The US Navy, through the Naval Sea Systems Command, has sold two decommissioned aircraft carriers to a Texas shipbreaking firm for eventual scrapping.
Sold to International Shipbreaking of Brownsville are ex-USS Kitty Hawk and ex-USS John F. Kennedy, the last two conventionally powered aircraft carriers to be operated by the United States.
Following their retirement in the early 2000s, the two carriers were placed in lay-up, with ex-Kennedy at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF) in Philadelphia and ex-Kitty Hawk at the NISMF in Bremerton, Washington. Both ships have since remained at the two facilities.
