USS America (CVA-66)
USS America underway on 24 April 1983
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS America |
| Ordered: | 25 November 1960 |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding |
| Laid down: | 9 January 1961 |
| Launched: | 1 February 1964 |
| Commissioned: | 23 January 1965 |
| Decommissioned: | 9 August 1996 |
| Reclassified: | CV-66 |
| Struck: | 9 August 1996 |
| Homeport: | Norfolk, Virginia |
| Motto: | Don't Tread On Me |
| Nickname(s): | The Big "A" |
| Fate: | Scuttled after live-fire testing 14 May 2005 |
| Badge: | _insignia_1963.png) |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | 61,174 long tons (62,156 t) (light), 83,573 long tons (84,914 t) (full load), 22,399 long tons (22,758 t) (dead) |
| Length: | 990 ft (300 m) (waterline), 1,048 ft (319 m) overall |
| Beam: | 248 ft (76 m) extreme, 129 ft (39 m) waterline |
| Draft: | 38 ft (12 m) (maximum), 37 ft (11 m) (limit) |
| Installed power: | 280,000 hp (210 MW) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 34 kn (39 mph) |
| Complement: | 502 officers, 4684 men |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Electronic warfare & decoys: |
AN/SLQ-32 |
| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | about 79 |
USS America (CVA/CV-66) was one of three Kitty Hawk-class supercarriers built for the United States Navy in the 1960s. Commissioned in 1965, she spent most of her career in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, but did make three Pacific deployments serving in the Vietnam War. She also served in the Persian Gulf War's operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
America held the distinction of being the first large aircraft carrier since Operation Crossroads in 1946 to be expended in weapons tests. In 2005, she was scuttled southeast of Cape Hatteras, after four weeks of tests, despite a large protest of former crew-members who wanted to see her instituted as a memorial museum. She was the largest warship ever to be sunk.
Originally ordered as an Enterprise-class nuclear carrier, the ballooning costs of Enterprise during construction caused the cancellation of the nuclear CVAN-66 and her reordering as a conventionally powered Kitty Hawk-class carrier. She was laid down on 1 January 1961 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Corp.; launched on 1 February 1964, sponsored by Mrs. David L. McDonald, wife of Admiral David L. McDonald, the Chief of Naval Operations; and commissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 23 January 1965, Captain Lawrence Heyworth Jr., in command.
After fitting out there until 15 March 1965, America remained in Hampton Roads for operations off the Virginia Capes until getting underway on 25 March. She conducted her first catapult launch on 5 April 1965, with Commander Kenneth B. Austin, the carrier's executive officer, piloting a Douglas A-4C Skyhawk. Proceeding thence to the Caribbean, the carrier conducted shakedown training and concluded it at Guantanamo Bay on 23 June.
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