LIBERTY WEEKEND
NEW YORK HARBOR
JULY 4, 1986
UNITED STATES SHIP JOHN F. KENNEDY CV-67
MIL-ART CHINA CO.
CHELMSFORD, MASS. 01824
ULTIMA
CHINA

U.S.S. John F. Kennedy (CV-67)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Name: U.S.S. John F. Kennedy
Namesake: President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Awarded: 30 April 1964
Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding
Laid down: 22 October 1964
Launched: 27 May 1967
Sponsored by: Caroline Kennedy
Christened: 27 May 1967
Commissioned: 7 September 1968
Decommissioned: 1 August 2007
Refit: 1984
Struck: 16 October 2009
Motto: Date Nolite Rogare (Latin for ''Give, be unwilling to ask''; cf. ''Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country'')
Nickname: ''Big John'' (unofficially: ''Bldg 67'')
Status: On Donation Hold for use as a museum and memorial

General characteristics

Class & type: John F. Kennedy class aircraft carrier
Displacement: 60,728 tons light, 82,655 tons full load, 21,927 tons deadweight
Length: 1,052 feet (321 m) overall, 990 feet (300 m) waterline
Beam: 252 feet (77 m) extreme, 130 feet (40 m) waterline
Height: 192 feet from top of the mast to the waterline
Draft: 36 feet (11 m) maximum, 37 feet (11 m) limit
Propulsion: 8 Babcock and Wilcox boilers 1200 PSI, 4 steam turbines, 4 shafts, 280,000 shp (210 MW)
Speed: 34 knots (63 km/h)
Capacity: 5,000+
Complement: 3,297 officers and men (without jet commands & crews)
Armament: 2 GMLS Mk 29 launchers for Sea Sparrow missiles, 2 Phalanx CIWS, 2 RAM launchers
Aircraft carried: 80+

The U.S.S. John F. Kennedy (CV-67) (formerly CVA-67) is the only ship of her class, a subclass of the Kitty Hawk class aircraft carrier, and the last conventionally powered carrier built for the United States Navy. The ship is named after the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and is nicknamed ''Big John''. The Kennedy was originally designated a CVA (fixed wing attack carrier); however, the designation was changed to CV to denote that the ship was capable of anti-submarine warfare, making her an all purpose carrier.

After nearly 40 years of service in the United States Navy, Kennedy was officially decommissioned on 1 August 2007. She is berthed at the NAVSEA Inactive Ships On site Maintenance facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is available for donation as a museum and memorial to a qualified organization. The name has been adopted by the future Gerald R. Ford class aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN-79).

Ship history

Contracted as Ship Characteristic Board SCB-127C,[5] the ship's keel was laid on 22 October 1964 by Newport News Shipbuilding. The ship was officially christened 27 May 1967 by Jacqueline Kennedy and her 9 year old daughter, Caroline, two days short of what would have been Kennedy's 50thÊbirthday. The ship entered service 7 September 1968.

After an ORI conducted by Commander, Carrier Division Two, Kennedy left for the Mediterranean in April 1969. The ship reached Rota on the morning of 22 April 1969 and relieved U.S.S. Forrestal (CVA-59). Rear Admiral Pierre N. Charbonnet, Commander, Carrier Striking Forces, Sixth Fleet, and Commander, Carrier Striking Unit 60.1.9, shifted his flag to John F. Kennedy. The turnover complete by nightfall, the carrier, escorted by destroyers, transited the Strait of Gibraltar at the start of the mid watch on 22 April. The next day, John F. Kennedy refueled from Marias (AO-57), and acquired the company of a Soviet Kotlin class destroyer (Pennant No. 383).

1970s

Kennedy's maiden voyage, and several of her subsequent voyages, were on deployments to the Mediterranean during much of the 1970s to help deal with the steadily deteriorating situation in the Middle East. It was during the 1970s that the Kennedy was upgraded to handle the F-14 Tomcat and the S-3 Viking. Kennedy was involved in the Navy response to the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East in October 1973, with her actions and the larger U.S. Navy picture being described in Elmo Zumwalt's book On Watch. In 1974, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet. On 20 June 1975 Kennedy was the target of arson, suffering eight fires, with no injuries, while at port in Norfolk, Virginia. On 22 November 1975 Kennedy collided with the U.S.S. Belknap (CG-26), severely damaging the smaller ship and earning itself the nicknames ''Can Opener'' and ''Jack the Tin Can Killer''. As a result of the collision with Kennedy's overhanging deck, JP-5 fuel lines were ruptured spraying fuel over an adjacent catwalk and a fire ensued claiming the life of a Yeoman 2d Class David A. Chivalette of CVW-1, to smoke inhalation.

On 14 September 1976, while conducting a nighttime underway replenishment 100 miles north of Scotland, the destroyer U.S.S. Bordelon (DD-881) lost control and collided with Kennedy, resulting in such severe damage to the destroyer that she was removed from service in 1977. Earlier the same day, one F-14 Tomcat, following a problem with the catapult, fell off of the flight deck of the John F. Kennedy, with AIM-54 Phoenix missiles in international waters, off the coast Scotland. Both crew members ejected in the last second and landed on the deck, injured but alive. A naval race (surface and submarine) followed between the Soviet Navy and U.S. Navy to get back not only the plane (because of its weapon system), but also its missiles.

In late 1978 Kennedy underwent her first, yearlong overhaul, which was completed in 1979. On 9 April 1979 she experienced five fires set by arson while undergoing overhaul at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia. The fires killed one shipyard worker and injured 34Êothers. On 5 June 1979 Kennedy was the target of two more fires at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia. No one was injured in the incident. In 1979 she won her second Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award.

1980s

In 1982 the ship sailed on her ninth deployment, and her first visit to the Indian Ocean after transiting the Suez Canal. During this tour Kennedy played host to the first visit of the Somali head of state. In October 1983 Kennedy was diverted to Beirut, Lebanon from her planned Indian Ocean deployment, after the Beirut barracks bombing killed 241 US Military personnel taking part in the Multinational Force in Lebanon, and spent the rest of that year and early 1984 patrolling the region. On 4 December 1983 ten A-6 aircraft from the Kennedy along with A-6 and A-7 aircraft from the U.S.S. Independence took part in a bombing raid over Beirut, in response to two US F-14 aircraft being fired upon the previous day. The Navy lost two aircraft during the raid: an A-7E from the Independence and an A-6E from the Kennedy were shot down by SAMs. The A-7E pilot was picked up by a fishing boat, but the A-6E pilot Lt. Mark Lange died after ejecting and the B/N Lt. Robert ''Bobby'' Goodman was taken prisoner and released on 3 January 1984. In 1984 the ship was drydocked at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a complex overhaul and much needed upgrades.

Setting sail in July 1986, Kennedy participated in the International Naval Review to help mark the Re-dedication of the Statue of Liberty. The Kennedy served as the flagship for the armada before departing on an overseas deployment to the Mediterranean in August, highlighted by multiple Freedom of Navigation exercises in the Libya's Gulf of Sidra, and operations off of the coast of Lebanon as a result of increasing terrorist activities and U.S. citizens being taken hostage in Beirut. The ship returned to Norfolk, Virginia in March 1987.

In August 1988 Kennedy departed on her twelfth overseas deployment. During this deployment, a pair of MiG-23 Flogger fighter aircraft from Libya approached the carrier task force, which was 130 km off the shore of Libya near the declared Libyan territorial waters of the Gulf of Sidra. Kennedy launched two F-14 Tomcats from VF-32 ''Fighting Swordsmen'' to intercept the incoming MiGs. The U.S. planes were sent to escort the MiGs away from the task force, but a shooting match between the U.S. and Libyan aircraft developed, and both of the Libyan aircraft were shot down.

1990s

The Kennedy returned to the U.S. in time to participate in Fleet Week in New York and Independence Day celebrations in Boston before unexpectedly being deployed on 28 July 1990, for Operation Desert Shield. Despite having little to no warning, Kennedy prepared for her deployment overseas, where she arrived on 5 August 1990, and became the flagship for the commander of the Red Sea Battle Force. At midnight on 17 January 1991 Kennedy's Carrier Air WingÊ3 commenced operations against Iraqi forces as part of Operation Desert Storm. Between the commencement of the operation and the cease fire, Kennedy launched 114 airstrikes and nearly 2,900 sorties against Iraq, which delivered over 3.5Êmillion pounds of ordnance. On 27 February 1991 President George H. W. Bush declared a cease fire in Iraq, and ordered all U.S. forces to stand down. Kennedy was relieved, and began the long journey home by transiting the Suez Canal. She arrived in Norfolk on 28 March 1991. While at Norfolk the ship was placed on a four month selective restricted availability period as shipyard workers carried out maintenance. Extensive repairs to the flight deck, maintenance and engineering systems were made. Additionally, the ship was refitted to handle the new F/A-18C/D Hornet.

With the upgrades completed, Kennedy departed on her 14th deployment to the Mediterranean, assisting several task forces with workup exercises in anticipation of intervention in Yugoslavia. When Kennedy returned she was sent to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where she underwent a two year extensive overhaul. Upon completion of the overhaul the ship was transferred to the Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville, Florida, which remained the ship's home port.

The JFK made a high profile visit to Dublin, Ireland during an Atlantic deployment in 1996. Here, more than 10,000 people were invited to tour the ship at anchor in Dublin Bay. The visit was also intended to honor two personalities who had made a great impact on history: John F. Kennedy, for whom the ship was named, and Commodore John Barry, a native of County Wexford, Ireland who played an instrumental role in the early years of the United States Navy. Officers and crew from the Kennedy joined local military and civilian organizations in celebrating Barry's achievements at his statue in Crescent Quay, Wexford, and three F-14 Tomcat fighters flew at low level over the town. Jean Kennedy Smith, a sister of John F. Kennedy, was the U.S. ambassador to Ireland at the time, and was among those who welcomed the ship to Ireland. During her visit to Ireland, high winds in Dublin Bay caused the boarding pontoon to tear a large hole in the JFK's hull.

During Kennedy's 16th deployment, she became involved in a rescue mission when the tug Gulf Majesty foundered during Hurricane Floyd in mid-September 1999. The ship successfully rescued the crew of the vessel, then headed toward the Middle East, where she became the first U.S. aircraft carrier to make a port call in Al Aqabah, Jordan, in the process playing host to the King of Jordan, before taking up station in support of Operation Southern Watch. The Kennedy was the only conventionally powered U.S. carrier underway at the end of 1999, arriving at Mayport on 19 March 2000. After a brief period of maintenance (Advanced combat direction system was installed), the carrier sailed north to participate in 4 July International Naval Review then headed to Boston for Sail Boston 2000.

2000s

During Kennedy's last round of refits the ship became a testbed for an experimental system for the Cooperative Engagement Capability, a system that allowed Kennedy to engage targets beyond original range.

As the 11 September attacks of 2001 unfolded, the Kennedy and her battle group were ordered to support Operation Noble Eagle, establishing air security along the mid-Atlantic seaboard, including Washington, D.C.. The JFK was released from Noble Eagle on 14 September 2001. During the first six months of 2002, Kennedy aircraft dropped 31,000 tons of ordnance on Taliban and al Qaeda targets in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.[6]

In July 2004 Kennedy collided with a dhow in the Persian Gulf, leaving no survivors on the traditional Arab sailing boat. After the incident the Navy relieved the commanding officer of the Kennedy, Captain Stephen G. Squires. The carrier itself was unscathed, but two jet fighters on the deck were damaged when an F-14B Tomcat assigned to VF-103 slid into an F/A-18C Hornet assigned to VFA-81 damaging the wing of the F-14 as well as the upper section of the radome and forward windscreen of the F/A-18 as the ship made a hard turn to avoid the tiny vessel. A popular misconception is that Captain Squires waited to make the turn at the last possible moment to recover aircraft critically low on fuel returning from airstrikes. The official review board determined this was not the case and the aircraft could have remained safely aloft until the Kennedy maneuvered to avoid the dhow.

The Kennedy was the most costly carrier in the fleet to maintain and was due for an expensive overhaul; budget cutbacks and changing naval tactics prompted the U.S. Navy to retire her. On 1 April 2005 the Navy formally announced that the carrier's scheduled 15 month overhaul had been cancelled. Before decommissioning she made a number of port calls to allow the public to ''say farewell'' to her, including a stop at her ''homeport'' Boston Harbor. The Kennedy also took part in the 2005 New York City Fleet Week festivities at the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum. She was decommissioned in Mayport, Florida on 23 March 2007.

The ship's unique in port cabin, which was decorated by Jacqueline Kennedy with wood paneling, oil paintings, and rare artifacts, was disassembled, to be rebuilt at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.

The Kennedy was towed to Norfolk, Virginia on 26 July 2007. She remained in Norfolk until a shoaled area near Pier 4 in Philadelphia could be dredged to enable the ship to safely dock. On 17 March 2008 at about 1700, she was seen leaving Norfolk Naval Station under tow of the Tug Atlantic Salvor. On 22 March 2008 Kennedy arrived, with the afternoon high tide, at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia. She is currently laid up in the Philadelphia reserve fleet .

Plans

In November 2009, the Navy placed the Kennedy on donation hold for use as a museum and memorial. A report that showed up in the Boston Herald newspaper on 26 November 2009 mentioned the possibility of bringing the Kennedy to the Boston, MA area, as a museum or memorial at no cost to the city, if desired In August 2010, two groups successfully passed into Phase II of the U.S. Navy Ship Donation Program: Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame, Providence, Rhode Island and the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy Museum, Portland, Maine. On 19 January 2011 the Portland, Maine City Council voted 9 - 0 to not continue with the project to bring the ship to Maine.

In popular culture

In the T.V. drama The West Wing during the seventh episode The State Dinner, a hurricane heading to Georgia changes its course in the Atlantic Ocean where the USS John F. Kennedy carrier battle group is positioned with about 12,000 sailors in total.

The USS John F. Kennedy is featured in the movie Speed 2. It was on a port call at St. Martin Island in 1997 during COMTUEX while the movie was being filmed. It is in the movie G.I. Jane, which was filmed near the Kennedy's home port of Mayport, Florida in 1997.

The U.S.S. John F. Kennedy is featured in the 1990 film Navy SEALs.

In the 2009 American science fiction disaster film 2012, the USS John F. Kennedy is depicted during a scene showing the destruction of Washington D.C.. The carrier is clearly seen crashing into the White House riding on top of a megatsunami caused by a magnitude 9.4 earthquake.

In 2013, the movie ''Olympus Has Fallen'' depicts the Kennedy underway in the ''7th Fleet'' being ordered to withdraw from the waters surrounding North Korea.

John F. Kennedy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

35th President of the United States
In office: January 20, 1961 - November 22, 1963
Vice President: Lyndon B. Johnson
Preceded by: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Succeeded by: Lyndon B. Johnson
United States Senator from Massachusetts
In office: January 3, 1953 - December 22, 1960
Preceded by: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
Succeeded by: Benjamin A. Smith II
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts’s 11th district
In office: January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1953
Preceded by: James Michael Curley
Succeeded by: Tip O’Neill
Personal details
Born: John Fitzgerald Kennedy on May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts, United States
Died: November 22, 1963 (aged 46) in Dallas, Texas, United States
Cause of death: Assassination (gunshot wound to the head)
Resting place: Arlington National Cemetery
Political party: Democratic
Spouse: Jacqueline Bouvier ​(m. 1953)​
Children: Arabella, Caroline, John Jr., Patrick
Parents: Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.& Rose Fitzgerald
Education: Harvard University (AB)
Military service
Allegiance: United States
Branch / Service: United States Navy
Years of service: 1941 - 1945
Rank: U.S. Navy O3 Lieutenant
Unit: Motor Torpedo Squadron 2, Patrol Torpedo Boat 109, Patrol Torpedo Boat 59
Battles / Wars: World War II, Solomon Islands campaign
Awards: Navy and Marine Corps Medal, Purple Heart, American Defense Service Medal,

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his work as president concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A Democrat, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in both houses of the U.S. Congress prior to becoming president.

Kennedy was born into a wealthy, political family in Brookline, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1940, before joining the United States Naval Reserve the following year. During World War II, he commanded a series of PT boats in the Pacific theater and earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his service. After a brief stint in journalism, Kennedy represented a working class Boston district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953. He was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate and served as the junior senator for Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960. While in the Senate, Kennedy published his book, Profiles in Courage, which won a Pulitzer Prize. In the 1960 presidential election, he narrowly defeated Republican opponent Richard Nixon, who was the incumbent vice president. Kennedy’s humor, charm, and youth in addition to his father’s money and contacts were great assets in the campaign. Kennedy’s campaign gained momentum after the first televised presidential debates in American history. Kennedy was the first Catholic elected president.

Kennedy’s administration included high tensions with communist states in the Cold War. As a result, he increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam. The Strategic Hamlet Program began in Vietnam during his presidency. In April 1961, he authorized an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. Kennedy authorized the Cuban Project in November 1961. He rejected Operation Northwoods (plans for false flag attacks to gain approval for a war against Cuba) in March 1962. However, his administration continued to plan for an invasion of Cuba in the summer of 1962. The following October, U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases had been deployed in Cuba; the resulting period of tensions, termed the Cuban Missile Crisis, nearly resulted in the breakout of a global thermonuclear conflict. He also signed the first nuclear weapons treaty in October 1963. Kennedy presided over the establishment of the Peace Corps, Alliance for Progress with Latin America, and the continuation of the Apollo space program with the goal of landing a man on the Moon. He also supported the civil rights movement, but was only somewhat successful in passing his New Frontier domestic policies.

On November 22, 1963, he was assassinated in Dallas. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the presidency upon Kennedy’s death. Marxist and former U.S. Marine Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the state crime, but he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby two days later. The FBI and the Warren Commission both concluded Oswald had acted alone in the assassination, but various groups contested the Warren Report and believed that Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy. After Kennedy’s death, Congress enacted many of his proposals, including the Civil Rights Act and the Revenue Act of 1964. Despite his truncated presidency, Kennedy ranks highly in polls of U.S. presidents with historians and the general public. His personal life has also been the focus of considerable sustained interest following public revelations in the 1970s of his chronic health ailments and extramarital affairs. Kennedy was the last U.S. President to have been assassinated as well as the last U.S. president to die in office.