Aircraft Carrier JFK being towed to Phila.

The 40-year-old aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy is being towed to Philadelphia for storage and is set to arrive during the midday high tide Thursday.

If high winds forecast for tomorrow blow longer than expected, the ship will remain at sea until they subside enough for a safe passage upriver.

The ship, decommissioned last year, will be stored at Pier 4 in the Navy Yard, near the foot of South Broad Street, the Philadelphia Cruise Ship Terminal and the headquarters of the Urban Outfitters Inc. retail group.

The Navy suggests viewing the 1,050-foot-long carrier as it is towed up the Delaware River from riverfront parks - Gov. Printz Park in Essington on the Pennsylvania side or Red Bank Battlefield Park in Red Bank, N.J. It also will pass several Delaware parks - Fox Point State Park in Wilmington, Fort DuPont State Park, New Castle Battery Park in New Castle, and Delaware City State Park.

Public access to the Pier 4 area will be limited.

Historic items, including a replica of a Kennedy rocking chair from the Oval Office, have been removed from the vessel and turned over to the curator of the Navy, the Navy said.

No tours are planned while the vessel is stored here, the Navy said.

A $600 million modernization of the Kennedy, which has a 4.6-acre flight deck and was once staffed by a crew of 4,600, was the final project of the old Philadelphia Naval Yard, which operated in South Philadelphia from 1801 until it closed in 1996.