The KITTY HAWK was commissioned in 1961 and will stop in Pearl Harbor en route to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington state to be decommissioned. The KITTY HAWK's aircraft flew combat missions in Vietnam and Iraq. The carrier had a brief appearance in the sci fi movie THE FINAL COUNTDOWN starring Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen and Katharine Ross. The carrier also collided with a Soviet submarine--both vessels reportedly carried nuclear weapons. It will be replaced in Japan by the nuclear-powered USS GEORGE WASHINGTON.
A group based in Wilmington, North Carolina has expressed an interest in having the aircraft carrier be converted to a floating museum next to the battleship USS NORTH CAROLINA. India had also expressed an interest in buying the KITTY HAWK to serve in the Indian navy at one time.
