US sells carriers USS Kitty Hawk and John F Kennedy for 1 cent each
 

Sold as scrap, one of them will need towing round the bottom of South America to reach the breakers.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/n...nt/5980974001/

Riddled with asbestos and other hazardous compounds - a reasonable price as they take the risk of the law suits both from the yards and workers where the dismantling will be done, as well as the law suits from the local communities to stop them.

Brownsville TX is a center for oil industry infrastructure production, lots of heavy industry there. I'd guess that the carrier deconstruction will be relatively routine work for that sector.

GIven that they've done 5 already, plus numerous auxiliaries, yes.

These are the last of the non-nuclear big deck carriers to go - been in unmaintained reserve for well over 10 years.

Towing an inert aircraft carrier some 18000 miles through some of the roughest seas in the world looks like some job though.

is Panama Canal not an option due size and/or being towed?

Perhaps they are affraid that an unpowered ship of that size may block it.

I think they're far too wide for the Panama Canal locks. They're theoretically OK on the waterline but the enormous overhanging flight deck would collide with lock-side structures. And as munnst suggests, towing things that size through the canal would be d*mned awkward.

Kittyhawk looks to be around 300' wide at its max (blimey!), the canal is about 180' at the locks...

I know nothing of these matters, but I'm curious about whether it'd be possible or desirable to reactivate the systems needed for rudder control, and if it'd be considered safe for anyone to be aboard to steer.

It would almost certainly be unmanned with the rudder fixed amidship. It would be a fairly routine ocean tow for a large 'Anchor Handling Tug Supply' ship using extremely strong wires and a bridle. I suspect they'll use some form of weather routing to identify a good window for the passage.

If they can pull large oil rigs from Greenland to the Falkland's they can pull an aircraft carrier anywhere

USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) was my home away from home 1985-1989. I made two Mediterranean cruises on her. Before Desert Storm, my claim to fame was being on watch in Combat Information Center when we shot down two Libyan MiGs in the Gulf of Sidra. F-14s are gone. The ship is gone...

Great memories.

Side story - we made a port visit to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, right after Top Gun and the US Navy forcing down the airliner carrying one of the Achille Loro (spelling?) high jackers. I couldn't buy my own drinks when out in uniform.

What was your role, just out of interest?

What do you think of the description by Ward Caroll (former USN Cdr and F-14 Tomcat RIO)?

At that time I was in Strike Operations w/in the Operations Department, helping to develop the daily Air Ops Plan. We were in four-section duty and I stood watch on the bridge (Conn or deck-under-instruction) and in Combat. So, eight on, eight off, with the office job and sleep to be worked into the eight off portion.

Funny you should ask about Ward's video. I have seen it. He and I have corresponded briefly and know some of the same people. I suspect Ward knows what he's talking about with his F-14 RIO background. His description of how movement affects the radar display seems to link US actions and Libyan actions pretty tightly.

When I was a little kid in the early 70s my dad was part of the special weapons school staff at Sandia Army Base/Kirtland Air Force Base. One of his USAF Lt Col counterparts had been a US Military Assistance Mission person to Libya as a captain. One of his trainees was a Captain MuammarGaddafi. It's an incredibly small world.

My retired Navy fighter pilot dad had the chance to ride with me on the ship for a few days on a "Tiger Cruise." Airshows were prohibited, but the "airpower at sea demonstration" was pretty impressive; my dad commented on the F-14's turning radius - "you could double that for the F-4."

Were you Surface Warfare or an Aviator/NFO? Sorry if my question seems odd, but as a keen proponent of the Royal Navy's carriers I am particularly interested in the whole ship aspects of carrier operations, and how the different warships and aircraft work together, such as the carrier, F-14s, E-2, and the Aegis Cruiser.

"but as a keen proponent of the Royal Navy's carriers"

THAT is a classic British understatement ................... WEBF has carried on a one man or woman campaign for over 16 years on here - see "Future Carrier"

And amazingly has seen his/her dreams come to pass.............. :ok:

I can answer that question. Steering is controlled from the bridge via an antique looking ship's wheel that sends an electronic signal to a pair of massive hydraulic rams for each of the two rudders. The Bridge is the 09 level - nine floors above the hanger bay. After Steering is three decks below the hangar bay in the very aft most end of the ship.

I was on the bridge as Junior Officer of the Deck (Conning Officer) once during underway replenishment operations when steering failed. Rather than an emergency breakaway we remained along side, and I ran from the bridge to after steering, sliding down the ladders like a movie and yelling at people to get out of my way. We switched control of steering from the Bridge to a small trick wheel in after steering. The helmsman then simply used the gyro compass to steer. Was rather exciting.

In after steering, there's a large chain mechanism that can be used to manually position the rudders. This would not work for steering purposes as it is far, far too slow. The hydraulic system was electrically powered.

We used double hearing protection in after steering - foam ear plugs and "mouse ears."

Mixdown - maybe more than your asked for :)

I was a SWO with an interest in aviation. I knew enough about timing, logistics, flying, navigation, and math to pick up building a daily air plan pretty quickly. My boss was an A-6 pilot and his deputy an A-6 bombardier/navigator.

Given that at times the politicians have had trouble listening to the First Sea Lord and various analysts, why would they listen to me? Thanks for the confidence in my influence though! We need carriers, NATO needs us to have carriers, I am just dark blue - to the core.

Good to hear - one might be forgiven for getting the feeling that the aviation and surface warfare experts were kept apart - not workable of course.

​​​​​​Not at all - fascinating stuff thanks. I've seen accounts of vessels under tow being conned to prevent wind and waves causing them to spear off in the wrong direction, but they were mainly emergencies or rescues rather than planned tows. I'm sure L'Aviateur is correct in saying that it would be unnecessary for an operation of this type.

I have a soft spot for the Kitty Hawk class carriers. As part of the Univ. of Washington Alumni band, I took the sister ship USS America from Everett to Seattle ~25 years ago as part of the annual Seattle "Seafair" celebration. After we arrived in Seattle, the parked the carrier off the waterfront and did flight ops in front of the on-board crowd, as well as those on-shore (flight operations were obviously limited since we were stationary with no wind over the deck). During the trip we had largely free rein of the ship (including lunch in the galley) and numerous aircraft and weapons displays on the hanger deck. Great stuff - one of my most memorial experiences.
USS America was decommissions short after that, and then intentionally sunk about 10 years ago as part of a study of effects of various combat damage on a large carrier.

I'm very sad to learn that the "Hawk" is to be scrapped. Of all the US carriers that I've been lucky enough to visit she was my favourite. I vividly remember once having lunch on board and because of a seating plan error I was sat next to Admiral Dennis Blair, undoubtedly one of the most impressive people I've ever met. We talked mainly about baseball (there was a players' strike on at the time) and cricket (he had been a Rhodes Scholar). I mentioned that I really liked the old-school feel of the wardroom. He replied that no captain would dare to change it and pointed to an old photograph on the wall as proof of this. He said, "Look who's sitting in the same seat as you". It was JFK - a huge thrill for me! The liberty boat taking us back to Hong Kong Island was late for some reason and the young ensign in command nervously blurted out a torrent of reasons for this, to which the admiral replied, "Just get me to Wanchai, son".

You may or may not be interested in the Future Carrier thread, which Asturias56 mentioned - 320 pages (at the moment) about the RN's struggle to retain, and then to rebuild a credible capability.

You might be interested in this discussion on another defence orientated site: Late 1970s US Congress Report - The US Sea Control Mission (carriers needed in the Atlantic)

The contributions of ECMO1 - a former US Navy EA-6B EMCO wwith a huge amount of experience of carrier operations, are particularly interesting, and are a refreshing change to the view frequently expressed by the media that the carrier (and group) exists solely to hit targets ashore.