Kitty Hawk class
_port_stern_2007.jpg) Kitty Hawk 2006 in front of Australia in rear view |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | Aircraft carrier |
| units | 4 built, 0 in service |
| Namesake | City of Kitty Hawk |
| period of service |
1961 to 2009 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
80,800 ts |
| length |
323.8 m deck, 302 m waterline |
| width |
76.8 m deck, 39.36 m waterline |
| Draft |
10.9 m |
| crew |
3150 nautical + 2480 flight |
| drive |
8 steam boilers, 4 steam turbines, 280,000 shp (210 MW) |
| speed |
30+ kn |
| Armament |
At the beginning RIM-2 Terriers , later Sea Sparrow missiles, Phalanx CIWS cannons |
| Aircraft |
Up to 85 |
The Kitty Hawk class is a class of aircraft carriers in the United States Navy . It consists of four ships, with the fourth unit being heavily modified. These four units are USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) , USS Constellation (CV-64) , USS America (CV-66) and USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) , the latter is in part regarded as a separate class.
history
Construction and modifications
After the USS United States (CVA-58) was the first supercarrier to be demolished shortly after construction began, the Forrestal-class carriers followed in 1955 . These mainly served as a reference for the design of the Kitty Hawk , there were only changes in the size and arrangement of the aircraft elevators between the hangar and flight deck, which have now been adapted to the new angled landing decks and relocated to the positions that are still common today. The visually most striking difference to the earlier girders was the relocation of the deckhouse, known as the "island", from the middle of the ship to the aft section, where the rearmost of the three starboard elevators was usually located. In the Forrestal class it had been found that the angled landing decks made this elevator unusable during flight operations, as aircraft could only reach or leave it by crossing the runway. Therefore, in the Kitty Hawk class, the position of this elevator was exchanged for the island. For the same reason, the only port elevator was moved from its usual position in the middle of the ship to the stern.
The Kitty Hawk class units were laid down between 1956 and 1964. Construction yards were New York Shipbuilding for the first, New York Naval Shipyard for the second, and Newport News Shipbuilding for the third and fourth units. The cost to build was between $ 248 million and $ 277 million. Both the America and especially the Kennedy have been modified, which is why the Kennedy is led by the Navy as a separate class.
Kitty Hawk and Constellation went through a Service Life Extension Program while they were on duty ; America had planned such a service life extension overhaul, but was ultimately saved. The cost of the SLEP at Kitty Hawk in the late 1980s was a planned $ 717 million.
Period of service and whereabouts
From 1961 the units of the Kitty Hawk class came to the fleet. Together with the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) , which was also completed in 1961 , the units were the most modern carriers in the USA until 1975, when the Nimitz- class nuclear-powered units were put into service.
The carriers were decommissioned in 1996 ( America ), 2003 ( Constellation ), 2007 ( John F. Kennedy ) and 2009 ( Kitty Hawk ). Operating costs were approximately $ 141 million per year per unit (as of 1996).
The relatively short service life of America of only around 30 years can be explained by the lack of modernization due to the troop reductions after the end of the Cold War and the very poor condition of the ship at the time of decommissioning. Constellation and Kennedy stayed in service for around 40 years, the type ship Kitty Hawk even 47. The America was sunk as a target ship after its decommissioning in 2005, the Constellation was sold and scrapped in 2015. The use of the other two units has not yet been decided. There are plans for the Kennedy to bring her to Florida as a museum ship. The Kitty Hawk is about to be scrapped.
units
| Surname | Procurement | Keel laying | Launch | Commissioning | RCOH | Decommissioning | home port | Whereabouts / remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) | October 1, 1955 | December 27, 1956 | May 21, 1960 | April 29, 1961 | January 31, 2009 | is located in Bremerton, WA | ||
| USS Constellation (CV-64) | July 1, 1956 | September 14, 1957 | October 8, 1960 | October 27, 1961 | August 7, 2003 | is scrapped in Brownsville, Texas | ||
| USS America (CV-66) | November 25, 1960 | January 9, 1961 | February 1, 1964 | January 23, 1965 | August 9, 1996 | Sunk on May 14, 2005 | ||
| USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) | April 30, 1964 | October 22, 1964 | May 27, 1967 | 7th September 1968 | August 1, 2007 | Reserve fleet / modernized Kitty-Hawk class |
technology
hull
_off_Perth,_Australia,_on_29_April_2003.jpg)
The ships are around 320 meters ( flight deck ) and 300 meters ( waterline ) long and 76 and 40 meters wide, respectively. They displace over 80,000 ts . The draft is just under 10.9 meters.
The most prominent feature, as with all today's aircraft carriers, is the so-called island. This single deckhouse, located on the starboard side, houses all the rooms necessary to control the ship and manage the aircraft and the combat group. The radar and radio antennas are also installed on its roof.
The flight deck is designed in an angled construction, i.e. with a runway angled out of the straight axis. The hangar for around 90 aircraft is located under the flight deck. These are brought to the deck via four elevators located on the deck edges. There are three lifts on the starboard side (two in front of the island, one behind) and the fourth on the port side.
drive
The ships of the Kitty Hawk class are conventionally powered by steam technology. Here, water is heated in eight boilers and drives the four shafts of the ships via four geared turbines . This enables speeds of around 35 knots to be achieved. The range without bunkering is approx. 9,100 nm at a speed of 20 knots.
A nuclear drive was originally planned for the Kennedy , but Congress then refused to provide the additional funds needed for this.
Armament
The porters owned or have a certain armament of their own, but this is more defensive. While the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow can be used not only to launch missiles, but also to attack aircraft, the three close-in-weapon systems of the Phalanx type are only used for close-range defense against missiles.
At the beginning, the Kitty Hawks were equipped with offensive anti-aircraft missiles of the RIM-2 Terrier type. However, due to the imminent decommissioning of this type, this weapon was quickly removed from the carriers. On Constellation , the conversion to Standard Missile 1 took place , but this was also removed shortly afterwards.
Airwing
The ships of the Kitty Hawk class can transport and use up to 90 rotary and fixed wing aircraft . These are mainly combat aircraft, until 2006 a mixture of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat and McDonnell Douglas F / A-18 Hornet ; however, the F-14 has since been decommissioned. In addition, off the deck radar type aircraft Grumman E-2 Hawkeye , ASW airplanes Lockheed S-3 Viking and EW airplanes of the type Grumman EA-6B Prowler . For rescue missions as well as anti-submarine hunting and transport, there are also some Sikorsky SH-60B and F Seahawk helicopters on board.
Mission profile
Since the aircraft carriers are only armed defensively, they are permanently engaged in so-called carrier battle groups . They are protected by cruisers , destroyers , frigates and submarines from air attacks as well as from above and underwater attacks.
A carrier of the Kitty Hawk class was stationed in Yokosuka ( Japan ) in order to avoid the use of a nuclear powered Nimitz carrier there - at least until the Kitty Hawk was decommissioned in 2008 . Units of the class participated in both the Vietnam War and the conflicts in Libya ( Operation Attain Document and Operation El Dorado Canyon 1986) and later in the Second Gulf War . The Kennedy sailed in a combat group with ships from five navies during Operation Enduring Freedom .
Web links
- Kitty Hawk class on globalsecurity.org (English)
Footnotes
- ↑ from: Terzibaschitsch: Seemacht USA, Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn, ISBN 3-86047-576-2 , pages 292, 296
- ↑ Naval Vessel Register entry of the Kennedy ( Memento of October 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- ↑ David and Chris Miller: Modern Warships ; Verlag Stockbauer-Schmidt / Motorbuch-Verlag 1990, ISBN 3-7276-7093-2
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Group has big plans for JFK carrier museum ( Memento from September 17, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ [2]