USS Kennedy to take shot to the head

[Hulud]

MAYPORT, Fla. - Sailors hung flags and banners and cleaned and removed equipment as they prepared the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy for its last hurrah Friday. "Big John" is being decommissioned after nearly 40 years of service.

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"It's going to be bittersweet," said Lt. Cmdr. Vince U. Webster, the ship's administrative officer. "Happy that a lot of sailors on board will have closure so they can move on to their next career, but sad because this great warship will never be under way again."

The Kennedy launched aircraft into hot spots around the globe during its service, including both Iraq wars. At 1,050 feet long, it carried a crew of about 4,600 and 70 combat aircraft.

Webster, born a month before President Kennedy's assassination in 1963, served two tours on the carrier and asked to come back for the final chapter in the Kennedy's legacy.

The ship was christened in May 1967 by Kennedy's then 9-year-old daughter, Caroline, and entered Navy service the next year.

The warship's in-port cabin was designed by Jacqueline Kennedy and is the only room on a U.S. Navy ship with wood paneling, officials said. Among its pictures is one showing the president sailing with his daughter.

The cabin will be headed to a Navy museum. The carrier will be towed to Philadelphia, where it will be placed on inactive status.

Chief Petty Officer Aaron Shelenberger, 39, plans to retire shortly after the Kennedy is decommissioned.

A native of the Philippines, Shelenberger became a U.S. citizen earlier this month. He sang the national anthem at a naturalization ceremony aboard the Kennedy when it made its final port call in Boston, the home of the 35th president.

"I'm part of history," Shelenberger said. "With the Kennedy, it's special. You are part of the closing of this chapter."

One of two remaining fossil fuel-powered aircraft carriers in the Navy, the ship supported Operation Desert Shield in Iraq in 1990, and was deployed in February 2002 to the North Arabian Sea during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

It also supported Operation Iraqi Freedom in June 2004, and its airwing dropped more than 54,000 pounds of bombs on Iraq.

The Kennedy, based in Florida since 1995, recently served as a training platform for Navy pilots to obtain carrier landing qualification. The Navy suspended the ship's flight operations about a year ago, citing faulty landing equipment.

[Type-R]

and was deployed in February 2002 to the North Arabian Sea during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

I went on this one, I was on a different ship but everytime we pulled into a port the crew from the Kennedy always messed things up for everyone, lol. One of their morons stole some persons car in Crete and got put in jail there.

Good times

[Doppelgänger]

i actually was on the USS Kennedy down in Fl. They had a week where people could come aboard and walk around on it.... cool shit for sure. Well, at least i can say i had been there I still have my souvenir hat somewhere