CV63 - Kitty Hawk Class Aircraft Carrier

Conventionally-powered fleet aircraft carrier

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History

The aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk (CV-63) was the first of the last class of conventionally fired aircraft carriers, based on an improved Forestall design, to serve with the U.S. Navy. The Kitty Hawk's keel was laid down in December of 1956 at the New York Shipbuilding Corp. in Camden, NJ. And was launched in December of 1960. The Kitty Hawk entered commissioned service in May 1961 as an attack carrier (CVA) at the Philadelphia Naval Yard.

For the first twelve years of the Kitty Hawk's career the carrier served in a strict attack carrier capacity. In 1973, however, the Kitty Hawk entered overhaul for a refit and was reclassified as a multi-purpose (CV) carrier (the first Pacific-based carrier to be designated.) Most of the upgrades centered around giving the Kitty Hawk a dedicated ASW (anti-submarine warfare) capability. At the same time, modifications were made to the flight deck and catapults to accommodate the new F-14 Tomcat.

Currently, the USS Kitty Hawk is the second oldest commissioned vessel (the oldest remains the 44-gun frigate (4th rate) Constitution, which has been in commissioned service for 200+ years), in the Navy, and is the oldest ship in active service. In addition, with the decommissioning of the JFK (CV-67) in March of 2007, the Kitty Hawk is now the only oil-fired aircraft carrier still in service and is also the only U.S. aircraft carrier homeported outside the United States (The Kitty Hawk was transferred from San Diego to Yokosuka, Japan in 1998.)

The Kitty Hawk is expected to be withdrawn from Yokosuka in 2008 and replaced by the nuclear carrier George Washington (CVN-73.)

Description

General Characteristics:
The Kitty Hawk is 1,063 feet long, has a beam of 130 feet, and draws 37 feet of water. The flight deck measures 1,046 feet by 252 feet. The Kitty Hawk displaces 83,960 tons at full load and her compliment is 155 officers, 2,775 enlisted (ship?s company), and 2,160 enlisted and 320 officers (embarked air wing). The Kitty Hawk top speed is 32 knots, and her cruising speed is 20 knots. The operational range at 30 knots is 4,000 miles while the maximum cruising range is 12,000 miles.

The Kitty Hawk is equipped with 4 aircraft elevators, two located on the right hand edge of the flight deck forward of the island, and two located aft of the island on the left and right edges of the flight deck. The Kitty Hawk features 4 steam-powered catapults and 4 arresting wires. The Kitty Hawk is capable of launching and recovering aircraft simultaneously.

The Kitty Hawk can embark 80+ aircraft, depending on mission requirements. A typical embarked airwing consists of 56 F/A-18 hornet strike fighters, 6 S-3B Viking ASW aircraft, 4 EA-6B Prowler offensive electronic warfare aircraft, 4 E-2C Hawkeye electronic early warning aircraft, 2 ES-3A Shadow electronic warfare (SIGINT) aircraft, 4 SH-60F Seahawk ASW helicopters, and 2 HH-60H Seahawk combat search and rescue aircraft.

Propulsion:
The Kitty Hawk is powered by eight Foster-Wheeler 1,200 psi. (950 degree operating temperature) boilers which drive four Westinghouse steam turbines, producing 280,000 horsepower combined. Propulsion is provided by four shafts.

Electronics:
The Kitty Hawk features an SPS-48E three-dimentional C/D band air search radar, SPS-49(v)5 C/D band long range air search radar surface search radar, a Mk 23 TAS (Target Acquisition System) D band system which serves as the director for the ship?s Sea Sparrow launchers, a SPQ-9B surface search and tracking radar (sea-skimmer capable), an SPS-67 short range G-band surface search and navigation radar, and an SPS-64(v)9 I-band navigation radar.

The carrier?s aircraft management radars include an SPN-41 electronic carrier landing system, an SPN-43A air traffic control and marshalling radar, and an SPN-46 precision approach landing system (PALS.)

Fire control systems include six Mk 95 continuous wave illuminators for the Sea Sparrow launchers and three Mk 91 Sea Sparrow fire control systems.

Command and control systems include the ACDS (Advanced Combat Direction System) Block 1 level 1, the USQ-119E (V) 27 - maritime Global Command and Control System (GCCS-M), Mk 91 Guided Missile command and Control System, and the SSQ-82 electronic emission management system.

Defensive and electronic warfare systems include the Mk 2 mod 2 Ship Self-Defense System, four Mk 36 SRBOC chaff launcher, the SLQ-36 Nixie passive, electro-acoustic torpedo decoy system, and the SSTDS (Surface Ship Torpedo Defense System.)

Armament:
The Kitty Hawk is armed two Mk 29 Sea Sparrow Guided Missile Launch Systems, two RAM (Rolling Airframe Missile) systems, and two Mk 15 Phalanx 20mm CIWS (Close In Weapon System.)