{"id":42702,"date":"2025-02-04T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/?p=42702"},"modified":"2025-09-29T20:57:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T18:57:11","slug":"us-aircraft-carrier-jfk-one-name-two-generations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/us-flugzeugtraeger-jfk-ein-name-zwei-generationen\/","title":{"rendered":"US aircraft carrier \"JFK\" - one name, two generations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The famous US aircraft carrier,<\/strong> the \"John F. Kennedy\" (CV-67), has embarked on her final journey to be scrapped. Plans to turn the veteran into a floating museum have failed for cost reasons, but the story continues.<\/p>\n

\""JFK"
\"JFK\" in better times 2003 Photo: US Navy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From 16 January, three tugs towed the \"Big John\" from its anchorage off Philadelphia down the east coast of the USA to the Gulf of Mexico in Brownsville, Texas. The cutting torches have been waiting for the Hulk there since 28 January 2025. Like the original namesake of the USS \"Kitty Hawk\" class, the carrier was sold to the recycling company International Shipbreaking Limited for the symbolic sum of one US cent. There, for example, the valuable scrap metal is put to new uses in shipbuilding.<\/p>\n

US aircraft carrier CV-67: Farewell to a legend<\/h3>\n

The \"John F. Kennedy\" (75,000 tonnes) sailed for the US Navy from 1968 until its early decommissioning in 2007 and waited 17 years for further use. Still without a nuclear reactor, the carrier completed a total of 18 missions during her career, including Desert Shield (1990) and Desert Storm (1991). In 2005, the navy abandoned plans for a necessary overhaul for cost reasons and announced the decommissioning.<\/p>\n

\"JFK"
JFK\" and in the background USS \"Roosevelt\" of the Nimitz class, which has been in service since 1975. Photo: US Navy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the scrapping of the last conventional US aircraft carrier<\/strong> an era ends. But the tradition lives on: the USS \"John F. Kennedy\" returns as a modern carrier and second ship of the Gerald R. Ford class.<\/p>\n

CVN-79: The US Navy's next carrier<\/h3>\n

The successor to the name \"John F. Kennedy\" (100,000 tonnes) was christened at the Huntington Ingalls Industries - Newport News Shipbuilding shipyard in Virginia in December 2019 and is scheduled to enter service in 2025, one year later than planned. CVN stands for Aircraft Carrier Nuclear Propulsion. The godmother was President Kennedy's daughter, former US ambassador Caroline Kennedy. Since the first steel cut in February 2011, more than 5,000 shipbuilders have been involved in the construction of the \"Kennedy\".<\/p>\n

\"USS
USS \"Gerald R. Ford\" (CVN-78) in service since 2017. Photo: US Navy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

US aircraft carriers and defence spending: A comparison<\/h3>\n

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), defence spending in Germany as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) was just 1.4% (\u20ac 53.6 billion) in 2022. In the USA, according to Statista, the share of military expenditure in GDP was continuously well above 3.3% (\u20ac 880.5 billion in 2023) in the period from 2008 to 2023.<\/p>\n

The question remains as to what Germany could have had for armed forces and therefore also flagstaffs in the navy if politicians had invested more in defence since Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 at the latest. In the past 10 years, it is estimated that several hundred billion euros in investment funds could have been made available. Then there would have been no need for the turnaround with the special assets or the current discussion about war capability. Unfortunately, President Trump is probably right: we in Germany have also lived at the expense of the USA when it comes to security.<\/p>\n

The next German government will have to fix it.<\/p>\n