Headed For Retirement

[egarrard]

The last voyage of the USS Kitty Hawk (http://www.kittyhawk.navy.mil/About%20Hawk/About_Hawk.htm). After 45 years, she looks a little worn out.

First Picture (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&thread=23902107)
The Rest (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&thread=23902134)

Links go to the DPReview forums

[Tivon]

I don't see anything wrong with it, slap some paint on and it's all good. They seem to trust it enough to hold million dollar planes.

[bejohnson]

I don't see anything wrong with it, slap some paint on and it's all good. They seem to trust it enough to hold million dollar planes.

The USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) is 46 years old now. Most ships are past their prime when they reach 25 years old. The Kitty Hawk went through a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard from 1987 through 1991. That rigorous four-year overhaul added an estimated 20 years to the planned 30-year life of the ship.

The Kitty Hawk is the last oil-fired carrier in the fleet. It was kept deployed in Japan after its sister ship the Constellation was retired. The Japanese required that any ships based in Japan be non-nuclear powered. That requirement has changed and since the operating cost of an oil-fired ship greatly exceeds the operating cost of a nuclear powered ship the Kitty Hawk is being retired.

The areas of rust that appear on the ship are surface rust and are common at the end of a long sea deployment. A large ship such as the Kitty Hawk cleans and repaints constantly but the only way to completely remove the rust is an extended time in port.

An interesting note: Brandi kept the Kitty Hawk from deploying for a period of three weeks in spring 2001 due to fresh water plumbing and the resulting health issues caused by possible contamination of the water by aviation fuel.

The USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77) is scheduled to replace the Kitty Hawk in 2008.