John F Kennedy (CV 67) - Naval Cruise Book

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DEDICATION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL MESS DECK Any ship can be an impersonal place. Especially one with a population the size of a small city. Those areas where people congregate when not working have the ability to lend a sense of personality that give mere places a feeling of life, it was with this concern for surrounding and its impact that the after mess decks were dedicated to the memory of President Kennedy. In large part this pleasant place of remove was con- ceived of Supply Officer CDR. Charles E. Smith. He journeyed to the Kennedy Library. Massachusettes where he collected a series of photographs reflecting the president as a man of family at work and at play. As you look up from a meal in the Presidential EDF there is no avoiding the feeling that in many ways all of our lives are pictured here. Dedicated February 18. 1983 by former Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce D. Cargill and CDR Smith (left). Among the first visitors. ADM Jerry O. Tuttle (lower left). He was soon followed by thousands more.

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A GLIMPSE OF THE PAST A Collosus is Born October 22. 1964 Since its first keel plates were laid down on an October morning in 1964, the USS John F. Kennedy grew weld by weld and deck by deck to its full enormity — five city blocks in length. 252 feet across the flight deck and to the height of a 23-story building. The keel for the USS John F. Kennedy was laid October 22, 1964. about six months after the $188,500,000 contract was awarded by the Navy. The USS John F. Kennedy spent the first six months of iu construction period inclined on Shipway 8 of the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company because the nuclear aircraft carrier Enterpise was being refueled and overhauled in the building dock known as Shipway 1 1. On May 15, 1965. the Enterprise work was completed in Shipway 1 1. At that time, the Kennedy was no more than a 260-foot long, 4,000-ton steel box which was termed a structural enclosure. After its successful launching from Shipway 8. shipyard tugs floated the section about 400 yards up the James River into Shipway 1 1 . Here the building drama continued to unfold in a day-by-day, month-by-month spec- tacle. By the fall of 1965, the giant carrier towered above the top of the shipway. and by early 1 966. the overall length of the carrier could be clearly seen. The first steel for the flight deck was welded into place in the summer of 1 966 and work was begun on the island structure later that same year. Finally, on July 30. 1968, USS John F. Kennedy was taken to sea for trials and testing before her delivery and commissioning in 1968. Some 30.000 spectators gathered at Shipway 1 1 . Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, to witness the launching of the Navy ' s newest aircraft carrier. President Lyndon B. Johnson, delivering the principal address, was joined on the podium by members of the Kennedy family, including sponsor Miss Caroline Bouvier Kennedy, Matron of Honor Mrs. John F. Kennedy, and a distinguished list of military and civilian dignitaries. Just seconds before nine year-old Caroline Kennedy broke the bottle of champagne across the bow of the ship, three 10-foot tall letters JFK reproduced from the p r$onal signature of John F. Kennedy — lit the port and starboard sides of the carrier ' s bow. As the bottle of champagne crashed across the bow with Caroline ' s swift blow, the ship floated free from the keel blocks which had supported it during its years of » nstruction. Hull 577 was now the mighty aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, moving slowly on its first voyage ' — a mile-long trip down the James River to the south side of Pier 9.

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THEME OF MEN AND NATIONS Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide. In the strife of Truth and Falsehood, for the good or evil side. J.R. Lowell