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JFK will be belle of the ball one last time

In less than a month, she will be gone, decommissioned from the fleet she’s been a part of since 1968.

Full JFK coverage

But for now, she’s still a queen in the midst of her farewell jubilee.

That jubilee began quietly as the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy pulled into her old home port, Norfolk, Va., on Feb. 22. There was no pomp and ceremony — that is reserved for her upcoming visit to Boston, the second stop on the tour.

Until Monday, when she’ll leave Norfolk for the final time, it’s all business. The ship is offloading her “Tilley,” or flight deck crane, used for hoisting aircraft, as well as some of her liberty boats and other items that could be put to use elsewhere in the fleet.

When she returns to her current home port of Mayport, Fla., a decommissioning ceremony will be held March 23. Then JFK will put to sea once more, but the ship will be under tow and bound for Philadelphia, where she will be parked in mothballs.

In between, JFK will spend the next two weeks as the belle of the ball, heading to Boston for a four-day port visit beginning Thursday, where the Kennedy family will have the opportunity to say goodbye.

Sailors are scheduled to visit with homeless veterans and be hosted by the Kennedy Presidential Library. They’ll also be toasted by the Boston Bruins and Celtics, the city’s storied hockey and basketball franchises, each of which will welcome Kennedy’s sailors to a game.

Onboard the ship, Kennedy’s hangar deck will be host to other events, including receptions and a naturalization ceremony presided over by Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat and the younger brother of the slain president for whom the ship is named.

Commissioned in 1968, JFK is the last conventionally powered aircraft carrier built by the United States. She will be survived for one year by the Navy’s other oil-fired carrier, the Japan-based Kitty Hawk, which is to be decommissioned in 2008.