USS America (CV 66)

- formerly CVA 66 -
decommissioned -
- sunk as a target -

USS AMERICA was the third KITTY HAWK - class aircraft carrier and the third ship in the Navy to bear the name. Initially commissioned as attack aircraft carrier CVA 66, she was redesignated as multi-purpose aircraft carrier CV 66 on June 30, 1975. Decommissioned on August 9, 1996, the USS AMERICA spend the following years at the Naval Inactive Ships Facility in Philadelphia. On April 19, 2005, the carrier left Philadelphia under tow on its final mission. The AMERICA was towed off the east coast where the ship was finally disposed of during a classified SinkEx.

USS AMERICA never really went through the Navy's Carrier Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) and therefore, the ship was in bad shape during its last years of service. In the early 1990s the AMERICA even had one of her flight deck elevators fall with an S-3B aircraft and several blueshirts on it. Additionally, the carrier suffered steam and fuel leaks and - also in the early 1990s, returning home from deployment - the carrier cut through a Hurricane destroying large parts of the flight deck catwalks.

General Characteristics:	Keel Laid: January 9, 1961
	Launched: February 1, 1964
	Commissioned: January 23, 1965
	Decommissioned: August 9, 1996
	Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Va.
	Propulsion system: eight Steam Boilers
	Main Engines: four Steam Turbine Engines
	Propellers: four
	Blades on each Propeller: five
	Aircraft elevators: four
	Catapults: four
	Arresting gear cables: four
	Length, overall: 1062,5 feet (323.8 meters)
	Flight Deck Width: 252 feet (76.8 meters)
	Area of flight deck: about 4,5 acres
	Beam: 129,6 feet (39.5 meters)
	Draft: 35,8 feet (10.9 meters)
	Displacement: approx. 82,200 tons full load
	Speed: 30+ knots
	Cost: about $400 million (1961)
	Planes: approx. 85
	Crew: Ship: 2,900 Air Wing: 2,480
	Armament: three Mk 29 NATO Sea Sparrow launchers, three 20mm Phalanx CIWS Mk 15

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS AMERICA. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

Click here to view the list.

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Click here to see which USS AMERICA memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS AMERICA Cruise Books:

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Click here to read the history of USS AMERICA

Click here to get a view of the deployments of USS AMERICA

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Accidents aboard USS AMERICA:

Date	Where	Events
June 15, 1979	Adriatic Sea	LT Talcott is lost at sea in an A-7E while AMERICA is participtaing in the US-Italian exercise Tridente.
December 3, 1980	250 miles east of Charleston, SC	USS AMERICA and USS CALOOSAHATCHEE (AO 98) collide during an underway replenishment when the oiler loses rudder control. Despite an emergency breakaway, AMERICA suffers minor damage to a catwalk, a storage compartment and a flight deck safety net rail. But there are no injuries and both ships continue operations.
June 15, 1984	Indian Ocean	While operating in the Indian Ocean, an F-14 aircraft from VF-33 crashes on the flight deck in a Class Alpha accident causing more than $500,000 in damage but no injuries.
May 13, 1989	mid-Atlantic	A fire in the pump room of USS AMERICA kills two sailors and causes minor damage while the ship is in the Atlantic en route to the Mediterranean for a six-month deployment.
August 1990		A steam line burts aboard the USS AMERICA.
March 11, 1994		USS AMERICA suffers an explosion.
August 18, 1998	Philadelphia, Penn.	USS SEATTLE (AOE 3) hit the decommissioned USS AMERICA while leaving a slip in Philadelphia, sustaining minor damage. A civilian harbor pilot, not the SEATTLE's regular pilot, was at the helm during the crash.