Navy could bring Kitty Hawk out of mothballs

[MtnMan]

If they are going to recommission a carrier, it should be the USS Enterprise.

It is large and relatively speaking, modern. It is also nuclear powered. It could be refueled and would be good to go for a very long time.

Every carrier since the Forrestal (CVA59) are basically the same size (1000'+ long). Some have been scrapped or sunk (Forrestal, Saratoga, Ranger, Independence, Constellation, America) leaving the Kitty Hawk and Kennedy from the conventional power era, and the Enterprise.
The advantage as the technology is proven, can handle today's aircraft. The new electromagnetic catapults will fail to launch at 1 out of 240 times, which would be like once or twice a week for an operational carrier. I watched thousands of launches from the USS Saratoga, and not a single failure, steam catapults just work. They also have a duty-cycle problem, meaning they may not be able to launch when the feces is about to hit the fan.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Not sure if one needs to worry as much of it is an armed drone carrier. Imagine carrying 250 armed drones on top of modern defensive systems. These old carriers are nothing but a floating platform and she be treated as such.

 

[Linflas]

That would change the look of the waterfront here...I drive by the USS Kitty Hawk a couple of times each week. They've shipped 2 mothballed carriers off for destruction since we got here. I'd rather see them refurbished and used than cut into pieces...when it's feasible.

The Independence just arrived in Brownsville last week. I believe she left Washington in late March and they towed her around through the Straits of Magellan.

 

[BoomerD]

The Independence just arrived in Brownsville last week. I believe she left Washington in late March and they towed her around through the Straits of Magellan.

Yep.

http://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news...ependence-departure-leaves-big-void/99012352/

 

[Linflas]

Yep.

http://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news...ependence-departure-leaves-big-void/99012352/

Spent a year and a half of my life on her, too bad they didn't use her for a reef or museum ship.

 

[MtnMan]

Spent a year and a half of my life on her, too bad they didn't use her for a reef or museum ship.

I spent several years on the Saratoga, and now just a memory cut up in Brownsville. There was an attempt to make it a museum in RI, but the Navy wouldn't budge.