page_title: Timeline for aircraft carrier service
section_title: 1960–1969
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline for aircraft carrier service / 1960–1969
caption_attribution_description: The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS America (CVA-66) underway on 31 August 1965. Aircraft parked on her flight deck include nine Douglas A-4 Skyhawk attack planes, four McDonnell F-4B Phantom II fighters and three North American RA-5C Vigilante reconnaissance planes.
context_page_description: Aircraft carriers have their origins during the days of World War I. The earliest experiments consisted of fitting temporary "flying off" platforms to the gun turrets of the warships of several nations, notably the United States and the United Kingdom. The first ship to be modified with a permanent flight deck was the battlecruiser HMS Furious, which initially had a single flying-off deck forward of the original superstructure. Subsequently, she was modified with a separate "landing on" deck aft and later with a full flush deck. Other ships, often liners, were modified to have full flush flight decks, HMS Argus being the first to have such modification begun. Those first faltering steps gave little indication of just how important the aircraft carrier was to prove to be. During the inter-war years, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States built up significant carrier fleets so that by the beginning of World War II, they had 18 carriers between them. The 1940 Battle of Taranto and 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor in retrospect showed the world that the aircraft carrier was to be the most important ship in the modern fleet.
context_section_description: 1960
  Dixmude hulked as an accommodation ship.
  HMS Ocean and HMS Theseus sold for scrap.
  25 January – USS Coral Sea recommissioned.
  May – USS Tarawa decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  21 May – USS Kitty Hawk launched.
  28 July – Foch launched.
  September – Bois Belleau (USS Belleau Wood) returned to US Navy.
  24 September – USS Enterprise launched.
  1 October – Bois Belleau struck.
  8 October – USS Constellation launched.
  21 November – USS Belleau Wood sold for scrap.
  6 December – Ex-HMS Vengeance recommissioned as NAeL Minas Gerais.
  1961
  9 January – USS America laid down.
  4 March – HMS Hercules commissioned as INS Vikrant.
  29 April – USS Kitty Hawk commissioned.
  May – USS Bataan sold for scrap.
  1 July – USS Valley Forge reclassified LPH.
  27 October – USS Constellation commissioned.
  22 November – Clemenceau commissioned.
  25 November – USS Enterprise commissioned; first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
  1962
  7 March – HMAS Sydney recommissioned as fast troop carrier.
  15 March – USS Wright conversion to command and control ship started.
  Mid 1962 – HMS Albion designated as commando carrier.
  August – Indonesia plans invasion of West New Guinea; war plans include sinking of Dutch carrier Karel Doorman using Soviet-supplied bombers with anti-ship missiles, but ceasefire ended the threat.
  1963
  7 January – USS Antietam decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  8 February – Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) test aircraft and pre-Harrier prototype Hawker P.1127 first operates from HMS Ark Royal.
  15 July – Foch commissioned.
  March – La Fayette (USS Langley) returned to USN.
  March – USS Saipan conversion to communications command ship started.
  11 May – USS Wright recommissioned as command and control ship.
  1964
  19 February – USS Langley sold for scrap.
  1 February – USS America launched.
  2 August – Gulf of Tonkin Incident led U.S. to greatly increase its overt role in the Vietnam War.
  1 September – USS Saipan reclassified as Major Communications Relay Ship (AGMR).
  22 October – USS John F. Kennedy laid down.
  1965
  23 January – USS America commissioned.
  8 April – USS Saipan renamed USS Arlington.
  July – HMS Magnificent sold for scrap.
  1966
  HMS Centaur designated as depot ship.
  Béarn decommissioned.
  British 1966 Defence White Paper cancels defense projects such as CVA-01 and begins plans for phased end to UK carrier aviation.
  Dixmude returned to U.S. Navy, sunk as target.
  15 February – USS Midway decommissioned for further modernisation.
  2 May – USS Lake Champlain decommissioned.
  27 July – USS Franklin sold for scrap.
  27 August – USS Arlington recommissioned as communication relay ship.
  1967
  HMS Victorious decommissioned for re-fit, subsequently damaged in a minor fire leading to decision to scrap.
  30 August – USS Cabot loaned to Spain, recommissioned as Dédalo.
  31 March – Béarn sold for scrap.
  27 May – USS John F. Kennedy launched.
  1968
  Arromanches redesignated as a helicopter carrier.
  26 April – HNLMS Karel Doorman decommissioned, placed in reserve, end of Dutch carrier aviation.
  22 June – USS Nimitz laid down
  July – USS Franklin D. Roosevelt decommissioned for modernisation.
  7 September – USS John F. Kennedy commissioned.
  3 October – USS Tarawa sold for scrap.
  15 October – HNLMS Karel Doorman sold to Argentina.
  1969
  1 January – USS Lexington reclassified as a training carrier (CVT).
  13 February – USS Randolph decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  12 March – Ex-HNLMS Karel Doorman recommissioned as ARA Veinticinco de Mayo.
  26 May – USS Franklin D. Roosevelt recommissioned.
  30 June – USS Essex decommissioned.
  July – HMS Victorious sold for scrap.
  1 December – USS Boxer decommissioned; USS Philippine Sea struck.
caption: USS America
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