USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)
USS Kitty Hawk
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Kitty Hawk |
| Namesake: | Kitty Hawk, North Carolina |
| Awarded: | 1 October 1955 |
| Builder: | New York Shipbuilding Corporation |
| Laid down: | 27 December 1956 |
| Launched: | 21 May 1960 |
| Sponsored by: | Camilla F. McElroy, wife of Neil H. McElroy |
| Commissioned: | 29 April 1961 |
| Decommissioned: | 12 May 2009 |
| Reclassified: | CV-63 29 April 1973 |
| Homeport: | Puget Sound Naval Shipyard |
| Nickname(s): | "Battle Cat", "Shitty Kitty" |
| Status: | Inactive, out of commission, in reserve |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 1,068.9 ft (325.8 m) LOA |
| Beam: |
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| Draft: | 38 ft (12 m) |
| Propulsion: | Westinghouse geared steam turbines, eight Foster Wheeler steam boilers, four shafts; 280,000 shp (210 MW) |
| Speed: | 33 knots (61 km/h) |
| Complement: | 5,624 officers and men |
| Armament: | RIM-7 Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles, 2 RIM-116 RAM, 2 Phalanx CIWS Automated Anti-Missile/Aircraft Defenses |
| Aircraft carried: |
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The supercarrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), formerly CVA-63, is the second naval ship named after Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the site of the Wright brothers' first powered airplane flight. Kitty Hawk was both the first and last active ship of her class, and the last oil-fired aircraft carrier in service with the United States Navy.
Kitty Hawk was laid down by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, on 27 December 1956. The ship was launched on 21 May 1960, sponsored by Mrs. Camilla F. McElroy, wife of Defense Secretary Neil H. McElroy. Kitty Hawk was launched by flooding her drydock; the conventional slide down method was ruled out because of her mass and the risk that she might hit the Philadelphia shore on the far side of the Delaware River.
The ship was commissioned 21 April 1961, at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Captain William F. Bringle in command.
With the decommissioning of Independence on 30 September 1998, Kitty Hawk became the United States warship with the second-longest active status, after the sailing ship USS Constitution. (Enterprise passed her in 2012; these two aircraft carriers were two of the three carriers to fly the First Navy Jack.)
For 10 years, Kitty Hawk was the forward-deployed carrier at Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan. In October 2008, she was replaced in this role by George Washington. Kitty Hawk then returned to the United States and had her decommissioning ceremony on 31 January 2009. She was officially decommissioned on 12 May 2009 after almost 49 years of service.Kitty Hawk was replaced by George H.W. Bush.
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Wikipedia