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USS Kennedy Philadelphia-bound

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

This image provided by the US Navy shows the conventionally powered aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) cruising through the Arabian Gulf during sunrise Nov.3, 2004. Navy dignitaries, elected officials and former crew members were expected to attend a ceremony Friday March 23, 2007 for the decommissioning of the USS John F. Kennedy after 39 years of service. The warship's in-port cabin was designed by Jacqueline Kennedy and is the only room on a U.S. Navy ship with wood paneling, officials said. The ship was christened in May 1967 by Kennedy's then 9-year-old daughter, Caroline, and entered Navy service the next year. (AP Photo/US Navy - Michael Sandberg)

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(AP) - March 19, 2008 -- The deactivated aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy is on its way to a storage yard in Philadelphia.

The Navy says a tugboat is towing the decommissioned ship along the East Coast. Due to weather delays, it should arrive Saturday, passing up the Delaware Bay and River on Friday afternoon.

The carrier will remain in Philadelphia, mothballed, until the Navy decides whether to sell, scrap or use the ship for another purpose. One group wants to turn the ship into a museum in Miami.

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The Kennedy was built in Norfolk, Va., in 1960s and was retired on March 23, 2007, after 38 years of active service.

Plans to tow the ship to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in South Philadelphia were put on hold in July because of concerns about the depth of the water there. The Navy then dredged the area around the pier.

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