The last conventionally-powered aircraft carrier commissioned by the US Navy arrived at a scrap yard in Texas on Tuesday.
The "Battle Cat" began its journey to the scrapyard in January at a naval base.
The aircraft carrier, which is too large to travel through the Panama Canal, was moved around South America and to Texas.
After nearly 50 years of service, the Kitty Hawk was retired in 2009, which included testing of new military capabilities, combat operations, race riots, and even a collision with a rival power's submarine.
The last of the Navy's conventional carriers, the first-in-class ship, was taken out of service.
The former Kitty Hawk and the former John F. Kennedy, two conventionally powered Navy aircraft carriers that were retired in 2007, will be scrapped by the Navy.
ISL told Insider that the shipbreaking company agreed to recycle the ship for such a low price because it expected to make money from the sale of scrap.
At times the service history of the carrier Kitty Hawk has been exciting.
After the U-2 Dragon Lady was commissioned into naval service in 1961, the CIA and the Navy worked together to recover the aircraft from the Kitty Hawk.
According to a report by Naval History and Heritage Command, the pilot tested the "carrier suitability" of the spy plane.
The aircraft carrier and its air wing were awarded a presidential unit citation forinflicting extensive damage and destruction to sites and installations vital to the enemy's operations during the Vietnam War.
The carrier remained on station through some of the toughest parts of the war, with the air wing conducting hundreds of strikes and dropping millions of pounds of ordnance on the enemy, but the long deployment took their toll.
There were a number of fights between white and black sailors on the Kitty Hawk. The creation of a program meant to address racial issues on Navy vessels came about after more than 40 sailors were injured in the riots.
Tensions with the Soviet Union increased during the late years of the Cold War.
While the ship was conducting operations in the Sea of Japan, known in South Korea as the East Sea, a Soviet submarine believed to be the Victor I-class nuclear submarine K-314 collided with it.
The incident did not lead to a confrontation between the powers.
The Kitty Hawk replaced the Independence as America's only forward-Deployed carrier in 1998.
After carrying out those responsibilities for 10 years, it left its position in the Pacific to support the two operations. After leaving Japan in 2008, the carrier was retired the following year.
The Kitty Hawk was the last conventionally powered aircraft carrier in its class to be destroyed. A year and a half is how long it will take to disassemble the ship.
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