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Carrier USS John F. Kennedy Set for Final Voyage to Shipbreakers

USS John F. Kennedy
USS John F. Kennedy in her prime (USN)

Published Jan 15, 2025 8:29 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

On Thursday, the decommissioned carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) is scheduled to leave the port of Philadelphia for her final destination - the scrapyards of Brownsville, Texas. 

Local ABC affiliate Action News reports that the departure was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but has been pushed back slightly. After departure, the carrier will be visible to well-wishers along the waterfront on the Delaware River and throughout her outbound transit through Delaware Bay.

USS John F. Kennedy was the last U.S. Navy carrier with a conventionally-fueled steam powerplant. She was laid down as the fourth Kitty Hawk-class carrier, but was heavily modified during construction and given her own designation. and was delivered at the height of the Vietnam War. She spent the war years in the Mediterranean, watching over a restless Middle East and assisting the U.S. response during the brief Yom Kippur War of 1973. She survived an infamous collision with the cruiser USS Belknap in 1975, and another with destroyer USS Bordelon the following year.  

Kennedy also joined air operations over Beirut in the Lebanon crisis in 1984, and was recalled from a yard period to join Operation Desert Storm in 1990. Her air wing was also active over Afghanistan in 2022 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. 

In 2005, USS John F. Kennedy's upcoming yard period was deemed too expensive, and the Navy decided to retire her from service. She decommissioned in 2007 and has been laid up in Philadelphia for the last 18 years, awaiting final disposition. Several proposals to turn her into a museum were tendered, but were ultimately unsuccessful. USS Kennedy and USS Kitty Hawk were sold as a pair to International Shipbreaking in October 2021; Kitty Hawk was towed to the yard in June 2022 and dismantled, and Kennedy is next in line.  

The Navy has named the second Ford-class carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), and construction is under way at Newport News. The nuclear-powered, $13 billion supercarrier is due for delivery later this year, 14 years after her steel-cutting ceremony in 2011.