Aircraft Carriers III

bd popeye said:

I served aboard USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67) from March 24th 1972 until August 1st 1973 when I was transferred to USS Midway(CVA 41)..long before most of those reading this were born.

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The hulk of John F. Kennedy on Jan. 16, 2025. Photo by Bryan J. Dickerson for USNI News

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.”

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, 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.”

Tis a sad day for an old salt like me...

I made two MED cruises on this ship. We went hit so many ports..as follows;

Rhodes Greece..twice
Athens Greece..three times
Izmir Turkey
Genoa Italy
Gaeta, Italy
La Maddalena, Italy
Cannes, France..twice
Barcelona, Spain..twice
Malaga, Spain
Palma De Mallorca, Spain..eight times.

More than 50 years ago..damn..I'm 71 years young...

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What's the difference for you personally between the JFK and the Midway?

I have already posted on the Italian armed forces thread but the news is very big and if everyone has a opinion is welcome ???

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gelgoog said:

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N = Next, not Nuclear? There are clearly funnels on the surface ship renderings.

Equation said:

What's the difference for you personally between the JFK and the Midway?

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The JFK was Larger than Midway. the Midway had two cats and JFK had four. However the Midway could outlaunch the JFK simply because the flight deck crew was better and launching with two cats is simpler and faster. It just is.

Considering the JFK was about 25 years newer than Midway the crews quarters were about the same..cramped. But you get use to it.

Kennedy, very clean, great liberty, great services, great chow. Best big deck flight deck ever..compared to Nimitz and America. Pretty good crew overall for that time>>early 70's..Always on time.

Midway..Not dirty, ok chow, great liberty, troubled crew because of racial problems. Mediocre stores. Great flight deck crew. The best flight deck crew of any ship I ever served aboard!!

Posted on Jan.3rd 2013 by me...


Some time ago some one sent me a private message asking me how much faster a CV with four cats could launch aircraft than a CV with two. The answer is cannot. Not in my experience..

His statement;

With a large number of aircraft spotted on deck at any given time either the bows or the angle will be crowded so it helps to have at least two cats available. I imagine deck routines on the Midways and the Essexs must have been a little more awkward due to the need to clear the bows for launching as they only had the two cats forward.

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My answer I always use with this question..

This all seems possible on paper but it just does not work that way. I was on CVA-19 and CVA-41. Also CVA-67 & 66. And the mighty Nimitz.. A person would think that "well our ship has four cats and that little old Hancock has only two ergo can out launch them". Nope. Does not work that way. In my experience CVA-19 & 41 could launch aircraft faster than any of those other ships with 4 cats. Why? Superior flight deck crew in the case of the Hancock and a simple case of the A-4's being so reliable. If an A-4 was on the cat it was going off the bow. Period. And A-4's being smaller were easier to handle.

On the Midway the case was a superior flight deck crew as on the Hancock. . The Midway's flight deck was unique. It was as large as a CVA-59 class but had only two cats. When you respot with only two bow cats on a deck that big no need to worry about blocking the angle. The respot is much faster. Just leave room for the helo.

There are all sorts of factors that occur when you have 4 cats. For one thing usually only three of the four cats will be in operation. Depends on the number of aircraft being launched.

Say an aircraft breaks down on the port bow cat. You have to re-spot it somewhere. And believe you me when you do you will disrupt those waist cats. If that happens with two bow cats you just turn the aircraft around and spot it on the angle or elsewhere without much disruption of the launch.

During "Desert Storm" in 1991 the Midway , with only two cats, launched more stories than the other 5 USN CV(N) on station. I.E. Kennedy, America ,Ranger, T. Roosevelt & Saratoga.

LHD Trieste (L9890) with 4 helos on deck (looks like 2 SH-90A and 2 EH-101A)

Stazione Navale Mar Grande (Taranto Naval Base) - Taranto, December 2024
photo by © Edoardo Govoni

European navies flat decks and LPD fleet

Italy
Cavour Carrier
Trieste LHD
3 x San Giorgio class LPD

Spain
Juan Carlos LHD
2 x Galicia class LPD

Netherlands
2 x Rotterdam Class LPD
also Karl Doorman Support ship

France
Charles de Gaulle Carrier
3 x Mistral Class LHD

UK
2 x QE Class Carriers
1 x HMS Ocean sold to Brazil
2 x LPD Albion Class due to be commissioned
3 x Bay Class LPD
6 x MRSS planned

asif iqbal said:

European navies flat decks and LPD fleet

Italy
Cavour Carrier
Trieste LHD
3 x San Giorgio class LPD

Spain
Juan Carlos LHD
2 x Galicia class LPD

Netherlands
2 x Rotterdam Class LPD
also Karl Doorman Support ship

France
Charles de Gaulle Carrier
3 x Mistral Class LHD

UK
2 x QE Class Carriers
1 x HMS Ocean sold to Brazil
2 x LPD Albion Class due to be commissioned
3 x Bay Class LPD
6 x MRSS planned

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UK is mostly vaporware, They have the QE class if they can make them work but with the past series of problems with them they look worst than France or Italy in real life. Quite a shame if we relate to their strong navy history.