A Tribute to Supercarrier USS Kitty Hawk: 48 Years of Service to the Nation

The USS Kitty Hawk was decommissioned on January 31, 2009 after 48 years of service to the nation. The supercarrier performed combat operations from the Vietnam War to the Iraq War.

Below is a video tribute to the USS Kitty Hawk from the U.S. Navy:

http://www.navy.mil/AhTV.asp?id=12157

My father, a WWII Navy UDT frogman, took me to the commissioning of the carrier at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1961 when I was a kid. I enlisted in the Navy when I was 17 in 1970 and after Boot Camp I was assigned to the USS Kitty Hawk. I served on the carrier as she performed combat operations off the coast of Vietnam in 1970-1971.

I saw the the Kitty Hawk again when she came back to the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1987 for an overhaul. I was saddened to see the old warship decommissioned, but as a non-nuclear carrier, her time had come.

My hope is that the Kitty Hawk will become a seaport museum as the old carrier has such a long and proud history.

Below is a link to a brief history of the USS Kitty Hawk

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/carriers/histories/cv63-kittyhawk/cv63-kittyhawk.html