The former John F. Kennedy (CV 67), built at Newport News Shipbuilding and commissioned in 1968, has completed its final journey from Philadelphia to Brownsville, Texas, where it will be dismantled.

During the ship’s illustrious history, it conducted multiple tours during a period of rising tension in the Middle East and North Africa, often while under surveillance of ships from the Soviet Union.

After the September 2001 terrorist attacks, Kennedy and its battle group established air security along the mid-Atlantic and later deployed to the Middle East in support of combat operations.

The ship was decommissioned in 2007 after 39 years of service. Today, a new generation of Newport News shipbuilders continues work on its namesake, John F. Kennedy (CVN 79).

“Ex-John F. Kennedy will always be remembered as a symbol of enduring freedom and a beacon of hope and peace during difficult times in our nation,” said Rear Adm. Bill Greene, Director, Surface Ship Maintenance, Modernization and Sustainment, in a Navy news release.