Aircraft Carrier

Taiwan is hailing its most advanced missile as "an aircraft carrier killer" on the same day that China began sea trials of it first aircraft carrier. During the preview for a defense exhibition Wednesday, Taiwan brandished the indigenous Hsiung Feng III missile against the backdrop of a billboard depicting a missile-riddled aircraft carrier. The billboard bore the words: "Aircraft carrier killer. " The Hsiung Feng III has made two previous public appearances in Taiwan and has been deployed on Taiwan's Perry-class frigates but has never been described as anti-carrier...

The space shuttle Enterprise has been separated from the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier at John F. Kennedy International Airport, just weeks after flying over New York City. The shuttle is now resting under a de-icing shed at the airport. Next month it will be taken by barge to the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, the floating air-and-space museum that will be the shuttle's permanent home. The shuttle is scheduled to open to the public in mid-July. Enterprise never went on an actual space mission; it was a full-scale test vehicle used for flights in the atmosphere and experiments on the...

The Navy has reassigned the second in command of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Navy is not saying exactly why Capt. Robert Gamberg has been reassigned pending an investigation. Cmdr. Phil Rosi of Naval Air Force Atlantic said Thursday that the investigation is not related to ship operations, safety or work performance. Gamberg was named executive officer on the Eisenhower in November. He has been temporarily reassigned to the Naval Air Force Atlantic, which oversees 40,000 sailors, East Coast carriers and aircraft.

Three of Doolittle's Raiders who helped boost American morale during the early days of World War II recalled the dangers of their bold bombing attack on Japan mainland. Airman Edward Saylor didn't expect to come back alive when his B-25 set off on the 1942 mission. "Some of the group thought they'd make it," Saylor said Saturday. "But the odds were so bad. " Saylor and the other 79 Doolittle's Raiders were forced to take off in rainy, windy conditions significantly further from Japan than planned, straining their fuel capacity.

Amid heightened tensions with Iran, an American aircraft carrier has sailed through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf. The Navy says it's a routine maneuver. Cmdr. Amy Derrick-Frost said the USS Abraham Lincoln entered the Gulf on Sunday without incident to conduct scheduled maritime security operations. Derrick-Frost is a spokeswoman for the Navy's 5th Fleet, based in the Gulf state of Bahrain. U.S. warships frequently operate in the Gulf. But when the carrier USS John Stennis departed the Gulf in late December, Iranian officials warned the U.S. not to return.

NORFOLK, Va. - The USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, set out to sea Sunday on its final voyage before its scheduled decommissioning after 50 years of duty. Officials say the carrier, which was featured in the film "Top Gun," left Norfolk about noon. The ship with more than 4,000 crew members has been involved in several wars and played a prominent role in the Cuban missile crisis. It also served as a spotter ship for John Glenn's historic orbit of Earth in 1962.

BEIJING - China's first aircraft carrier swept through fog-shrouded waters yesterday to begin sea trials that underscore concerns about the country's growing military strength and its increasingly assertive claims over disputed territory. The mission by the refurbished former Soviet carrier marks a first step in readying the craft for full deployment. China says the ship is intended for research and training, citing its plans to build up to three clones of the vessel. China has spent the better part of a decade refurbishing the carrier.

A Chinese general has reportedly confirmed one of China’s worst kept military secrets: It’s readying its first aircraft carrier. The Hong Kong Commercial Daily reported this week that Gen. Chen Bingde told the newspaper that the carrier was being outfitted, though he refused to give a timetable for its completion. “The carrier is now being built. It’s not completed. When it is, we’ll say more,’’ the newspaper quoted Chen as tersely saying. While the reported remarks are the highest level confirmation by the secretive military, the carrier program has...

ABOARD USS JOHN C. STENNIS -- From an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, Vice President Dick Cheney warned Iran yesterday that the United States and its allies will keep it from restricting sea traffic as well as from developing nuclear weapons. "We'll keep the sea lanes open," Cheney said from the hangar deck of the USS John C. Stennis as it cruised about 150 miles from the Iranian coast. Cheney is touring the Middle East asking Arab allies to do more to help Iraq and to curb Iran's growing power in the region.

Bryan Snyder/Reuters Caroline Kennedy (center) stands in front of a model of the newly-named USS John F. Kennedy with Navy Secretary Ray Mabus (third from left), daughters Rose and Tatiana (first and second from left), husband Edwin Schlossberg (second from right), and son Jack (far right), during a ceremony Sunday. By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff While the dates of Kennedy deaths have been seared into the nation’s consciousness, the famed political family itself has a practice of focusing on birthdays.

The space shuttle Enterprise's scheduled arrival in New York City has been pushed back because of possible bad weather. NASA says Monday's planned arrival of the shuttle has been postponed "until further notice. " The Enterprise is being brought to the city where it has a new permanent home waiting at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. NASA managers are monitoring weather forecasts and will reschedule the shuttle's flight as soon as possible. The plan is to fly the shuttle atop a carrier aircraft to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent The Harlem Globetrotters will try to school students from Harvard University in a half-hour game of basketball on the streets of Harvard Square Monday. The Globetrotters , who are in town for a doubleheader of games Saturday at TD Garden, have accepted a challenge to play the Harvard Lampoon on a specially constructed court on Bow Street next to the Lampoon Castle at 5 p.m. Monday, according to a press release from the Globetrotters today.

NORFOLK, Va. - The USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, set out to sea Sunday on its final voyage before its scheduled decommissioning after 50 years of duty. Officials say the carrier, which was featured in the film "Top Gun," left Norfolk about noon. The ship with more than 4,000 crew members has been involved in several wars and played a prominent role in the Cuban missile crisis. It also served as a spotter ship for John Glenn's historic orbit of Earth in 1962.

Organizers of the Carrier Classic say they're moving the college basketball game out of San Diego for 2012 while hoping to return in 2013. Mike Whalen of the Morale Entertainment Foundation says his group is looking at other locations because an active U.S. Navy ship isn't going to be available on San Diego Bay in the fall. The first Carrier Classic was played Nov. 11 on a court set up on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson at North Island Naval Air Station. With President Barack Obama watching from courtside, North Carolina beat Michigan State 67-55.

WASHINGTON - Warren A. "Andy" Skon, 92, a retired Navy captain who was an ace fighter pilot in the Pacific theater during World War II, died Jan. 19 at his home in McLean, Va.. His wife of 67 years, Hazel M. Skon, also 92, died three days later at their home. Both had pneumonia, their daughter Nancy Jedele said. Mr. Skon was a highly decorated pilot who took part in several major air-combat operations during his two years as a naval aviator in the Pacific. He participated in the Navy's first nighttime fighter actions from an aircraft carrier and was awarded the Navy...

Chinese President Hu Jintao is stressing the ruling Communist Party's ultimate control over China's rapidly modernizing military. Hu's assertion came Sunday in a statement in the military's Liberation Army Daily newspaper calling on the 2.3 million-member force to develop advanced military culture. That is communist shorthand for retaining a leading role for socialist ideology. Such calls seek to counter any movement toward nationalizing the force by making it ultimately responsible to the government rather than the party.

BAGHDAD -- Two US Marine jets from the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier were reported missing while flying in support of operations in Iraq, the US military said yesterday. The status of the two US Marine F/A-18 Hornet aircraft and their crews was not immediately known, the military said in a statement. Contact was lost with the aircraft at 10:10 p.m. yesterday, the statement said. There were no initial indications of hostile fire in the area at the time. Search efforts were underway, the military said.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced yesterday that the nation’s next aircraft carrier will be named the John F. Kennedy, in memory of the 35th president. The nuclear-powered ship will be built at the Newport News shipyard in Virginia. Mabus said the naming of the next Gerald R. Ford-class carrier in Kennedy’s honor pays tribute to the late president’s service in the Navy. As commander of PT-109, Kennedy led his crew to safety after his patrol-torpedo boat was struck and split in half by an enemy ship in the Pacific.

The Game 10 p.m., BET The little show that could has welcomed a new player with a familiar face to the team. Singer, reality show star, and onetime "Moesha" Brandy Norwood (pictured) is on the scene as a feisty bartender named (we kid you not) Chardonnay, who intoxicates and infuriates Coby Bell's ex-football hero character, Jason Pitts. Drink up. American Idol 8 p.m., Channel 25 Thanks to the overrun of another popular competition - the NFC Championship game won in OT by the New York Giants - some people probably missed this bonus Sunday episode of the singing contest.

Amid heightened tensions with Iran, an American aircraft carrier has sailed through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf. The Navy says it's a routine maneuver. Cmdr. Amy Derrick-Frost said the USS Abraham Lincoln entered the Gulf on Sunday without incident to conduct scheduled maritime security operations. Derrick-Frost is a spokeswoman for the Navy's 5th Fleet, based in the Gulf state of Bahrain. U.S. warships frequently operate in the Gulf. But when the carrier USS John Stennis departed the Gulf in late December, Iranian officials warned the U.S. not to...