Kitty Hawk class aircraft carrier

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Kitty Hawk class supercarrier Class Overview
Class Type	Supercarrier
Class Name	In honor of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
Preceded By	Forestal-class supercarrier
Succeeded By	CVN-65 USS Enterprise, Nimitz-class supercarriers
Ships of the Class
CV-63 – USS Kitty Hawk, CV-64 – USS Constellation, CVA-66 – USS America, CV-67 – USS John F. Kennedy

The Kitty Hawk class supercarriers of the United States Navy were an incremental improvement on the Forrestal-class vessels. Four were built, all in the 1960s:

The biggest differences from the Forrestals are greater length, and a different placement of elevators; two are forward of the island, with a third at the portside stern. The movement of the #4 elevator from the forward to the after end of the angle made it useful for aircraft movement, since the forward-end elevator was useless as it was in both the landing path and in the launch path of the #3 and #4 catapults.

Each was built at a different shipyard.

Kitty Hawk and Constellation were later updated in an SLEP program; but America was scheduled for a few years later than her sisters, at a time of budget cuts, and was decommissioned in 1996. America was in very poor condition when she was decommissioned, and therefore despite her historical significance was not held as a donation asset. She was expended as a live-fire target and sunk on 14 May 2005.

John F. Kennedy (CV-67) is similar, but has enough differences that it is often placed in its own sub-class.

Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier
Kitty Hawk | Constellation | America

John F. Kennedy (Improved Kitty Hawk)-class aircraft carrier
John F. Kennedy

List of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy

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