We are a group of
veterans that served aboard the USS America CV-66 at various times
during her 31 year tour of duty. Since her decommissioning in 1996,
thousands of America, Navy and veterans from other services worked
towards establishing the America as a floating museum dedicated to
Naval Aviation. Unfortunately, the USS America had a higher
calling.
On April 19, 2005, NAVSEA towed America from her berth in Philadelphia into the Atlantic Ocean. Over a period of days the America will be subjected to classified live fire exercises resulting in data analysis for future design considerations regarding crew survivability, hull integrity etc. CV 66 will be the largest ship sunk by the United States Navy.
Scheduled to begin construction during 2007 with delivery on 2014 to the United States Navy, the design of the next carrier class to replace the current Nimitz class super carriers will be directly influenced by the information captured from the upcoming tests on America. This next carrier will be CVN 78, however, it is sometimes referenced by their internal project names, CVN 21, and prior to that, CVN X.