On Thursday, January 16, the American Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) began its final journey. The vessel, measuring 1,053 feet in length and with a displacement of 87,000 tons,

Old soldiers (and old sailors for that matter) may fade away, but modern warships meet a crueler fate: they head to the scrap yard and are "broken up" after their years of service. It begins with a final transit this week.

The aircraft carrier, which has been docked in South Philadelphia since 2008, will make its exit through the Delaware River.

See the ex-USS John F. Kennedy, the Navy's last conventionally powered aircraft carrier, which was in a class of its own.