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JFK heads out for systems check

The aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy left its Mayport, Fla., home port Thursday for two days of local operations off the coast of Florida.

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“She is going out simply to check systems,” said Mike Maus, spokesman for Naval Air Forces, Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk, Va.

The underway period, expected to be the carrier’s last, is part of the ship’s preparations for trips to Norfolk and Boston at the end of February. The crew will test the ship’s boilers and other systems, and brush up on the proficiency required to safely make the transit to Boston and back.

Kennedy is scheduled to be in Boston on March 1-5, after which it will return to Mayport to hold a decommissioning ceremony, tentatively scheduled there for March 23.

Inactivation work will begin in earnest March 31. The actual decommissioning date, however, is not scheduled until Sept. 30. The ship is expected to be towed to Philadelphia in late summer to be put into mothballs.