USS Kitty Hawk

Nicknamed "The Battle Cat," the Kitty Hawk was the last conventional carrier in the U.S. Navy, decommissioned in 2009 after nearly five decades of service. She served in Vietnam, in Desert Storm, in Enduring Freedom—always at the front of the fight. For years she was the forward-deployed carrier in Yokosuka, Japan, embodying American commitment in the Pacific. If you sailed on the Kitty Hawk, you were part of the last generation of conventional carrier sailors, and that made you something special.