered.
It entered service during the Vietnam War, but did not directly participate in the conflict. However, it supported other missions, such as the American response to the bombing of the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut (Lebanon) in 1983 and the First Gulf War in 1991.
The aircraft carrier and its air wing were called up to conduct combat patrols after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the ship also participated in the early stages of the war in Afghanistan.
Understand the challenges of ship dismantling
The fact that the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, such a large and historic ship at over 305 feet long and displacing 87 tons, was sold for a penny underscores the challenge and cost of dismantling such large vessels.
Dismantling a similarly sized nuclear-powered aircraft carrier sold for a penny is much more complex and fraught with risk.
By comparison, the net cost of dismantling the aging USS Enterprise, the Navy's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, could be as high as $1,55 billion, according to a 2018 Government Accountability Office report.
This, however, will not be the last aircraft carrier to bear the 35th president's name. The future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), the second Ford-class supercarrier, was commissioned in fiscal 2013 and is scheduled for delivery in July of this year.
I really like subjects related to the sea, ships and shipwrecks because it's history for me.
The Kitty Hawk class did not use nuclear propulsion, a little research goes a long wayโฆ
The article has some errors, including the statement that the ship had nuclear propulsion, which is not true. It was planned to have but did not receive nuclear reactors. The CVA 67 was powered by gas turbines and diesel engines.