Timeline
| Date | |
|---|---|
| 1955 | |
| Dec 27, 1956 | as CVA-63 |
| May 21, 1960 | |
| Apr 29, 1961 | NS Norfolk |
| Oct 1, 1961 |  Cape Horn rounded Cape Horn in transit to San Diego |
| Oct 13, 1961 | Valparaiso NB |
| Oct 20, 1961 |  Callao |
| Nov 1, 1961 | Naval Base San Diego |
| Nov 23, 1961 | San Francisco Naval Shipyard |
| Nov 30, 1962 |  Manila Harbour Philippine Republic Aviation Week Air Show |
| Dec 1962 |  Hong Kong Port |
| Jun 6, 1963 | California off coast President JFK on board |
| 1973 | reclassified as CV-63 |
| 1989 | Service Life Extension Programme, until 1991 |
| Jul 6, 1998 | departure San Diego |
| Aug 1998 |  Yokosuka Naval Base As forward deploy carrier at Yokosuka, Japan |
| Aug 1998 | relieved USS Independence at Yokosuka, as forward-deployed carrier, until May 2008. |
| Oct 12, 2001 | Arabian Sea positioned to the northern Arabian Sea with HS-14 plus 1st and 4th Bn 160th SOAR embarked, to support special operations missions over Afghanistan until 12 Dec. Enduring Freedom |
| Sep 4, 2007 | Participated in multi-national exercise in Bay of Bengal with Carrier Air Wing 5 embarked, until 9 Sep. 7th Fleet Exercise Malabar 07-2 |
| May 28, 2008 | Naval Base San Diego departured Yokosuka after being relieved by USS George Washington. Took part in RIMPAC 08 and made for San Diego; arrived Aug 2008 |
| May 12, 2009 | NS Kitsap at Bremerton Decommissioned |
| Jan 2024 | Brownsville undergoing breaking-up at Brownsville, TX |