Why Were USS JFK and USS Kitty Hawk Sold to the Scrappers for a Penny? 

Kitty Hawk was my ship. I can't help thinking of her still out there somewhere, blue-white curls of the sea curling away from her bow as she sails into stormy seas, waiting for her Aviators to come home so they can have a moment's respite before going off the pointy end once again. We couldn't wait to disembark after cruise, but you never think of her as being gone. Some part of me lingers there still. You'll find me on the forward sponson, starboard side, watching the endless wave curling from her bow as she sails on. As long as their is a sailor who still breathes, there will be an ocean full of ghost ships that we never knew we would miss so much.

I was on the Kitty Hawk stationed in Yokosuka Japan from '99 to '03. 🤔My son was conceived in that ship😏🤫

USS Constellation CVA64/CV64 was my home from 1973 to 1977. It broke my heart that "Connie" was not turned into a museum. She was a proud ship and San Diego's ship for over 40 years. Instead San Diego chose the USS Midway. It still breaks my heart.

It is a huge shame that not a single conventional supercarrier could be saved, there were so many! Definitely a huge historical loss and end of an era! With videos like yours they will never be forgotten!

I know all old ships get retired, but seems funny that in my lifetime , I have seen these two ships go from the most technically advanced super weapons on the sea, to the scrap heep.

I think the USS Arleigh Burke should be preserved if for no other reason it is the lead ship of the most numerous class since the Fletcher.

Saratoga sweet 60 from Dixie I had the pleasure of working in her engineering department and overhauling her for her last major overhaul called SLEP in PNSY 1980-84

When a high school age Sea Cadet, I was fortunate to have sailed on the Kennedy for a few days sailing from Boston to Portland Maine. As a kid sailing on a aircraft carrier just off the heels of Top Gun, getting kicked off the bridge for not wearing a cover, and watching Tomcats doing night traps....I will NEVER forget it. Absolutely priceless, and it breaks my heart seeing it in it's current state when flying into Philadelphia. Fair Seas and Following Winds Kennedy.

In 1990 I got to see the Wisconsin birthed next to the Enterprise in Norfolk. From the dock we looked across and down on the Wisconsin’s deck while the Enterprise towered over us and the dock. I got to see three quarters of the U.S. fleet. It was awesome.

I hope Kitty Hawk beats the Reaper and sinks in tow. Seems a more dignified end than what happens in Brownsville.

The USS JFK was built by the Newport News Ship Building & Drydock Company in the late 60's. I worked in one of the machine shops that made parts for the ship. She was the last conventional powered aircraft carrier. We also had the USS Nautilus submarine in a drydock next to our shop for a refit at the same time.

I have a very hard time understanding how the US has the entire massive Smithsonian museum system, and even FDR was working on a naval museum, but somehow it is OK to just let these ships go away. I feel like in some ways in the future we are going to be like the British are now, a massive naval history story to be told, but missing key pieces or in some cases entire chunks of maritime historical items. while I certainly appreciate that it is difficult to cover the cost of renovating a carrier into a museum, we have spent quite a bit more on 20 years of war with no real visual goals per se in at least 1 country. all that poured into a naval museum would have made quite the spectacle

CV67 was my 1st command and I was part of her last crew when the decision was made to retire her. I was then cross decked to CVN65 all this during my 1st enlistment. I served my time on her and went away and did some shore duty and other things and then came back to CVN65 for the final cruise and retirement. Its sad to see them nowadays and the condition they are both in. But its also good to log onto the NN shipyard website to view them building the two newest JFK/Enterprise

I think it might be a long term problem with museum ships: When the organisation caring for them is no longer able to, then they will probably also not have the money to scrap the ships.

I was never in the military, yet I have been lucky enough to have been onboard all 4 Iowa Class battleships built, and 2/3rds of the Midway Class carriers built (never made it onto the FDR). Also got to go on board the USS Salem, which my dad served on in the middle-ish 1950s as a freshly minted officer just out of OCS.

In the early 90s I wrote to the Kitty Hawk as part of a school project. I received a signed picture of her and letter from Captain McGee. My uncle was the DCA on Eisenhower in the mid 90s, and I was able to go on a dependent day cruise on her. It's size was mind blowing.

The Kitty Hawk came into Hobart Tasmania Australia in the mid 1990’s. As my wife worked in the Marine Board, which controlled all shipping activities, I was fortunate to get a grand tour of the ship. We exchanged lots of Koala Bears and Tasmania souvenirs from some crew who did not get ashore as it was anchored mid Derwent River. I scored a couple of Kitty Hawk caps, one of which I happen to be wearing today as I am working out in our rather keen sunlight. Just by sheer chance this video came up on my main RU-vid page, fascinating to get some background on this ship. I must have a few photos of this ship somewhere in my collection. Sad to see these parts of history going to breakers yards, it is fortunate that some Naval vessels are being turned into floating museums. I believe you (USA) has the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 11 is moored in one of your major maritime cities as a floating restaurant? Kind Regards from a Brit living down under.

I volunteered on the USS Hornet for a number of years. It was almost scrapped itself but was saved because it was the ship that picked up the Apollo astronauts when they landed.

great episode, people don't often know what it takes to preserve an ex-military aircraft let alone a 75,000 ton floating airfield.

Bigger they get, it is harder to preserve them. When I was writing my thesis on ship museums, I once considered converting one of the super carriers as a case study. However I could not find a feasible way so I used smaller ships for model conversions. During my research, I remember talking to a member of IWM and they had similar problems with Invincible class carriers of Royal Navy. All 3 had to be scrapped and even though one of them had historic significance as it participated in Falklands War. A lot of people came up with proposals to turn at least one of the ships into a museum but none of them had a viable business plan. Some of them suggested to turn the ships into half museum and half shopping/convention center/hotels but none of them made economic because of the size of the ships. I just have to remind that these ships were 20.000 tons, much smaller compared to super carriers. I always wanted to see a super carrier as a museum ( otherwise I have no way of getting on one) however its huge size means it will require maybe hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to keep it running ( not in the first ten years maybe but maybe if you look at fifty year span it will get to that in total). To generate that kind of budget it would need a lot of visitors and for that it has to be at a prime location such as NYC which already has a carrier as a museum. Also apart from itself, the museum would need a secondary function ( such as converting the huge hangar into a different museum or other functions) to keep the flow of visitors continous and support the funding.

I served aboard the USS Saratoga and after a few years after decommission I was interested at the time for her to be a museum and donated a few dollars toward that effort. At each Saratoga reunion, the talk was about her being a museum but as the years passed, she was scrapped. I suppose it was just too big of a challenge. The USS Saratoga held a reunion in Norfolk VA and many of us tour the USS Wisconsin and were quite impressed by her.

I deployed on Kennedy 1999-2000 as part of the Carrier Group 6 staff. Such a shame to see her scrapped, but such is the way of things.

USS kitty hawk was the ship that my grandpa served on in his life in the navy when he was alive. The kitty hawk deserves better as it was one if not the best aircraft carrier for its time. Even though it’s barely possible it would be amazing to see the kittyhawk restored and sailing the seas again

Lead, asbestos & PCBs ... Back when I was at Philly Navy Yard, the yard was ready for asbestos on the conventional super carriers during their life extensions at Philly. What "threw us a curve" was when PCBs were found in an unexpected place, that is, not in electrical equipment. I seem to recall one of the nuke yards found the problem on a nuke ship; only their contamination might've been radioactive as well.

The Kitty Hawk was the last ship I served on in the early 90's before she replaced the Midway in Japan. The Midway is now a museum ship here in San Diego.

It’s a bummer to know that these absolute Marvels of Mid-20th Century Engineering are going to be scrapped. But at the same time it does make Me happy to know that the parts will go to other Museum Ships that need them such as Yours 😊

I did a Med cruise on "Big John" CV-67 in the mid 90's. Met great folks and had a great time. You're bringing back some good memories.

When I was a kid, 1970 to 1980, in Jersey City, they used to have old Navy ships on the Hackensack River near Two Guys on 440 and 1&9 area. You could see the ships, they seemed to cut them up into pieces and little by little the ships are gone. I believe there was a aircraft carrier there at one time too. I was fascinated as a kid seeing that. I remember asking my dad what they were doing and he said they are docked at a scrap yard, they recycle the steel.

​I think the Blue Ridge command ship would make a cool museum, but there's no way the general public would have any interest in her.

Thankful my old ship USS Midway was turned into a museum.

Been watching him for awhile. He has matured as a better oratore. Better presence and delivery. Excellent job.

I remember being able to see the USS JFK when it was under construction in Newport News in the spring of 1967. At that time, I was in the US Army's Transportation School at Ft Eustis, VA and a buddy and I had gone into Newport News just to see it through the fence.

About 7 -8 years ago I was on a sea going tug going to Puerto Rico, saw the Constellation under to headed to Brownsville Texas, Seeing that made me misty eyes. While I was on the Chicago CG 11 (ex CA 136) we tied up at North Island NAS along with the Kitty Hawk and Constellation as well as seeing them around VietNam and in Subic Bay so indirectly they had been part of my youth. Used to see the Cabot tied up in New Orleans for a year or two while the organization tried unsuccessfully to raise the funding to preserve it as the last escort carrier and straight deck carrier. If I were allowed to do a salvage trip on a ship my first target would be a clock. Not one of those brass clocks from the bridge or captains cabin but the plain black plastic/Bakelite clocks in every work space and berthing compartment.

I have already mentioned some of this. I was involved in trying to save USS Ranger as a museum. 1st of all, NAVSEA required the Ranger Foundation to come up with at least $20 million. They also had to have a permanent place to tie her up. It was required that she be able to be moored to withstand winds of 100mph. The project had to have 100% support from all governmental agencies that would be involved. There had to be safety rails all around the flight deck, deck edge elevators, and any where else that visitors might go. There had to be comprehensive plans for several years on what they intended to do to raise money and how much they figured would be raised. Out of that $20 million there would need to be an escrow fund that would be used by the Navy in the event the museum failed. This was so no public money would be needed to recover the ship. As Ryan has stated regarding NJ, the ship would never again be able to fire up any boilers or provide steam to things like the galleys and catapults. None of the ship's heads would be usable, so some other way would need to be established for sanitary waste by visitors. USS Midway is doing quite well in San Diego. Much of that has to do with the beautiful climate. The plans for Ranger never seriously envisioned going further south than the Columbia River. This very much affected what the ship would be able to do for fund raising in the harsh winters in that area. Another problem, was that no visitor would ever be allowed below 3rd deck. Had Ranger become a museum, the Navy would have spent $6 million to seal off every point of access below 3rd deck. My personal belief is that there is just too much similarity between the Forrestals and other conventional carriers, to the Nimitz class. The Navy would not want someone going below and mapping out engineering spaces, magazines, and fuel bunkers. I've visited Enterprise when she was in port at the same time we were. There was very little difference between Ranger and Enterprise, other than the reactors vs. boilers. Some of NAVSEA's requirements seem unreasonable as a major selling point to the city that would be hosting her would be the ship's ability to help the city in the event of a natural disaster. Her generators, which are diesel, would be able to be brought online to provide electricity to the city. Her medical department could be brought online. Hundreds, or thousands, of people could be provided shelter. Just as an after thought, considering the requirements to seal Ranger off below 3rd deck, I don't know why hangar deck, 2nd deck, and 3rd deck on Enterprise couldn't be rebuilt where they had gutted her to remove the reactors. It's not like they'd have to rebuild anything further down. They would need to pour a lot of concrete in to ballast her down. More than saving a conventional, but still doable.

I remember seeing the New Jersey across the bay from my ship in Subic Bay, my ship U.S.S.Ranger CVA 61 had just come off one of our line periods in the Tonkin Gulf off Vietnam and a few days after we had been there in came the New Jersey and since we were docked at the Carrier dock it had to dock across the bay from us,it was still quite a site

My dad’s pride and joy during his 30 years of Navy service from WWII, Korea and Viet Nam. I just conditioned his VF 213 Black Lions bomber jacket. He cherished it until he passed at 94 years of age. This carrier and those on board served our country well and deserve a peaceful rest.

Personally I'd love to see an arleigh burke or Ticonderoga saved. There's a lot of talk of a Perry class being saved for Erie, Pennsylvania

Save a Ticonderoga!!!

Scrapping is the right solution for these huge ships. Even keeping the ‘ USS Intrepid’ at NYC in good condition will be a huge project in the coming decades.

That was very interesting. I've had the privilege of touring several museum ship over the years and have always been impressed with the people, who have the passion and love, to maintain and share these bits of our nation's history. Thank you for all you do!

In the early 90's, while in Bremerton (USS Carl Vinson over haul), we would have command quarters on the Hornet or Bon ohm richard. Paint and insulation was peeling off the walls, overheads, etc. I always wondered how much guano was on the flight deck and super structure, from the seagulls. overhauling an active carrier was intensive enough, but one that's been sitting for decades would be a nightmare

The Soviet submarine in San Diego is a wonderful experience, sad to see it go. A real piece of history.

Thank you for a clear explanation of the hurdles that need to be met to even start a museum.

Outstanding shipmate. Press on. USS Kitty hawk CV-63 Jan 1980 to July 1983. I have been waiting for 43 years to here some news of what is going on to the Hawk. thank you so much. Please let me know when i should head to Browns vile Texas to see her for the last time.

Sad to hear the Kitty Hawk is to be scrapped. Both her and the Constellation were home ported in San Diego and tied up at the quay NAS North Island. I was stationed there from 1965 to 1968 and had the privilege of going aboard her to visit a friend who had just reported for duty to the Kitty Hawk. Quite the spectacle seeing her move down the channel cruising past Point Loma on her way out to sea.

Good video & information. I must say that's so depressing about the fate of these two super carriers. I was born In NC & still live here 40 yrs. Later.

Dear Ryan. The "romance" of a warship and what it once experienced and meant to our country is over. Particularly that of something coming out of the WW II era. I could go on for volumes so, I'll be brief. I'm 65 and grew up in the era of WW II vets telling stories of glory. In fact. My Dad was a Pacific Theater fighter pilot multi-ace. I lost 3 uncles in the skies over Hitler's so-called 1000 year Reich. When, as a young lad, i got to see B-17s, F4-U and P-51s for the first time, not to mention aircraft carriers that my Dad flew off of, I was enthralled! In latter years and first visiting a battleship, the North Carolina when my airline transferred me to Wilmington, NC...I guess i was in my early 30s....i walked around for 2 days with a woody. But now? The child has grown and the memories are gone. And, although i tried over the decades to pass on to my children all i was told of my families heritage to my 4 children... Do i really need to continue? One more example though. My son-in-law is in the USAF and pilots a Raptor. His kids hardly remember he's an Air Force captain let alone a pilot. I've seen my son-in-law fly. Yeah, its cool. Yeah. I'm proud....Bla-blah, Bla-blah, Bla-blah. Beyond my 65 years, let's face it , Ryan. In today's society the era of wonder and excitement just isn't there. The embedded history of relics like the USS NEW JERSEY? History in itself matters to few in this day and age. And, I'm thinking. You know it.

Our neighbor in San Pedro is the USS Iowa and with the small crew of volunteers they have done an amazing job of keeping her alive. I was given a behind the scenes tour and if I was not involved in the restoration of the Los Angeles Fire Department Fireboat , Ralph J. Scott, I would love to help. The success of any of these huge undertakings is all about the volunteers and it’s getting harder to find people who would enjoy helping preserve our history until it’s to late. We need school programs that include teaching lost skills and get kids involved in touching and interacting with these large preservation projects as there will never again be these living pieces of our history available for future generations to see, experience and touch. It’s taken us 18 years of work to get the Scott looking like she did when she was retired from active service of 78 years and she is only 100 feet long. My heart goes out the the people that make it their job to preserve these amazing works of our ambitions to make our lives safer in a unsettled world. My 2 cents.

The USS Paul F. Foster should be preserved IMO: The Spruance class is vastly underrated, and formed the basis of so many other classes.

Great video. I've been lucky enough to live near Charleston, SC and have been to Patriots Point many times, from 5th grade. Me and my wife spent our honeymoon in Charlton, and spent a full day touring the ships there. This would have been in 1983. I think the ships at the time were the Yorktown, destroyer Laffey (I tripped on the deck and slightly twisted my ankle), submarine Clagamore (hit my head on something, those subs were not made for 6'4 guys), and the nuclear merchant ship Savannah. Sad to see these going away, for us it was better than going to Disneyland. I would hope that instead of just selling these for just scrap, they would sell any little pieces and parts, maybe with a certificate of authenticity, to collectors who would be glad to buy them. My grandfather worked in Florida building Liberty ships, I would love to have just a few little pieces/parts from one of the ones he worked on. Thanks again for the video.

1) What city that could support a maritime museum doesn't already have ships they can barely maintain? 2) There's a reason that they had crews numbering in the thousands and cost fortunes every year. MAINTENANCE. What museum has the resources - both in terms of personnel and money - to keep up the ship. Even much smaller ships are in trouble. The ones that aren't are usually ones like Texas, Alabama, New Jersey that have an obvious link to where their musea are located.

I served on the Saratoga (CV-60) from '72 to '75. After years in mothballs they towed her to the breakers down in Brownsville. Every ship I ever served on either went to the scrappers or was used in a SINKEX. A few years ago we visited family in San Diego and toured the USS Midway (CV-41). Coming up the brow to the quarterdeck, the sights and smells were instantly familiar. I highly recommend that museum ship. I have a fondness for destroyers too, as I served on the Mahan (DDG-42). We were in Bremerton recently and visited the Turner Joy (DD-951) which is also an excellent museum ship.

It's not just navy ships. Look what horrible mismanagement has done to the Queen Mary. She'll be lucky to survive.

great skill in conveying the scale of the situation. I'm really enjoying your videos. Thank You for all the work you do!

Why does anyone ever downvote these vids. People are nuts. This guy is a wealth of info.

A ship I was a crewmember of in 1983 (USS Proteus AS-19) was turned into an in water berthing ship & then later scrapped. In 83 it was the 2nd oldest ship in the fleet having been in service since WW2. Another ship I was on in 82 ( USS Blueridge LCC-19) is still in service since Vietnam War. Both these ships are 1 of only 2 of their kind. A purpose built Sub Tender & a Amphibious Command Ship.

It's sad that they can't be saved, but considering we can't even keep other vessels like the Cabot or many of the WWII subs that are facing scrapping or being sunk as reefs, (as well as several of those soviet subs) I can't imagine it being possible to keep one of those carriers going for as long as other ships have given the sheer amount of maintenance it would need due to the size when we already have other large vessels that need much work.

My oldest brother was a cook aboard the JFK in the late 70's early 80's.

its almost a tragedy that the wwii enterprise was "cut up for razor blades" she was almost lost, but made it home, only to fall to the torch

Thank you for helping us understand about why these ships were sold for a penny. If I remember my history correctly, wooden ships were towed to isolated coves and allowed to rot because no one could use them and they were not sea worthy.

Definitely would like to see one of the LHA or LHD preserved or any well deck vessel since these are so unique, none are currently preserved and they capture a huge portion of the mission of the Navy which is amphibious landings. Would definitely be cool to incorporate the D-Day landings into the museum with Hobart's Funnys, Mulberry Harbours, and the old landing craft. Imagine the entrance to the museum floor being the landing ramp of an LCU falling down to let you in. Just crazy museum ship ideas.

The Kitty Hawk, and John F. Kennedy should have been kept in the ready reserve. With them being non-nuclear, they are perfect for that role. They are supercarriers and can handle the current aircraft. If someone were to attack one of our carrier-groups and succeed in sinking one, then if were had these carriers in reserve, they could be brought back to service in about 6 to 12 month. That way were wouldn't be down a carrier for 5 - 6 years or more.

Thank you. Very informative. I am sad that Kitty Hawk is going. The father of a very dear friend of mine from high school served as head surgeon on it in the 1960's. I am imagine there would have been a larger potential support for the John F. Kennedy. But, as you explained very well, the shear size of these ships makes annual maintenance an enormous investment. In our post-COVID world, at least for a while, travel will be impacted, hence potential revenues harder to predict.

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

I've been on the JFK twice when it came to Boston and must of waited four hours in the blazing sun each time but it was worth the wait

Sad to see the JFK heading to the scrappers. I had a close friend who was stationed on her back in the late 70's. he had many good stories to tell of his time on her.

Served on the Hawk 1983-86 Engineering A-Gang Hydraulics Shop. On starboard aft steering watch when we clobbered that Russian sub in the Sea of Japan 1984. So long Kitty. After all these years I can still close my eyes and walk her decks.

Alas 'ol girl, farewell to you and all who served aboard you and were taken care of by you, myself included ('80-'81). RIP CV(A)-63

Outstanding video. Excellent ideas for this week. More about how your business works will be great.

Man, I sure would like to have the Machine shop machinery off those Carriers!

Many years ago I served aboard the USS Forrestal, the first of the "supercarriers". I was greatly saddened when I learned that she had been sold for scrap some time ago. The thought that she could have become a museum ship had never once crossed my mind. How could anyone envision taking care of such an immense vessel was beyond contemplation. I'm sorry that she is gone -- I loved her-- but I would have hated more to see her fall into disrepair, returned to the Navy, and become more of a burden to that service.

My first cruise was aboard CV34 USS Oriskany, was so sad , my first and her last. Actually liked the concept of an artificial reef for her. CV43 USS Coral Sea got cut to pieces, that one hurt, once you've sailed on these magnificent machines it's hard to see the destruction of them. Was aboard many others but not these 2. USS Vinson was my last flattop in 86 off of Hawaii. I went into Amphibs afterwards.

The Kitty Hawk was my old ship.

That sucks my father made so many med cures I can't remember them all as a child I have had many meals in the officers mess I have been end to end of this ship and have so many memories of the standing on the dock watching the jfk coming in and looking for my dad standing on the flite deck . Dad's been gone for awhile now and now this i will miss them both !

I would love to see former USS Dubuque, and the USNS Rainer mothballed in Bremerton, be saved as museums on the west coast. In 2019 I toured B39, the Soviet Foxtrot submarine. It was really neat, although I was surprised at the level of severe rust-through, on her outer hull. Can't say I'm surprised to hear that they are going to scrap her. I'm glad I at least got to go on her! I remember as a kid seeing her from the ferry, as she was moored in Seattle. I'm very grateful that the Forest Sherman class destroyer USS Turner Joy DD951, is a beautiful museum ship in Bremerton. She was built in Seattle, and is special to the PNW. She gets dry docked in Seattle at a cost of roughly a million dollars, every decade or so.

Did 2 WestPac cruises 84 and 85. Was on duty when we hit the Soviet sub. Have a lot of great memories of my time on the Hawk. Hate to see her go!! “We press on”

While at the Naval Academy, I did my one-month youngster cruise on the JFK in 1980. We went to Boston's 350th anniversary with a bunch of tall-ships. It was a huge blast.

I have a long time friend I haven’t talked to in a while who often told me stories of his time serving on the KittyHawk. Sad to see such fine ladies being scrapped.

Happy birthday to the USS New Jersey Museum and Memorial

Thank you for posting this. I was shocked that CVN 67 was sold for a penny, I had a friend who served on her and it was so unreal for me to have read that article.

For a time, there was an effort to save the Kennedy as a museum ship here in RI. But as it was with Forrestal and Saratoga (there were efforts to preserve them as well), she ended up being sold for scrap.

if we kept most of the enterprise and make it into a museum, that we could use its tower and flat top, the rest could have be replicas. Then have the control towers surrounding the museum telling the story of each ship. Its an idea you dont need a ship but the parts that matter. Future museum ships: Tarawa/Wasp/America class LHA, Ohio class sub & Typhoon class next to each other, Kirov class battlecruiser.

Ryan is the king of one liners "They were sold for a penny each... And that seems pretty cheap for a 60,000-70,000 ton super carrier"

My life long best friend and I both served on the Kitty hawk in the mid 1970's . Me V-1 div. ,Him Va 195 . It's a blast talking about our sea stories lol. ( This is a no shiter) lol

Save the islands from the carriers and put them on land connected together by walkways. Like a island farm.

still have Midway in San Diego, close enough for a supercarrier

I was a plank owner on the Kennedy, I was a DS4 back then. Wrote a computer program in CIV for the commissioning. A plane would launch from the "deck", circle around and land... and that was back in 1968.

Very informative. I think scuttling as an artificial reef would be preferable to scrapping. I know there are costs involved but at least the ship would have a benefit and would be preserved as a dive sight for some time.

My son's and I were at Ludington Michigan one year, waiting to take a ride on the Badger. At that time there were three inactive carferries docked there, the SS Spartan, SS City of Midland, and the MV Author K. Adkins. The Adkins hadn't had the dock fees kept up and was confiscated. The attendant told us it was for sale for a penny, and my boys got all excited and wanted me to buy it right there! It did provoke that though that maybe it was a good price but the doc fees alone was a lot more than my paycheck was each week and I would never be able to afford insurance! I guess the former owner of the ship found out the hard way how much it actually cost to even keep a ship.

Outstanding explanation Ryan. You answered several nagging questions. Now, it makes more sense. Still saddens me that the proposed SHANGRI-LA museum fell through. Fortunately, REQUIN survived that fiasco.

I have seen Kitty Hawk here on anchorage this year, during her voyage around South America, accompained by just one huge tugboat. I did not see her arriving or leaving , she stood here about 4 days. Greetings from Valparaíso in Chile.

Spent my time afloat on USS Saratoga. It breaks my heart to see what happened to her, but I still have my memories. Good memories, and some, not so good. Just have to realize, we can’t save them all. BTW, the Saratoga stern plate is displayed outside the CPO club in Mayport. Part of her lives on.

I was on the Kennedy when it visited Boston years ago as an active ship. It was a very long wait and it was the first time I saw a mist tent which was very welcome that day. I still can't believe how big the Kennedy is and am very sorry to see it is not being preserved.

CV -64 USS Constellation would have been a great choice for a museum ship.

Reminds me of the scrapping of the lead Ticonderoga class ship and the Richard Bonhomme. I didn’t serve in the fleet, but damn it’s such a waste to scrap to perfectly good ships such as them. Had an uncle who served on the USS Saratoga in Vietnam. Never know about him til he passed, ships like people are wait for their time to come, and often they take their stories with them. Farewell, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and KittyHawk. Rest In Peace for your time has come if only we hear your tales.

I saw the New Jersey off the coast of Vietnam clearing the beach before us Marines went in She was awesome to watch I still have pictures

It would be nice to see a major museum ship somewhere along the Mississippi River, as centrally located in the US as possible, assuming they could keep the facilities safe from floods.

The Enterprise had 2 reactors in each of the 4 reactor spaces. The new carriers have only 2 reactors that drive the 4 turbines, launch planes etc. So the reactor fuel rods removed and the spaces sealed would make the rest of ship visit able. The Brits a have ships that were nuclear powered as museum ships

The maritime museum at Patriots Point in Charleston Harbor, SC, has struggled financially to preserve her fleet for years. It requires massive amounts of $ to maintain steel and wood subjected daily to salt water environment, more than you can imagine. The old tales of sailors chipping paint and repainting every day during the active life of a vessel in not just a tale , but a fact of life, to keep a ship afloat. Imagine the incredible number of gallons of shockingly expensive paint it takes to completely paint an aircraft carrier. Not only is there paint maintenance to consider but aircraft carriers have wooden flight decks that constantly require attention. The USS Yorktown at Patriots Point has been in danger of being eliminated on more than one occasion. That museum at one time had the first nuclear powered commercial vessel, the Savannah, in her fleet but she had to be surrendered to reallocate the $ to maintain her, to other vessels. While it’s an emotional situation to see those great warrior ships being cut apart and turned into cat food cans or whatever, it’s hardly practical to preserve all of them and very difficult to find suitable places to permanently berth them and perpetually maintain them. That, after all, is the exact reason the Navy decides to divest themselves of them. There’s a saying circulated among boat owners that certainly applies to ships ten times over. “The two happiest days of your life are the day you buy a boat and the last day you own a boat”. They’re endless money pits, especially seagoing ones. “Boats are a hole in the water into which you constantly throw money” !

I've been on the Foxtrot when it was next to the Queen Mary and I thought it was very cool very tiny! Had to walk around bent over (I'm 6'3")