USS Constellation (CV-64)

USS Constellation (CV-64)
USS Constellation in April 2003
History
United States
NameConstellation
NamesakeUSS Constellation
Awarded1 July 1956
BuilderBrooklyn Navy Yard
CostUS$264.5 million
Laid down14 September 1957
Launched8 October 1960
Acquired1 October 1961
Commissioned27 October 1961
Decommissioned6 August 2003
ReclassifiedCV-64, 30 June 1975
Stricken2 December 2003
Identification
Nickname(s)Connie
FateScrapped, 10 May 2017
Badge
General characteristics
Class & typeKitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier
Displacement
  • 61,981 short tons (56,228 t) light
  • 82,538 short tons (74,877 t) full load
  • 20,557 short tons (18,649 t) dead
Length
  • 1,088 ft (332 m) overall
  • 990 ft (300 m) waterline
Beam
  • 282 ft (86 m) extreme
  • 130 ft (40 m) waterline
Draft39 ft (12 m)
Propulsioneight boilers, four steam turbine engines, totaling 280,000 shp (210 MW)
Speed34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Complement3,150 – Air Wing: 2,480
Armament
  • 2 × Sea Sparrow missile launchers
  • 3 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS guns,
  • Formerly: Terrier surface-to-air missile systems.
Aircraft carried72 (approx)

USS Constellation (CVA-64/CV-64) was a Kitty Hawk-class supercarrier and the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the "new constellation of stars" on the flag of the United States. One of the fastest ships in the Navy, as proven by her victory during a battlegroup race held in 1985, she was nicknamed "Connie" by her crew and officially as "America's Flagship".

The contract to build Constellation was awarded to the New York Naval Shipyard on 1 July 1956, and her keel was laid down 14 September 1957 at the New York Navy Yard. She was christened and launched 8 October 1960, sponsored by Mary Herter (wife of Secretary of State Christian Herter). Constellation was delivered to the Navy 1 October 1961, and commissioned on 27 October 1961, with Captain T. J. Walker in command. At that time, she had cost about US$264.5 million. Constellation was the last conventional U.S. aircraft carrier (as of January 2021) to be built at a yard other than Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company. Constellation was scrapped at Brownsville, Texas, in 2015–2017.