The history of the USS America (CV-66) is as much about the demise of a ship as it is about the lessons it left behind. Commissioned in 1965, America was a product of Cold War fantasies. She had originally been conceived as a nuclear-powered Enterprise-class carrier, but perpetually shifting budgets left her instead in the Kitty Hawk-class.
For thirty-three years, she served as a floating airstrip around the world, from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf, for eight battle stars and a hard-won reputation. More than 13,000 combat sorties were launched from her decks with no enemy fire claiming a single aircraft—a record shared by few carriers.
Following retirement in 1996, most of the veterans had hoped the ship would be preserved as a museum. The Navy, however, had other plans. America was selected in 2005 for one of the most unconventional and ambitious naval experiments ever. A SinkEx, a live-fire exercise, this exercise would uncover how much a contemporary supercarrier could tolerate. Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Nathman, at the time put it all into one sentence: “America will make one final and vital contribution… her sacrifice will help build the carriers of tomorrow.”
The test was unprecedented. America was led out deep into the Atlantic, unarmed and unfueled, and then purposefully attacked with the type of weaponry she would encounter in conflict. Bombs, torpedoes, and missiles pounded her for weeks. It was not to knock her out of commission promptly but to see how a carrier’s system, hull, and structure behaved under persistent attack. What transpired surprised even the Navy engineers.
America soaked up punishment that would have wrecked nearly any other ship. Her staggered-hull construction, which permitted incoming shells to chew through alternating bands of metal and space, diverted the impacts again and again. The size and weight of the ship maditer virtually impossible to cripple. As naval engineers subsequently accounted for, she absorbed more than even World War II armored-plated battleships could have handled.
But even the best ship had its limitations. Weeks of incessant pounding, and America still would not sink. Not until the Navy boarding teams had to board her and place explosive charges within her hull was she finally sunk. Only then did she sink into the depths, lying on the ocean floor almost 17,000 feet below. She is still the only contemporary American aircraft carrier ever purposely sunk in an experiment, and much of what they discovered is still classified today.
The experiment challenged strengths and weaknesses alike. It demonstrated how resilient carriers are, but it also indicated that survivability cannot always be assumed. The results directly impacted future carrier design, like the Ford-class. Those ships also underwent their shock testing, weathering massive underwater bombs that demonstrated they could continue to fight even against harsh environments.
“We designed these carriers to withstand the worst,” Captain Brian Metcalf explained, referring to the convergence of engineering, computer simulation, and water-based experimentation that went into their construction.
But survivability takes more than heavy steel. The America test also confirmed the value of layered protection, damage control, and the work of the whole Carrier Strike Group. A carrier is no solitary warrior—there are destroyers, cruisers, submarines, and aircraft that escort the flagship. Electronic warfare equipment, sophisticated radar, interceptors, and directed-energy weapons now augment the carriers, prolonging the umbrella far beyond the ship itself.
The sinking of USS America marked a turning point. It demonstrated that supercarriers, as big and vulnerable as they seem, are much more difficult to sink than most people think. On the other hand, it served as a reminder that no ship is invulnerable.
As one Navy veteran had best described, given enough time and firepower, even the mightiest carrier could be vanquished. The lasting lesson is a straightforward one but an emphatic one: survival at sea is not a fixed state but a developing goal, one that requires constant creativity and adjustment.