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Navy identifies ships leaving the fleet

Seven surface ships are scheduled to leave the fleet before the end of fiscal 2009, according to a fleet-wide message released Tuesday. Also slated to end its career is the Navy’s one-of-a-kind nuclear-powered research submarine, the NR-1.

The best-known ship on the list is the carrier Kitty Hawk, which returned to the U.S. on Aug. 7 after a decade of being stationed in Japan as the Navy’s only forward-deployed carrier.

Also on the inactive list are the amphibious assault ship Tarawa; the amphibious transport docks Juneau and Nashville; the combat stores ships Saturn and Concord; and the acoustic survey ship Hayes.

The Saturn, Concord and Hayes likely will be sunk as targets in upcoming naval exercises. The carrier and the gators will go into the Navy’s inactive reserve fleet.

NR-1, which returned from its final deployment this summer to search for the shipwreck of Capt. John Paul Jones’ Revolutionary War frigate Bonhomme Richard, is to enter the Navy’s nuclear submarine recycling program this November.