John Grady – January 16, 2025 8:41 PM – Updated: January 16, 2025 11:45 PM

The remains of the Navy’s last conventionally-powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CV-67) is on its way from the Navy’s Philadelphia Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility to Brownsville, Texas for dismantling.

Shortly before 9 a.m., tugs maneuvered the hulk down the Delaware River and was attached via a tow line to the ship Laney Chouest and both headed to the Atlantic.

The first ship named for the former president was decommissioned in 2007 at Mayport, Fla., and has been in Philadelphia ever since.

At the carrier’s Mayport decommissioning ceremony, Adm. John Nathman, then Fleet Forces commander, hailed “Big John,” its nickname, as “an icon of American might and freedom.”

Kennedy, built at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., was commissioned on Sept. 7, 1968. The ship was christened the year before by the president’s daughter Caroline, then 9. Her mother, Jacqueline designed the carrier’s in-port cabin. A Navy spokesman at the time of the decommissioning said, “it is the only room on a Navy ship with wood paneling.”

For 10 years in Philadelphia, the carrier, the first Navy ship named for Kennedy, was in donation status. That means it can be transferred to a qualified non-profit for restoration and repurposing, often as a museum.

The Navy is expecting delivery of the second John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), a year later than originally projected. USNI News reported earlier that the “The Navy is implementing a strategy to pull baseline work from the Post Shakedown Availability (PSA) into the construction period in order to provide more capability at ship delivery,” the Navy’s shipbuilding budget books [for Fiscal Year 2024] read.

The carrier will also be the second in the Ford-class. Like its predecessor, the carrier is being built in Newport News.

The Navy sold the original JFK  to International Shipbreaking Limited/EMR Brownsville in 2021 for one cent. The work was expected to begin in late 2023, but was put on hold by the Navy until now, the Brownsville Herald reported.

The firm had just handled the dismantling of USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) in 2023.

In 2023, Robert Berry, vice president of International Shipbreaking Ltd./EMR Brownsville, told the Brownsville newspaper the Navy “is taking a harder line on security with the JFK than he’s ever experienced in all his years of dealing with that branch of the military, and that this particular ship has more security surrounding it than the other carriers ISL has received in the past.”

The Naval Historical and Heritage Command noted in its ship’s history the original Kennedy conducted 18 deployments including to the Mediterranean, Tyrrhenian, Ionian, Ligurian, Aegean and Adriatic seas, during a period of escalating tension in the Middle East beginning with the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and neighboring Arab states and off Lebanon in 1983 following the bombing of the Marine Barracks and French forces quarter that claimed more than 300 lives.

In 1991’s Operation Desert Storm, the liberation of Kuwait, the ship launched a total of 114 strikes and 2,895 combat sorties were flown for a total of 11,263 flight hours.

The carrier’s final combat deployment came in 2003 in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, NHHC wrote. “Of note during the OEF deployment, John F. Kennedy’s aircraft dropped more than 62 million pounds of ordnance on Taliban and al Qaeda targets and supported U.S. and Coalition forces on the ground with close air support, on occasion working with Special Forces units.”

As Kennedy moved down the Delaware River, the historic passenger liner SS United States still remained pier side in Philadelphia. The liner was to be towed in November originally to Norfolk to be cleaned and prepped for sinking as an artificial reef for diving and fishing off Oskaloosa County, Fla., along the state’s Gulf Coast.

The Coast Guard had halted the liner’s movement to ensure its seaworthiness. Although cleared now when it will be moved, now to Mobile, Ala., for the prep work before sinking is still unknown, Oskaloosa County officials said Wednesday.

Although the Coast Guard has cleared SS United States to leave Philadelphia, Nick Tomecek, public information officer for Oskaloosa County, its owner, said no date has yet been set for the towed transit.

The county “hired a marine architect/engineering firm to perform stability tests. Those tests are complete and that data was submitted to the Coast Guard and was approved to allow us to move to the next step,” which is the move.

Tomecek told USNI News Wednesday, “We are currently on budget and on schedule for the vessel reef deployment process.” He added, the entire project cost allocation is $10.1 million. That includes buying the vessel for $1 million, another $1 million to the SS United States Conservancy, and additional funding for the remediation, dock fees and deployment of the vessel as the World’s Largest Artificial Reef off Destin-Fort Walton Beach.

In October, the county took title to the historic ship, effectively ending a three-year-long legal struggle between the non-profit that owned SS United States and Penn Warehouse and Distribution, the owner of the pier where it has been berthed for years.

The dispute centered on the doubling of the berthing charges at the same time as the SS United States Conservancy, established in 2011, was still trying to raise funds to preserve the liner as a museum/hotel, similar to the Queen Mary’s operation in Long Beach, Calif.

At the ceremony transferring the title, Paul Mixon, chairman of the Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners, told The Philadelphia Inquirer he was proud of Florida’s ability to “keep that legacy going” through the museum and reefing of the ship. The museum will receive the group’s collections of original artifacts and artwork from the ship, as well as at least one of the vessel’s iconic funnels.

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People gather to greet the aircraft carrier USS George Washington as it returns to Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, Nov. 22, 2024. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes) YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Hundreds of sailors stood in dress blues as the aircraft carrier USS George Washington pulled into Tokyo Bay on Friday morning for the first time in nearly a decade. Scores of onlookers were joined by mascots and vendors while the U.S. 7th Fleet Band, high school cheerleaders and traditional Japanese musicians welcomed the ship’s return to the place it called home from 2008 to 2015. While many of the carrier’s approximately 3,000 sailors are new to Japan, others, including its skipper, Capt. Timothy Waits, served aboard the George Washington during its previous deployment to Japan. Many of the returning sailors specifically requested the assignment, Waits said at a pierside news conference. “I think that serves as a testament to the people and the culture of Japan, as well as the strong relationship between our two nations,” he said. Among the new arrivals was 10-year-old William Prentiss, of Albuquerque, N.M., who was there to welcome his father, Cmdr. Jacob Prentiss, a supply officer aboard the George Washington. “I’m really excited to see him. I haven’t seen him in six months,” he told Stars and Stripes ahead of the ship’s arrival. Amanda Murillo and her son, Ethan, of Houston, were waiting to welcome Chief Warrant Officer 2 Robert Murillo. “We’re grateful to have my husband home,” she said pierside. Family members and friends cheer pierside as the aircraft carrier USS George Washington arrives at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan. Nov. 22, 2024. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes) The George Washington left Yokosuka in 2015 for a midlife nuclear refueling and maintenance period at Newport News, Va. The process was significantly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and other setbacks. Its sister ship, the USS Ronald Reagan, took its place as the centerpiece of the 7th Fleet’s carrier strike group until it left Yokosuka on May 16 for its own scheduled maintenance period at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash. During their 2015 interchange, the two ships swapped nearly two-thirds of their respective 3,000 crew members. This time around, only about 350 sailors from the Ronald Reagan, or 13% of its crew, moved to the George Washington before it departed for Japan. Moving that many sailors and families, as well as a ship the length of Tokyo Tower — 1,092 feet — is “no small feat,” said U.S. Embassy to Japan deputy chief of mission Katherine Monahan. “[The ship’s] arrival here today clearly illustrates America’s steadfast commitment to the U.S.-Japan alliance and our collective security and deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region,” she said at the news conference. The George Washington arrived less than a week after its aviation component, Carrier Air Wing 5, returned to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in southwestern Japan. The wing, which departed with the USS Ronald Reagan in May, returned with several changes to its roster. Strike Fighter Squadron 147, a unit of F-35C Lightning II fighter jets, replaced Strike Fighter Squadron 115’s F/A-18E Super Hornets. While other F-35 models are prominent in Japan, the 147th brings the first C variant, which is equipped for arrested landings, squadron commander Cmdr. Christopher Case told Stars and Stripes on Nov. 17. The newer aircraft are an example of how the U.S. is ensuring peace and prosperity in the region, said U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel. “China knows what this USS George Washington can do today, because these are superior aircraft than they were nine years ago,” he told reporters Friday. “America’s deterrence and credibility are seen, heard and believed.” ALEX WILSON Alex Wilson covers the U.S. Navy and other services from Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan. Originally from Knoxville, Tenn., he holds a journalism degree from the University of North Florida. He previously covered crime and the military in Key West, Fla., and business in Jacksonville, Fla.

Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2024-11-22/uss-george-washington-japan-15930839.html
Source – Stars and Stripes

Amphibious warship USS Boxer (LHD-4) has left the Western Pacific and is expected to make a port call to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, before returning to San Diego, USNI News has learned.

Boxer is expected to arrive in Hawaii later today, a Navy official told USNI News, for a port call ahead of a transit to Naval Station San Diego, Calif., and the return of 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit elements to Camp Pendleton. Boxer left U.S. 7th Fleet over the weekend, an official told USNI News.

The big deck’s return to California marks the end of an abbreviated deployment that began in July after the ship was sidelined in April for three months of emergent repairs to fix a rudder that failed just days into its deployment.

Following the pier side repair, Boxer traveled to the Western Pacific and drilled with U.S. allies in the South China Sea and assisted in humanitarian aid in October in the Philippines following the landfall of Typhoon Krathon.

Boxer’s planned return will wrap a disjointed deployment that saw the three-ship Amphibious Ready Group leave across several months. Amphibious transport dock USS Somerset (LPD-25) deployed in January to the Indo-Pacific and returned to San Diego in August after participating in the Rim of the Pacific 2024 exercise in Hawaii.

In April, USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49) left for deployment, which was a first for the embarked Amphibious Combat Vehicles. Harpers Ferry delivered the vehicles to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in Okinawa and exercised across the Western Pacific.

The delay of Boxer’s deployment and subsequent repair problems became a prime of example of the Navy and Marine Corps mismatch between the supply of amphibious warships to meet the needs of the Marine Expeditionary Units.

During the deployment delay, the Navy and Marine Corps agreed to baseline definitions of readiness to better coordinate Marine training with the availability of amphibious warships to transport the MEUs.

“The obvious 800-pound gorilla in the room is the state of the amphibs,” retired Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, then the Marine deputy commandant for combat development and integration, said earlier this year.
“We have over 20 years of operations in the Middle East and [U.S. Central Command],” he added. “We’ve ground our forces up pretty good, right. We flew the paint off our aircraft. We drove the paint off the bottom of the hulls of the ships. I mean, we just kept going without really due regard of what needed to be done and now we’re paying for it.”

Once back in San Diego after its four-month deployment, Boxer is set to enter an 18-month availability that will begin next year.

USINDOPACOM forces perform operations in and around critical sea passages and trade thoroughfares to deter threats that create regional instability and impinge on the free flow of goods, people, and ideas. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class James Finney)

By Caitlyn Burchett  – Stars and Stripes • September 20, 2024

WASHINGTON – The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and a force of 6,5000 sailors will deploy next week on a mission that is expected to take the warship’s strike group into the Middle East, Navy officials announced Friday. The Truman and the other ships in its strike group will leave early next week from Naval Station Norfolk, Va. and Naval Station Mayport, Fla., according to U.S. Fleet Forces. The carrier strike group includes Carrier Air Wing 1 with nine aviation squadrons, the Ticonderoga-class, guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, and two Arleigh Burke-class, guided-missile destroyers, the USS Stout and the USS Jason Dunham. The strike group has spent recent months training in the western Atlantic Ocean for a rare, pre-planned deployment expected to take the ship into the hostile environment of the Red Sea. U.S. sailors and allied nations have fought almost daily for months to down drones and missiles launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen as tensions in the Middle East have raged on for nearly a year. The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford in October 2023 was ordered to sail to the region after a deadly attack on Israel by Hamas militants. Following the attack, Iran and proxy forces have targeted maritime merchants and shipping traffic in the Red Sea. In the past year, Defense Secretary Llyod Austin has twice ordered two carriers to the region, as well as bolstering U.S. forces with an amphibious ready group and a nuclear-powered submarine. The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower joined the Ford in the winter before the Ford returned to Norfolk. The Eisenhower completed an eight-month deployment to the region in July, being relieved by San Diego-based carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. In August, Austin ordered the extension of the Roosevelt as well as directed the USS Abraham Lincoln, also a West Coast-based carrier, to the Red Sea. The Roosevelt and the Lincoln’s time in the region overlapped by about three weeks before the Roosevelt was ordered to return home. The Lincoln and its strike group are still in the region. The Truman will transit to the Middle East with a strike force of 90 aircraft, including F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets, E-2D Hawkeye command and control aircraft, E/A18 Growler electronic warfare jets, and MH-60 Seahawk helicopters. “They know that they’re most likely going to be entering a weapon engagement zone,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, the leader of Navy Fleet Forces Command, said during a rare Miami Fleet Week appearance in May. The Fleet Week appearance was wedged into training ahead of what is expected to be an intense deployment. “I believe, personally, that puts higher stakes on why what we do [in training] is so important,” Caudle said in May. “For this group, this [deployment] is not with the mindset that they’re just going to go drill holes in the water somewhere — this is, ‘We’re going to be employed for combat.’” CAITLYN BURCHETT Caitlyn Burchett covers defense news at the Pentagon. Before joining Stars and Stripes, she was the military reporter for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va. She is based in Washington, D.C.

Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2024-09-20/truman-aircraft-carrier-deploy-middle-east-15244264.html?utm_source=Stars+and+Stripes+Emails&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Stars+and+Stripes+Emails&utm_campaign=94eba747b1-Newsletter+-+Daily+Headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0ab8697a7f-94eba747b1-296803338
Source – Stars and Stripes