Kitty Hawk is decommissioned

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) The U.S. aircraft Kitty Hawk was decommissioned in Bremerton, Wash., on Saturday after 47 years in service, including a nearly 10-year mission in Japan.

About 2,0000 people attended the decommissioning ceremony on the hangar deck of the U.S. Navy's last conventionally powered carrier.

The 82,000-ton carrier was stationed at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in August 1998. It was relieved last May by the 102,000-ton nuclear-powered George Washington.

The Kitty Hawk took part in numerous key U.S. military operations after entering service in 1961, including the bombing of Hanoi during the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq in 2003.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, the carrier was sent to the Arabian Sea and supported operations in Afghanistan.