When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Certificate of authenticity from EMR Holdings is included with the coin!
NO REASONABLE OFFER REFUSED!!! FREE SHIPPING INCLUDED!!!
Scrapping was mostly complete by early 2024, as shown by aerial footage posted online.
Chris Green, President of International Shipbreaking Limited, LLC. said:
“We take great pride in having been awarded another US Navy ship recycling project. I will personally make sure that our recycling operations are as respectful as possible to the men and women who served our country onboard this mighty ship. USS Kitty Hawk will be our fourth Navy Supercarrier recycling project. We have developed procedures for safely recycling the largest ships ever built and I am proud to lead 168 of the hardest working people I have ever met.”
International Shipbreaking Ltd., part of the EMR Group won the Navy offer to recycle the 60,000-ton vessel, the last of the Kitty Hawk-class of “supercarriers”. Once she has safely arrived in Brownsville, the carrier will undergo an extensive dismantling and recycling process which is expected to take around a year and a half to complete.
“Facility preparations are complete, and we are anxiously awaiting her arrival. Our team of highly trained employees will recycle this vessel in a respectful, safe and environmentally responsible manner.”
Commented Chris Green.
USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), formerly CVA-63, was a United States Navy supercarrier. She was the second naval ship named after Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the site of the Wright brothers' first powered airplane flight. Kitty Hawk was the first of the three Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carriers to be commissioned and the last to be decommissioned.
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 29 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 ten 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 returned to the United States and had her decommissioning ceremony on 31 January 2009. She was officially decommissioned on 12 May 2009 after 48 years of service.[6] Kitty Hawk was replaced by George H. W. Bush. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 20 October 2017, and was designated for disposal by dismantling a few days later. On 15 January 2022 Kitty Hawk left Puget Sound Naval Shipyard under tow en route to Brownsville, Texas, for scrapping, arriving there on 31 May 2022.
Following shakedown in the Western Atlantic, Kitty Hawk departed Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, Virginia on 11 August 1961. After a brief stop at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she embarked the Secretary of the Brazilian Navy for a demonstration during an exercise at sea with five Brazilian destroyers, the attack carrier rounded Cape Horn on 1 October. She steamed into Valparaíso, Chile, on 13 October and then sailed two days later for Peru, arriving in Callao on 20 October where she entertained the President of Peru. At San Diego, Admiral George W. Anderson, Chief of Naval Operations, landed on her deck 18 November to witness antisubmarine demonstrations by Henry B. Wilson and Blueback, a Terrier missile demonstration by Topeka and air demonstrations by Kitty Hawk.
Kitty Hawk entered San Francisco Naval Shipyard on 23 November 1961 for alterations. Following operations out of San Diego, she sailed from San Francisco on 13 September 1962. Kitty Hawk joined the United States Seventh Fleet on 7 October 1962, relieving Midway as the flagship.
KEYWORDS NAVY FLIGHTDECK FLIGHT DECK HULLDECK HULL STEEL MOMENTO
Titles of Distinction