A look back at the USS Constellation

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  • The USS Constellation, guided by tug boats, makes her way through the shipping channel, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015, near Brownsville, Texas. The 53-year-old aircraft carrier is being be towed from the mothball fleet at Bremerton, Wash., to Brownsville, where it will be scrapped. (AP Photo/The Brownsville Herald, Yvette Vela)
  • HONG KONG, CHINA: US navy aircraft carrier USS Constellation sails into Hong Kong waters 20 August, 2001 with its six-ship battle group for port call. 15 American warships including the Constellation held naval exercise last Friday in South China Sea before visiting Hong Kong. AFP PHOTO / Peter PARKS (Photo credit should read PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images)
  • Smoke rises from the fire aboard the navy aircraft carrier USS Constellation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on the East River in New York, Dec. 19, 1960. In the background is part of the Brooklyn waterfront. The fire began after a forklift collided with fuel tank as construction of the carrier neared completion. Fifty people were killed and hundreds injured. (AP Photo)
  • USS Constellation crewmen fuse bombs on an F-4 Phantom jet aboard the carrier off the coast of Vietnam, May 23, 1972. Planes from the carrier have been bombing targets in the heartland of North Vietnam since President Nixon ordered stepped-up bombing there. (AP Photo/Carl D. Robinson)
  • A Navy bomber moves into parking position on the deck of the USS Constellation after completing a bombing mission over enemy positions, May 5, 1972. The carrier is one of four currently on station in the Gulf of Tonkin. South Vietnamese paratroopers swept down highway 14 from Kontum behind an armada of U.S. bombers using top secret weapons to root North Vietnamese troops from caves in the mountains along the Chu Pao pass in South Vietnam. (AP Photo/Richard Blystone)
  • SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST – OCTOBER 28: Crewmen help launch fighter jets on the flight deck of the USS Constellation during training exercises October 28, 2002 off the coast of southern California. The 41-year-old aircraft carrier is preparing to deploy November 2, 2002 to an undisclosed location and would be used in the event of a war with Iraq. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)
  • USS CONSTELLATION, THE PERSIAN GULF – DECEMBER 25: A U.S. Navy F-14 takes off from the deck of the USS Constellation December 25, 2002 in the Persian Gulf. The war planes from the aircraft carrier have the mission to patrol the no-fly zone in southern Iraq. The no-fly zones in southern and northern Iraq were established after the 1991 Persian Gulf war to prevent Iraq from carrying out airstrikes against Shiites in southern Iraq and Kurdish forces in the north of the country. The zones have been patrolled by the United States Air Force and Navy and by the British. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
  • USS CONSTELLATION, THE PERSIAN GULF – DECEMBER 24: U.S. Navy sailor Greg Burjin from Paris, Texas, helps put a nose cone with a Santa Claus painting back onto a S-3B Viking on the deck of the USS Constellation December 24 , 2002 in the Persian Gulf. The crew of the aircraft carrier celebrated Christmas one day early because they have a full day of work on Christmas day. The war planes from the aircraft carrier have the mission to patrol the no-fly zone in southern Iraq. The no-fly zones in southern and northern Iraq were established after the 1991 Persian Gulf war to prevent Iraq from carrying out airstrikes against Shiites in southern Iraq and Kurdish forces in the north of the country. The zones have been patrolled by the United States Air Force and Navy and by the British. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
  • USS CONSTELLATION, THE PERSIAN GULF – DECEMBER 25: The bow of the USS Constellation cuts through the Persian Gulf waters December 25, 2002 in the Persian Gulf. The war planes from the aircraft carrier have the mission to patrol the no-fly zone in southern Iraq. The no-fly zones in southern and northern Iraq were established after the 1991 Persian Gulf war to prevent Iraq from carrying out airstrikes against Shiites in southern Iraq and Kurdish forces in the north of the country. The zones have been patrolled by the United States Air Force and Navy and by the British. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
  • USS CONSTELLATION, IN THE PERSIAN GULF – DECEMBER 25: U.S. Navy Tactical Action Officer Ron Ocheltree from Fairmont, West Virginia works the phone as he keeps an eye on the radar screens in the Combat Directional Center December 25, 2002 on the USS Constellation in the Persian Gulf. The war planes from the aircraft carrier have the mission to patrol the no-flight zone in southern Iraq. The no-flight zones in southern and northern Iraq were established after the 1991 Persian Gulf war to prevent Iraq from carrying out airstrikes against Sites in southern Iraq and Kurdish forces in the north of the country. The zones have been patrolled by the United States Air Force and Navy and by the British. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
  • USS CONSTELLATION, IN THE PERSIAN GULF – DECEMBER 26: A U.S. Navy F-18 is obscured by heat waves as it hits the after burners while launching off the deck December 26, 2002 of the USS Constellation in the Persian Gulf. The war planes from the aircraft carrier have the mission to patrol the no-flight zone in southern Iraq. The no-flight zones in southern and northern Iraq were established after the 1991 Persian Gulf war to prevent Iraq from carrying out airstrikes against Shiites in southern Iraq and Kurdish forces in the north of the country. The zones have been patrolled by the United States Air Force and Navy and by the British. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
  • ABOARD USS CONSTELLATION, AT SEA: US marines of the VMFA-323 squadron named “Death Rattlers” shout “USA! USA!” for a holiday greeting in front of a television camera aboard the USS Constellation in the Gulf waters on Christmas Eve 24 December 2002, a day on which some sailors work less hours as part of a holiday routine. The USS Constellation is conducting operations to help enforce the “no-fly zone” over southern Iraq, code-named Operation Southern Watch (OSW). AFP PHOTO/Leila GORCHEV (Photo credit should read LEILA GORCHEV/AFP/Getty Images)
  • Two tug boats appear dwarfed by The US Navy’s USS Constellation aircraft carrier anchored off the Hong Kong shore shortly after arriving in the territory for a routine four-day port call on Friday, Nov. 22, 2002. The USS Constellation leads a U.S. battle group on its way to the Middle East amid a warming of military relations with China, despite Beijing’s wariness over possible war with Iraq. (AP Photo/Anat Givon)
  • AT SEA – MARCH 12: Flight safety officers watch a U.S. Navy SH-60 Seahawk helicopter as it picks up a cargo net from the flight deck of the U.S.S. Constellation March 12, 2003 in the Arabian Gulf. War planes continue to patrol the no-fly zone over Iraq as the threat of war increases after the U.S. issued a new deadline of March 17, 2003 for Saddam Hussein to completely disarm. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
  • USS CONSTELLATION, IN THE PERSIAN GULF -JANUARY 2: U.S. Navy shooters signal for an F-18 to launch off the deck of the USS Constellation January 2, 2003 in the Persian Gulf. The war planes from the aircraft carrier have the mission to patrol the no-flight zone in southern Iraq. The no-flight zones in southern and northern Iraq were established after the 1991 Persian Gulf war to prevent Iraq from carrying out airstrikes against Shiites in southern Iraq and Kurdish forces in the north of the country. The zones have been patrolled by the United States Air Force and Navy and by the British. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
  • Sailor look out from the USS Constellation as it pulls into Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Thursday, May 22 ,2003. The Constellation, which is returning from a seven-month deployment that included missions in support of the war on Iraq, is scheduled to leave for its home port on Tuesday.(AP Photo Ronen Zilberman)
  • 393100 01: ,An F/A-18 Hornet plane is silhouetted by the sun July 29, 2001 as it lifts off from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Constellation in the Persian Gulf. The Constellation and the USS Enterprise helped launch U.S. warplanes August10, 2001 as part of an American and British operation using guided missiles and bombs that attacked air defense sites in southern Iraq at an-Numaniyah and an-Nasiriyah, southeast of Baghdad, the Defense Department reported. (Department of Defense photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class George Branham/Getty Images)