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.

"Commissioned on Sept. 7, 1968, CV 67 was the first Navy ship to be named John F. Kennedy and was the last conventionally powered aircraft carrier built by the U.S. Navy," Naval Sea Systems Public Affairs said in a news release.

(Tribune News Service) — The decommissioned aircraft carrier formerly known as the USS John F. Kennedy has begun its final journey, departing from its long-held berth in South Philadelphia Thursday morning.