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Kitty Hawk tapped for RimPac exercise

ABOARD THE CARRIER KITTY HAWK IN GUAM — It’s official, the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk will get a curtain call to its nearly 50-year career by replacing the carrier George Washington for this year’s Rim of the Pacific exercise, which is scheduled to take place off Hawaii from June 29 through July 31.

Capt. Todd Zecchin, the ship’s commanding officer, confirmed the news to the crew at an all-hands call shortly after the ship arrived in Guam on Monday for a short break and take on stores for the coming underway period.

“This message just hit this morning,” he told the crew assembled around him on the ship’s flight deck. “We will be participating in the Rim of the Pacific exercise as the Pride of the Pacific, and you should all be proud.”

Zecchin also confirmed some details of the carrier’s short-term schedule, as its farewell run across the Pacific is turning into a short tour. From Guam, Kitty Hawk will sail to Hawaii and finally to San Diego in August to turnover with the George Washington.

Kitty’s final bow was supposed to be the GW’s curtain raiser as the Navy’s forward-deployed aircraft carrier, based out of Yokosuka, Japan. But a fire May 22 onboard George Washington damaged 80 spaces on the ship. Officials say GW will remain tied up at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, conducting repairs to the damaged spaces and equipment.

Officials have yet to release a timeline for repairs to the GW. The ships were originally scheduled to begin turnover Sunday in Pearl Harbor with Carrier Air Wing 5 and hundreds of sailors scheduled to move onboard the GW.

The RimPac news simply confirmed what most on Kitty Hawk expected and had been already training and planning for.

“Kitty Hawk has always been ready to answer the call for any mission,” Zecchin said. “This is what we do — RimPac will give us another opportunity to go out with our heads held high in a high-profile final mission.”

For the past two weeks, Kitty Hawk has been conducting flight operations with CVW 5. Pilots and aircrews finished their initial carrier qualifications quickly after leaving Japan, Cmdr. Todd Abler, the wing operations officer said.

“We were also able to train with the air wing on USS Ronald Reagan by flying strike missions against them posing as enemy forces,” he said.

The long-term schedule for Kitty Hawk’s future has not changed. The carrier is still scheduled to be decommissioned by Jan. 31, 2009.

But for now, the Kitty Hawk’s crew will enjoy a few days of liberty in Guam, pulling into the Navy base there Tuesday. Once the ship leaves port again, it will resume its spin-up for RimPac before eventually heading toward Hawaiian waters.

Read Mark Faram’s blog from the Kitty Hawk

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