The USS Kenosha (CVN-90)
The USS Kenosha (CVN-90) was a US Navy aircraft carrier in service during the 1990s. Admiral Donald Hayes had his flag on the Kenosha.
In 1999, carrier and its battle group were tasked with following a Russian Oscar-class submarine, SSGN Minsk, spotted near Macross Island to see if rumor that the Russians had sold it to a foreign power was true. A sub-hunter from the carrier was destroyed by unknown fighters and in response the carrier launched Skull Squadron to hunt down the culprits. When its aircraft were engaged by unknown fighters.
During the engagement the SDF-1 entered Earth's atmosphere and on its decent to Macross Island passed relatively close to the Kenosha's battle group, capsizing the carrier and sinking its entire battle group.
The only survivors were Admiral Hayes, who had been recalled to the Pentagon only minutes before the SDF-1 entered Earth's atmosphere, and Lieutenant Roy Fokker who was in the air and managed to gain enough altitude to avoid the blast wave of the crash. (Comic: "Robotech: From the Stars 1: From the Stars")
According to one source, during the Global War the Trans Americans joined the Internationalists and Claudia Grant was assigned to the USS Kenosha and had given up on Roy but found him and said his talk of getting back together was only talk. On the Kenosha she met Henry Gloval and Virgil Smythe who she was attracted to. (Robotech: Return To Macross War Stories)
According to one source during the Global War Shane Patrick Gleason fought with Roy Fokker and was stationed on the USS Kenosha. In 1998 Gleason was caught and tortured by the Exclusionists in New Zealand for 6 months until he escaped and his side found him on a beach. (Robotech: Return To Macross: "Walkabout")
Behind the Scenes[]
While no aircraft carrier by that name has served in the US Navy, the name USS Kenosha has been used twice historically. It was first used for a wooden-hulled sloop commissioned in 1869, which was later renamed the USS Kenosha. In 1945, an Alamosa-class cargo ship was commissioned as the second USS Kenosha AK-190.
In spite of its high hull number (the USN is currently fitting out CVN-78 PCU Gerald R. Ford and building CVN-79 PCU John F. Kennedy), Kenosha's island visibly resembles that of USS Enterprise (CVN-65), commissioned in 1961. Enterprise's distinctive beehive-over-cube island was designed around a phased array radar that never worked right and an electronic warfare suite that worked just fine.
Like the historical ships of that name, the USS Kenosha is presumably named after Kenosha, Wisconsin.