Their last combat mission was in February 2006, they were officially retired in September 2006.
They had become operational in 1974...so they served for 32 years.
They were older technology, and they were expensive.
But they were also still capable. It was more of a political decision to me. As I said, their main mission had been fleet air defense. Later they were with the "Delta" version, augmented to also do attack/strike/ground support missions.
There was an impression that the Cold War was over, the Russians were not the Soviets, and that such a robust, older, expensive aircraft could be sacrificed with little loss.
But, as I said, without the Tomcats and the Phoenix, the carrier lost over a 100 mile shield all around. Events since have shown that losing such a buffer were (at least IMHO) premature without an equal, modern capability to replace it.
Well, now the F-18 Super Hornet and newer AMRAAms almost do...andf the AEGIS system has longer range missiles and more effective missiles and sensors and target acquisition and control, so US SCGs are adequately defended.
still, I would love to have a true F-15 replacement on station on the threat axis, further out, and with a dependable and accurate missile capable of intercepting anti-shipping mmissiles with another 125 mile range on top of that.
When you are talking about the defense of...say a Ford carrier with 5,000 souls on board, a whole large air wing of modern aircraft worth billions, and the carrier itself worth 12 billion plus...I'd say it is more than warranted as we go forward to improve and increase our buffers around such assets.