An elevated starboard quarter view of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk while it was underway, on July 1, 1977. The Kitty Hawk — a ship that served from Vietnam through the second Iraq war — is heading for the scrapyard in May, with the ship having begun its final sea voyage in January. Credit: US Army, via Wikimedia Commons/Public DomainThe US Navy aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk — a ship that served from Vietnam through the second Iraq war — is heading for the scrapyard in May, with the ship having begun its final sea voyage in January.
In the carrier’s 48 years of service, it saw not only countless battles and missions but also a collision with a Soviet submarine — and an ugly race riot. The ship is also a relic of a bygone era: fueled by oil instead of nuclear power, the carrier was the last of its kind in the US Navy’s arsenal.
Attempts to preserve US Navy’s Kitty Hawk fail
Toward the end of the ship’s life, the Kitty Hawk Veterans Association tried to get the carrier turned into a museum.
The US Navy noted that Kitty Hawk was “eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places,” according to its evaluation in 2010. However, attempts by the veterans association to turn the ship into a museum were unsuccessful because it was not possible for the ship to be put in a “donation hold.”
The 1,047-foot-long ship was launched in 1960, named after the area in the Outer Banks of North Carolina where the Wright brothers made their historic flights in 1903.
USS Kitty Hawk’s Vietnam deployment
When catapult officers reach the end of their tour aboard a carrier, it is tradition to launch their boots off the flight deck. This “boot shot” was on USS Kitty Hawk in 1970. The Kitty Hawk is currently on her way to the scrapyard after being sold for 1 cent. #WarshipWednesday pic.twitter.com/JaD3Jjz2Sc
— U.S. Naval Institute (@NavalInstitute) January 19, 2022