USS America (CV-66)
USS America underway on 24 April 1983 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | America |
| Namesake | United States of America |
| Ordered | 25 November 1960 |
| Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding |
| Laid down | 9 January 1961 |
| Launched | 1 February 1964 |
| Sponsored by | Catherine McDonald |
| Christened | 1 February 1964 |
| Acquired | 13 January 1965 |
| Commissioned | 23 January 1965 |
| Decommissioned | 9 August 1996 |
| Reclassified | CV-66, 30 June 1975 |
| Stricken | 9 August 1996 |
| Home port | Norfolk, Virginia |
| Motto | Don't Tread on Me |
| Nickname(s) | The Big "A" |
| Fate | Scuttled after live-fire testing 14 May 2005 |
| Badge | |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement |
|
| Length |
|
| Beam |
|
| Draft |
|
| Installed power | 280,000 hp (210 MW) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph) |
| Complement | 502 officers, 4,684 enlisted |
| Sensors & processing systems | |
| Electronic warfare & decoys | AN/SLQ-32 |
| Armament |
|
| Aircraft carried | about 79 |
USS America (hull number CVA/CV-66) was one of three Kitty Hawk-class supercarriers built for the United States Navy in the 1960s. Commissioned in 1965, she spent most of her career operating in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, but did make three Pacific Ocean deployments serving in the Vietnam War. She also served in the Persian Gulf War's operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
America was the first large aircraft carrier since Operation Crossroads in 1946 to be expended in weapons tests. In 2005, she was scuttled southeast of Cape Hatteras, after four weeks of tests, despite a large protest of former crew members who wanted to see her instituted as a memorial museum. She was the largest warship ever sunk.