Kitty Hawk class aircraft carrier: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The Kitty Hawk class of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy was an incremental improvement on the Forrestal-class vessels. Three were built, all in the first half of the 1960s:

• Kitty Hawk (CV-63) (1961)
• Constellation (CV-64) (1961)
• America (CVA-66) (1965)

The biggest differences from the Forrestals are greater length, and a different placement of elevators; two are forward of the island, with a third at the portside stern.

Each was built at a different shipyard.

Kitty Hawk and Constellation were later updated in an SLEP program; but America was scheduled for a few years later than her sisters, at a time of budget cuts, and was decommissioned in 1996.

The John F. Kennedy (CV-67) is similar, but has enough differences that it is usually placed in its own class.