Kitty Hawk-class Aircraft Carrier

The Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carriers were a class of four conventionally powered supercarriers that served in the United States Navy from 1961 to 2018. They were based on the preceding Forrestal-class carriers, but with major improvements througout the ship. The arrangement of elevators and the island position were changed; the ships were built with defensive missile batteries instead of guns. Four were built, all in the 1960s, USS Kitty Hawk, USS Constellation, USS America, and USS John F. Kennedy. The Kitty Hawk was decommissioned in 2008 and replaced by the Nimitz-class supercarrier USS Lexington.

Specifications

 * Type: Supercarrier (Hull designation symbol CV)
 * Service Period: 1961-2018
 * Characteristics:
 * Length (Overall): 1069 feet (325.83 meters)
 * Length (Waterline): 990 feet (301.75 meters)
 * Beam (Extreme): 282 feet (85.95 meters)
 * Beam (Waterline): 130 feet (39.63 meters)
 * Draft: 38 feet (11.58 meters)
 * Displacement: 60,933 tons (Standard); 81,780 tons (Full Load)
 * Crew: 5,624
 * Propulsion: Westinghouse geared steam turbines, eight Foster Wheeler steam boilers, four shafts; 280,000 shp (210 MW)
 * Range: 12,000 nautical miles (22,224 kilometers)
 * Speed: 33 knots (61.12 km/hr)
 * Sensor Suite
 * AN/SPS-48E 3D Air Search Radar
 * AN/SPS-49(V)5 2D Air Search Radar
 * Mk.23 Target Acquisition Radar
 * AN/SPN-41 Landing Aid Radar
 * AN/SPN-43A/C Air Traffic Control Radar x 2 - replaced by AN/SPN-46
 * Mk.91 NSSM Guidance Systems x 3
 * Mk.95 Radars x 3
 * Countermeasures
 * AN/SLQ-25A Nixie torpedo countermeasures system
 * AN/SLQ-32(V)4 Electronic Warfare Suite
 * AN/SLQ-49 Chaff Buoy Decoy System
 * Mk.36 Mod 12 SBROC
 * Armament
 * 4 x 20mm Vulcan Phalanx CIWS
 * 3 x Mk.29 NSSM Launchers
 * Aircraft Carried: 70-90 fixed wing aircraft and helicopters
 * Aircraft Supported (2012): Grumman F-14E Supercat, F/A-18C/D Hornet, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, E-2C Hawkeye, EA-6B/C Prowler, EA-18G Growler, S-3 Viking, C-2B Greyhound, MH-60R/S Seahawk

Unit Run

 * USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) - (1961–2009) - replaced by USS Lexington, became a museum ship in Pensacola, Florida
 * USS Constellation (CV-64) - (1961–2003) - replaced by USS Ronald Reagan, scrapped in 2018
 * USS America (CV-66) - (1965–2003) - Sunk as a target in 2005
 * USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) - (1967–2018) - replaced by USS John F. Kennedy, became a museum ship in Newport, Rhode Island.