India Interested in the Kitty Hawk (CV-63)? What?

Wanshan commented: “whether Japan will accept basing a nuclear powered carrier on her sovereign territory.”

Quite a while ago, Japan agreed to allow a CVN to replace Kitty Hawk in Yokosuka.

http://www.navycompass.com/news/newsview.asp?c=218409

“Friday, June 29, 2007
Adm. Robert Willard, commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet discussed the shift of emphasis from the Atlantic to the Pacific Fleet and the Navy’s evolving maritime strategy during a breakfast meeting in San Diego June 21.
…
“Willard spoke specifically about Japan, indicating he lived there on two previous occasions and that he appreciates the friendship that exists between the two nations, and the close nature of the relationship between the two navies.

He also said he appreciated Japan’s willingness to serve as the homeport of a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier beginning next year.

“There are a lot of issues between the U.S. and Japan, not the least of which is the USS George Washington (CVN 73), the nuclear-powered carrier is headed to Japan next year; the Japanese have been gracious enough to be willing to host,” Willard said.”

Hey, great you found that, I was wondering about it. Thanks!

For example……..:rolleyes:

Broncho is exactly right. The Indian navy has had pilots training with the USN at Pensacola since 2005.

Odd that you didn’t know that. After all, if your previous claims are to be believed, you have all sorts of inside knowledge.

Pilot training with USN till gorky comes….

With no catapult fighters? What sort of useful experience will the IN get that it doesn’t already have, from decades of operating carriers? How will it be relevant to their planned future operations?

The advantage of Trenton is that the IN has never operated any kind of dock landing ship, & the experience gained is new. Doesn’t apply to Kitty Hawk. Set against that are the multiple negatives listed here, e.g. crew size, size of ship compared to docks, irrelevant catapults. Only positive (& that’s a minor one) is the arresting gear, which India used to have on a carrier, but hasn’t used since the Sea Hawks were retired. Not worth getting a bloody great carrier just for practice in operating arresting gear. There are cheaper & easier ways of learning that.

For example……..:rolleyes:

A Chinese carrier, given the current lack of organic fixed-wing aviation expertise within the PLAN, will basically provide the PLAN with a training platform during peacetime and a Distinguished Service Medal for a US Navy submariner in wartime.

Unicorn

I’m sure it would rate a “Navy Cross”…..

Very interesting idea! As a matter of fact it could be a hot transfer just like the ex-USS Trenton. India could even lease the ship on a short-term bases. That way she would gain experience with a large carrier and wouldn’t have to wait years for the Vikramaditya or forthcoming Project 71 Carriers. Sounds great……….:D

With no catapult fighters? What sort of useful experience will the IN get that it doesn’t already have, from decades of operating carriers? How will it be relevant to their planned future operations?

The advantage of Trenton is that the IN has never operated any kind of dock landing ship, & the experience gained is new. Doesn’t apply to Kitty Hawk. Set against that are the multiple negatives listed here, e.g. crew size, size of ship compared to docks, irrelevant catapults. Only positive (& that’s a minor one) is the arresting gear, which India used to have on a carrier, but hasn’t used since the Sea Hawks were retired. Not worth getting a bloody great carrier just for practice in operating arresting gear. There are cheaper & easier ways of learning that.

A Chinese carrier, given the current lack of organic fixed-wing aviation expertise within the PLAN, will basically provide the PLAN with a training platform during peacetime and a Distinguished Service Medal for a US Navy submariner in wartime.

Unicorn

Let chinese navy first figure out how to use a frigate properly in the open ocean then we can think about them actually building or being capable of operating one…:rolleyes: . Who said USN will protest some piddly little chinese a/c?? Including the amphibious assault ships (tarawa, wasp) USN has about 22 carriers in service. :diablo:

China wouldn’t like such a thing.
And rightly so I guess, even though you don’t ask your enemy what he likes or not.

That’s why China will respond by building its own carriers and when the US protests, China will show them the finger.

Dreamers………..:rolleyes:

Very interesting idea! As a matter of fact it could be a hot transfer just like the ex-USS Trenton. India could even lease the ship on a short-term bases. That way she would gain experience with a large carrier and wouldn’t have to wait years for the Vikramaditya or forthcoming Project 71 Carriers. Sounds great……….:D

That was CVN-74 John C Stennis, which was in for some refit work.

The photos are of the USN facility at Bremerton, Washington… which handles both mothballed ships and active ships needing rework.

Bremerton handles the Pacific Fleet ships, while Norfolk, Virginia (and other east-coast facilities) handle Atlantic Fleet ships (like CV-59 Forrestal, CV-60 Saratoga, and CV-67 John F. Kennedy).

from Wiki-waki:

CV-59:
Forrestal was decommissioned 11 September 1993 at Pier 6E in Philadelphia, and was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. After being stricken, ex-Forrestal was heavily stripped to support the rest of the carrier fleet. In 1999, the USS Forrestal Museum Inc. began a campaign to obtain the ship from the Navy via donation, for use as a museum, to be located in Baltimore, but this plan was not successful. The Navy removed the ship from donation hold in 2004 and redesignated it for disposal. According to the NVR, her final status is “donated for use as fishing reef.” In 2007, the ship is currently being environmentally prepared for sinking as an artificial reef. Due to elements of the “Forrestal” design having led directly to current aircraft carrier design, the ship will be donated to a State and sunk in a deep water reef, for fishery propagation, so that it is inaccessible to divers. The date for the sinking has not yet been announced.

CV-60:
Saratoga was decommissioned at the Naval Station, Mayport, Florida, on 20 August 1994, and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. She was towed to Philadelphia in May 1995, then, upon deactivation of the Philadelphia Navy Yard in August 1998, to Newport, Rhode Island. There, she was first placed on donation hold, then her status was changed to “disposal as an experimental ship”, and finally she was returned to donation hold on 1 January 2000. While a hulk at Newport, ex-Saratoga, like her sisters, has been extensively stripped to support the active carrier fleet. There is an active and strongly supported effort to make her a museum ship in North Kingstown.

Saratoga received one battle star for service in the Vietnam War.

CV-61:
Ranger was decommissioned on 10 July 1993, and is at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, Washington. As of 2004, a nonprofit organization is working to bring ex-Ranger to Portland, Oregon to serve as a naval and aerospace museum, educational center, and a setting for special events.

Ranger earned 13 battle stars for service in Vietnam.

USS Ranger Memorial Association website: http://www.ussrangercv61.org/scuttlebutt/index.php

CV-62:
Independence was decommissioned in ceremonies at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, on 30 September 1998. Independence’s commissioning pennant was hauled down 39 years, 9 months and 20 days after it was first hoisted, and the “Don’t Tread on Me” First Navy Jack was transferred to the Navy’s next oldest active ship, Kitty Hawk (CV-63).
After decommissioning, Independence remained in mothballs for five and a half years before being struck on March 8, 2004. During her time in mothballs, ex-Independence was said to have been heavily stripped to support the active carrier fleet, especially the Kitty Hawk-class carriers. Her port anchor and both anchor chains were used on the new Nimitz-class carrier USS George H W Bush. The recycling of parts and the poor material condition of Independence at the time she was retired made a strong argument against retaining her as a potential museum ship. Her sisters Saratoga and Ranger were retained, and remain on donation hold as of 2006. In April, 2004, Navy officials identified her as one of 24 decommissioned ships available to be sunk as artificial reefs.

CV-64:
After 41 years of commissioned service, the USS Constellation was decommissioned at the Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego on 7 August 2003. The carrier was towed, beginning 12 September 2003, to the ghost fleet at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, Washington. On 2 December 2003, the ship was stricken (formally removed from the Naval Vessel Register) when Admiral Vern Clark decided against expenditure of maintenance costs. Constellation is currently in Reserve Category X, meaning it receives no maintenance or preservation, and only security against fire, flooding, and pilferage is provided. Reserve Category X applies to ships that have been stricken and are awaiting disposal by scrap, sale to foreign countries, as a designated target in a live fire exercise, memorial, or donation, as applicable.

CV-66:
Originally scheduled to undergo Navy SLEP in the late 1990s, CV-66 fell victim to budget cuts and was retired early by the U.S. Navy. She had suffered a major power-plant failure during her last cruise – (“parts went up the flues”, said a crewman). She was decommissioned 9 August 1996 and was stricken from the naval register. Thereafter she was moored at the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though already decommissioned, she was awarded the 1995 Battenberg Cup in recognition of her crew’s achievements in her last full year in service.

America was chosen to be a live-fire test and evaluation platform in 2005, to aid the design of future aircraft carriers. There was some objection to a ship being named for the nation being deliberately sunk at sea, and a committee of her former crew members and other supporters attempted to save the ship for use as a museum ship. Their efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. On 25 February 2005 a ceremony to salute the USS America and her crew was held at the ship’s pier in Philadelphia, attended by former crew members and various dignitaries. She departed the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility on 19 April 2005 to conduct the aforementioned tests.

The experiments lasted approximately four weeks. The Navy battered America with explosives, both underwater and above the surface, watching from afar and through monitoring devices placed on the vessel. These explosions were designed to simulate attacks by torpedoes, cruise missiles and perhaps a small boat suicide attack like the one that damaged the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.

After the completion of the tests, America was sunk in a controlled scuttling on 14 May 2005 at approximately 1130, although the sinking was not publicized until six days later. At the time, no warship of that size had ever been sunk, and effects were closely monitored; theoretically the tests would reveal data about how supercarriers respond to battle damage. The ship rests 16,860 ft. below the Atlantic Ocean surface, roughly 250 miles off the North Carolina coast.

Scuttling location

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request from former USS America veterans at CVN78.com, the U.S. Navy released the exact location where USS America was sunk. The location is 33°09′09″N, 71°39′07″W, around 250 miles (400 km) southeast of Cape Hatteras. The wreck lies in 2,810 fathoms (16,860 feet.)

CV-67:
Kennedy was decommissioned on March 23, 2007 at Mayport, FL, 18 months short of 40 years service in the United States Navy. The Kennedy was towed to Norfolk, Va on 26 July 2007. The Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia is the intended storage berth for the ship. After several months of assurances, river pilots and docking masters changed their minds just days before departure from Florida. They decided pier 4 at the old Navy Yard needed to have a shoaled area near pier 4 dredged before the voyage up the Delaware River could begin.

The Kennedy arrived at Naval Station Norfolk 31 July on a brief “Port Visit” until her final berth is made ready.

Forrestal and Saratoga

Obi Wan Russell…when was those pictures taken because..google earth shows only 3 carriers.Whats the 4th [on the extreme right]?

The three are..Independence,constellation ranger[from left]

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More likely they will keep her in the reserve for 10 years then mothball her.

Talking of other american aircraft carriers does any one have pics of them in storage

eg, the forristal, America, Constellation.

These any good?

While it would be interesting seeing MIG-29s and perhaps Su-33s operating off her……I dont put too much stock in this report……

Just for imagination purposes…I think it would be cool to have 60 odd Mig-29Ks + NLCAs operating from the kitty and F-35s from the STOBARs..

That day we will bow to Scooter for having prophesised it loooong back..:eek: :diablo:

P.S. Just kidding..no offence mate…

More likely they will keep her in the reserve for 10 years then mothball her.

Talking of other american aircraft carriers does any one have pics of them in storage

eg, the forristal, America, Constellation.

If you have some scuba gear and a water proof camera…then you can see CV-66 in “storage”. 😀

More likely they will keep her in the reserve for 10 years then mothball her.

Talking of other american aircraft carriers does any one have pics of them in storage

eg, the forristal, America, Constellation.

It could be put to good use as a floating island for Indias diplomacy. Let India use it to claim a bit more of the Indian Ocean.

Actually CVF (no catapults) designs may be a good idea if IN decides to drop the IAC-II and convert it to something bigger. But then you end up with 3 classes of A/C with 1 of each..:p .