On this day in 1967, the US Navyaircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) (John F. Kennedy-class aircraft carrier) was launched and was commissioned on the 7th September 1968. It was the last conventionally powered aircraft carrier built for the US Navy. ‘Big John,’ as it is known, was named after former US president John F. Kennedy. The carrier was decommissioned on the 1st August 2007. The carrier’s name will be carried by the future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrierJohn F. Kennedy (CVN-79).
The HMS Coventry was a Type 42 (Sheffield Class) Destroyer in the Royal Navy, commissioned on the 10th November 1978. The Argentine bombing raid resulted in the loss of the Coventry, with 19 of her crew killed and 30 injured. The ship capsized before sinking not longer after.