USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)

History of the USS Kitty Hawk Aircraft Carrier

The USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) was ordered for the U.S. Navy on October 1, 1955. Her keel was laid down at New York Shipbuilding Corporation in New Jersey on December 27, 1956. She was launched on May 21, 1960 and commissioned on April 21, 1961 under the command of Captain William F. Bringle.

USS Kitty Hawk sailed first to South America, where the Secretary of the Brazilian Navy came aboard for a demonstration. She also hosted the President of Peru. When she returned to the States, she headed to San Francisco Naval Shipyard in California for alterations before joining the Navy’s Seventh Fleet as flagship on October 7, 1962.

While in the South Pacific, the USS Kitty Hawk took part in the Philippine Republic Aviation Week Air Show, she hosted Admiral Harry D. Felt, Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet for a weapons demonstration, and she visited a number of ports of call.

President John F. Kennedy boarded the USS Kitty Hawk on June 6, 1963 for a weapons demonstration; he wrote about the experience to Chinese President Chiang Kai-Shek. The aircraft carrier was the setting for several shots in the film Seven Days in May later that year before she participated in exercises and tactics off the West Coast. She sailed to the Far East. As she approached Japan, word came that the President had been assassinated. With her flags at half mast, she fired the memorial salutes at Sasebo Harbor.

The USS Kitty Hawk spent time with overhaul and training before sailing for Vietnam in late 1965. Her air crews conducted countless air strikes against North Vietnamese targets from November 26, 1965 to May 14, 1966. For that service, the aircraft carrier was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation. After a brief overhaul period, she sailed back to the Far East to become the flagship of Rear Admiral David C. Richardson, Commander Task Force 77. On Yankee Station, she conducted around-the-clock air missions over North Vietnam. While she was there, she was visited by William Randolph Hearst, Billy Graham, John Steinbeck and other notable people.

In 1973, the USS Kitty Hawk’s homeport changed from San Diego to Hunters Point in California. She began work on January 14, 1973 to be converted from CVA-63 to CV-63, the first aircraft carrier in the Pacific Fleet to hold the CV designation. Conversion work was completed on April 28.

Over the next several years, USS Kitty Hawk spent several deployments in the Western Pacific and participated in fleet exercises like RIMPAC. She underwent another overhaul in March 1976, sailing out for more exercises one year later in March 1977.

USS Kitty Hawk was deployed again to the Western Pacific in May 1979, she helped Vietnamese refugees who fled the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and she offered contingency support after the assassination of Republic of Korea President Park Chung Hee. Before she could sail home, she headed to the North Arabian Sea to support contingency operations during the Iran Hostage Crisis.

When the USS Kitty Hawk returned home from the deployment, she made a cameo appearance in the film The Final Countdown, standing in for the USS Nimitz with her crew manning the rails as she passed the USS Arizona memorial. She would receive several awards in the coming years, including the Meritorious Unit Commendation, the Naval Air Force Pacific Battle Efficiency “E,” the Navy Expeditionary Medal and the Humanitarian Service Medal.

The USS Kitty Hawk headed to Bremerton, Washington for overhaul in January 1982. After training with Carrier Air Wing 2, she became the flagship for Battle Group Bravo in 1984, serving at Gonzo Station in the North Arabian Sea. After carrying out Team Spirit exercises on March 21, a nuclear-powered Soviet submarine accidentally surfaced under the aircraft carrier, requiring her to head to Subic Bay in the Philippines for repairs. She was awarded another Battle Efficiency “E” in 1985.

USS Kitty Hawk spent 1985 through 1987 conducting her second and third consecutive fatality-free deployments. The aircraft carrier earned more awards during this time, the Navy Expeditionary Medal and the Meritorious Unit Commendation. She underwent overhaul as part of the Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) in early 1988.

Over the next few years, the USS Kitty Hawk was appointed Naval Air Force Pacific’s “ready carrier.” She supported the Marines off the coast of Somalia in 1992 as part of Operation Restore Hope. The carrier then headed to the Persian Gulf for Operation Southern Watch in response to Iraqi violations of UN sanctions.

In 1998, the USS Kitty Hawk had her homeport moved to Yokosuka, Japan, replacing the USS Independence as the only permanently forward-deployed American aircraft carrier. When the Independence was decommissioned on September 30, the USS Kitty Hawk became the second oldest active warship in the U.S. Navy.

The USS Kitty Hawk took part in Exercise Tandem Thrust off the coast of Guam in the spring of 1999. She returned to the Persian Gulf to enforce the No-Fly Zone over Iraq, her aircraft flying over 8,800 sorties in 116 days.

USS Kitty Hawk participated in a number of exercises around the turn of the millennium – Exercise Foal Eagle, Exercise Annual Ex 11G and Exercise Cobra Gold. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the aircraft carrier headed to the North Arabian Sea to support Operation Enduring Freedom as the staging base for U.S. Special Forces.

After more fleet exercises, the USS Kitty Hawk was deployed to support the Global War on Terrorism. She headed back to the Persian Gulf to take part in Operation Southern Watch and Operation Iraqi Freedom for 104 days before returning to Yokosuka for dry docking.

In 2005 and 2006, USS Kitty Hawk made a number of ports of call, including Sydney, Guam, Hong Kong and Thailand. During fleet exercises near Okinawa on October 26, 2006, the fleet was surprised by a Chinese Song class submarine that had shadowed them before surfacing five miles away.

The USS Kitty Hawk took part in exercises and made more ports of call around the world before she was retired on January 31, 2009 and was decommissioned on May 12, 2009 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington. There are plans for her to become a museum ship alongside the USS North Carolina in Wilmington, North Carolina.

The use of asbestos-containing materials was common in shipbuilding components for much of the early 20th Century. However, because of their asbestos exposure onboard ship and in the shipyards, smany Navy veterans are at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma .

Sources include:

John Hedley-Whyte and Debra R Milamed, "Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences," Ulster
Med. J. 77(3):191-200 (Sep 2008)
Naval Historical Center, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships–USS Kitty Hawk II <

U.S. Navy, A Brief History of Aircraft Carriers – USS Kitty Hawk