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Kitty Hawk class carriers were intended
to become the first warships powered by a
nuclear reactor. With the cost of nuclear
power being considered too great at that
time, the three ships in this class
Kitty Hawk,
Constellation and America
were completed with conventional power. A
fourth carrier of this size that entered
service in 1968, John F
Kennedy, is regarded as a modified
Kitty Hawk class. These carriers were not
as well known as others as they entered
service after the first super carriers of
a similar size, the Forrestal class
that enterd service in the 1950s, and the
large nuclear powered carriers, the
Enterprise from 1961 and
the Nimitz
class that began entering service
from 1975. Kitty
Hawk’s first trials for the
US Navy were carried out while traveling
around South America to her homeport of
San Diego. Between 1963 and 1972, she
made eight extended deployments, six of
them supporting US troops in Vietnam.
Kitty Hawk was fitted with anti
submarine detection equipment in 1973.
This conversion led to her being classed
as a multi purpose carrier. The navy had
Kitty Hawk undergo an
extensive refit between 1988 and 1990 in
an attempt to add another 20 years to her
intended 30-year service life. She was
supporting US and Coalition troops at
Somalia in November 1992 when Iraqi
troops began breaking United Nations
sanctions. This led to Kitty
Hawk being rushed to the Middle
East so her aircraft could lead an attack
on Iraqi troops in Southern Iraq and
patrol the no fly zone.
Kitty Hawk was taken out
of service in 2009, she will be held in
reserve until 2015. Constellation was
decommissioned in 2003, this ship is
awaiting a decision on its future whether
it will be scrapped or used as
museum.
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