Laid down by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Corp. 1 January 1961. Name assigned 16 January 1962. Launched 1 February 1964 and commissioned 23 January 1965.
Reclassified as a Multi-purpose Aircraft Carrier (CV-66) on 30 June 1975.
Fate: Decommissioned and stricken on 9 August 1996. Sunk in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Virginia coast, on 14 May 2005, after 25 days of tests consisting of underwater and surface simulated attacks on the ship. These tests were intended to provide valuable data on survivability for the next generation of aircraft carriers.
According to the December 4, 2006 issue of "Navy Times," ex-America was in one piece and sitting on its keel, some 476 miles east of Charleston, SC, and about 400 miles west of Bermuda, and 16,860 feet (5,139 meters) below the surface. This information was obtained by the USS America Carrier Veterans Association on October 30, through a Freedom of Information Act request.
CO - CAPT Leighton "Snuffy" Smith
CO - CAPT Richard "SweetPea" Allen
CO - CAPT James Lair
XO - CAPT Mike Luecke
XO - CAPT Joe Mobley
Dept Head - CDR Jim Bailey
