USS Kittyhawk decommisions today 31st january

[wessex19]

the last of the USN CVS carriers bows out. The battle cat has certainly done its time at sea.

USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) (http://www.kittyhawk.navy.mil/)

[West Coast]

It's for sale....

HMS Redoubtable...HMS Bigfrigginship...

[Sospan]

The skipper has done well, not bad for an ex Nimrod pilot.

[mr fish]

seriously though, about how much would she cost, how are prices for such hardware arrived at?
also, how much did the indians pay for HERMES and how much was INVINCIBLE going to cost the aussies?

[tyne]

Making her an HMS would be a non-starter. She's not standardised with the RN for a start so support would be a nightmare.

She's a steamer. There can't be many in the RN today who could manage a steam plant. Our last steamer (Fearless) left service 8 years ago.

Sadly we aint got the people to man such a ship.

And although undoubtedly well built she is old.

Shame though. Be nice for a few years until CVF comes along.

[racedo]

What is the plan for the venerable old ship ?

[GreenKnight121]

With Saratoga, Ranger, and JFK* on hold for possible preservation as museums, she is likely to be stripped for parts (such as can be used... mostly electronics & house-keeping equipment as she was the last "oil-burner" CV).

A group is lobbying for her to be placed beside the battleship USS North Carolina as a museum, but with 3* other nearly-identical ships already in this classification (of which no more than two and probably only one are likely to be successful) this is unlikely.

The USN has released no info on her potential fate.

Forrestal is scheduled to be sunk as an artificial reef, and Independence & Constellation are scheduled to be scrapped. America was already sunk in a weapons test.


*JFK is currently not listed as formally assigned to any post-decommissioning status, but considering the political weight being thrown behind the drive to make her a museum, it is extremely unlikely to be anything other than "hold for donation as a museum".

[Not_a_boffin]

I suspect that the market for many more museums is limited, which is a shame considering just how good some of them are. Just look at USS Midway and their aircraft restoration page - they've even got a Gutless Cutlass being stitched together. Definitely on my list next time I get to the West Coast.

Midway's Aircraft - USS Midway Museum (http://www.midway.org/site/pp.asp?c=eeIGLLOrGpF&b=3039049)

The cost of keeping something like Kitty Hawk or Big John in reasonable order is likely to militate against it being economically viable. Thats one very good reason why Forrestal, Saratoga and Ranger have sat in Cat X for well over a decade - the other being the marginal economics of scrapping them. This is compounded by the success of the Essex-class ships which are much smaller & easier to dock and are up and running.

[Double Zero]

Expensive to run or not, I wouldn't mind betting she's been / being seriously considered by the Indian Navy - and they can make anything work !

[fallmonk]

There was talk a while back on Defense Industry Daily - Military Purchasing News for Defense Procurement Managers and Contractors (http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/) of the yanks giving her away FREE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to the indians on the grounds that they bought F-18s etc to use on her !
But i think congress was putting a stop to it ! it was suiting the USN as the ship was built a long time ago it has lots of non standard material in her construction (aspestos i think) and if they need to strip her down i would cost a fortune BUT if she was sold they are no longer resposible for her disposale ! :ok:

[brickhistory]

An excerpt from a story regarding my brief time aboard the "Sh1tty Kitty."

Besides seeing how 'the other half' lived, my chief memory was of the smell. Military aircraft usually smell of ass and hydraulic fluid. The Kitty Hawk smelled of ass, steel, and oil.

Not to mention, it was loud, 24/7.

From "Supposed to do that?"

“How cool is this?!” I kept asking myself. I had always wanted to accomplish certain things in my life, kind of a “macho” checklist to perform before I died. One of those checklist items was to do an aircraft carrier take-off and landing. As an Air Force flyer, this particular item would be difficult to mark off.

Now here I was, cruising at 21,000 feet, at night, in the US Navy’s E-2C “Hawkeye” airborne command and control aircraft. A short time ago, I had tugged my harness as snug as I could and felt the power and unbelievable acceleration of the cat shot throwing the Hawkeye from a dead stop to 140 kts in just 1.2 seconds. The roar of the two Allison T-56 turboprops rushed through the open overhead hatch. Open so that in the event of a “cold” cat shot where the Hawkeye wasn’t thrown off the deck fast enough but rather just dribbled off the bow and into the water, then we in the mission crew compartment had a chance to get out before a) the oncoming 98,000 tons of carrier ran over us or b) the E-2C sank like a rock.

The USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) was the forward Pacific-based carrier due to the USS Independence’s need for maintenance back in the states. Almost ten years ago, I was based on the Japanese island of Okinawa with my AWACS squadron. In the time-honored tradition of drinks at the O’Club, the Navy and Air Force fliers hatched a plan to have some fun. For the Air Force, we got to experience life aboard ship and the fascinating world of Naval aviation. For the Navy guys, a chance to get off the “boat” for a few weeks was a welcome relief. Thus my being in the seat of the Hawkeye.

Once everything worked as advertised, we put the hatch back in, rotated our seats from the fore-and-aft take-off and landing position to the side-saddle working position. The cramped interior of the small Navy bird was very different than the 707-based E-3 AWACS that I normally crewed. I faced my scope and tried to remember the instructions I’d had prior to my flight. Since this whole adventure was in the nature of a “boondoggle,” I wasn’t expected to be a fully trained Hawkeye crewmember, but it would still be a point of pride to pull my weight during the mission. Luckily for me, my tasks during the mission involved mainly working the radios to check-in and out the practice strike mission the Kitty Hawk had launched behind us.

Following the next 45 extremely busy minutes, we had a break between “pushes” of aircraft. The flights we had just directed needed time to recover aboard the carrier and the next set of attack aircraft would need time to launch. Such a launch and recovery sequence is called a “cycle.” Typically, a Hawkeye could cover two or more cycles during its mission."



God bless the sailors. Glad I wasn't one of them...

[galaxy flyer]

The Midway museum in SAN is quite nicely done. My brother, a USN Captain, had his retirement ceremony on-board, and memorable, it was. Sterling day, USS Ronald Reagan, as the newest carrier had arrived the day before, brass band, the whole shebang!!

GF

[sisemen]

Always regretted not going aboard Midway when I was in San Diego in Oct 07. But I had a brand new wife that isn't really into that kind of thing and the queues were huge.

Still, did get a personal guided tour round Constellation when she did her last trip through Fremantle on her way to be laid up after her Gulf tour. Thanks Tim if you're reading this!

[GreenKnight121]

Ummm... guys, the whole "Kitty Hawk-to-India" thing was shown last year to be a fantasy of a couple of journalists.

SecDef Gates made a statement during his visit to India concerning the rumor... and he said that the US had not offered her, and India had not approached the US about any interest in her.

He said that he had not heard anything on the subject until the first time a reporter asked him about the story in an Indian newspaper.


She's not going anywhere, sorry.