Decommissioned aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy is slated to leave Philadelphia on Thursday
The 1,052-foot-long ship, which has been housed at the U.S. Navy’s Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility since 2008, is making its final voyage on the way to the scrap heap.
South Philadelphia is slated to be down one very large ship starting Thursday morning.
No, not that one.
The decommissioned aircraft carrier formerly known as the USS John F. Kennedy is scheduled to depart from the Navy Yard early Thursday, marking the start of what will be its final voyage on the way to the scrap heap. The 1,052-foot-long ship, which has been housed at the U.S. Navy’s Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility since 2008, will be dismantled in Brownsville, Texas, following a two-week journey.
The ship was initially set to take its leave of Philadelphia Wednesday morning, but windy conditions delayed its departure. Now, starting about 7:30 a.m. Thursday, it will move along the Delaware River to the Delaware Bay before making its way to the Atlantic Ocean, Navy officials said in a statement. The ship will be visible from waterfronts along its route, the Navy said.
A historic Navy vessel, “Big John,” as the ship is sometimes called, was commissioned in 1968 and served as the Navy’s final conventionally powered aircraft carrier. Today, all American aircraft carriers use nuclear power, whereas the USS JFK was powered by marine diesel fuel.
The ship remained in service for nearly four decades, conducting 18 deployments around the world, including to the Mediterranean, Tyrrhenian, Ionian, Ligurian, Aegean and Adriatic Seas. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the ship was also used in a number of operations during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Following the vessel’s time in the Middle East, the Navy used the USS JFK as a training platform before decommissioning it in August 2007. It arrived in Philadelphia in March 2008 and has remained in the Navy Yard ever since.
Another Navy aircraft carrier has taken over the mantle of the USS John F. Kennedy and is slated to enter service at some point this year.
But as the Navy aircraft carrier prepares to leave town this week, the timing for another famed ship’s departure from South Philadelphia remains uncertain. The SS United States was expected to head out from Pier 82 late last year, but its withdrawal has since been postponed indefinitely as logistical planning for its transport continues.
The SS United States has been in Philadelphia since 1996, and has seen decades of ill-fated attempts at rehabilitation. Now, following the purchase of the ship by Okaloosa County, Fla., last year, it is expected to be sunk into the Florida Panhandle, where it would become the world’s largest artificial reef.