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Kitty Hawk arrives in U.S. for final time

The aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk returned to the U.S. Thursday, after being “forward deployed” for a decade.

Ten years, one month and one day after departing its former home port of nearly 35 years for Japan, the 47-year-old aircraft carrier steamed back into San Diego Harbor to begin her delayed turnover with the carrier George Washington.

The GW is undergoing repairs in Southern California after a May 22 fire damaged more than 80 spaces and prevented the nuclear-powered carrier from meeting Kitty Hawk in Pearl Harbor in early July.

Kitty Hawk is expected to depart San Diego for Bremerton, Wash., and will be decommissioned Jan. 31.

Meeting the Kitty Hawk was a bevy of Japanese journalists concerned not only about the safety of the George Washington, but also about reports that the fast-attack submarine Houston leaked radioactive water in multiple Pacific ports.

“We have very stringent standards in the world of nuclear propulsion,” said Rear Adm. Rick Wren, commander of Task Force 70, based in Yokosuka. Wren also is slated to take over the top job at Naval Forces Japan later this year. “We apply those standards and hold people accountable.”

The U.S. Navy, Wren said, has had no major nuclear accidents in its nuclear propulsion program as a result of those standards.

Wren also vowed to hold accountable anyone on the George Washington who is found guilty of causing or contributing to the fire.

“There are over 5,000 sailors on a naval aircraft carrier,” Wren said. “We have very specific, designated smoking areas and almost all sailors obey those rules. One or two sailors, we think, might have smoked in an unauthorized spot and might be a contributing cause to the fire.”

But any decisions on disciplining anyone further will be Wren’s, he said, and only after he’s had a chance to fully review the investigation report.

To date, the only punitive actions from the incident have been the firing of GW’s skipper, Capt. David C. Dykhoff, and his executive officer, Capt. David M. Dober.

“I have a lot of work to do,” Wren said. “It is now my task to review that report and determine what additional administrative or disciplinary measures must be taken — that decision is up to me.

For now, he is taking the lead in dealing with the investigation and has asked Capt. J.R. Haley to concentrate his efforts on preparing the ship for the journey to Japan and the integration with Air Wing 5.

That transition began shortly after Kitty Hawk tied up in San Diego — less than 24 hours after flying all its aircraft off the ship.

It went down to the wire, as Kitty Hawk operated just under 300 miles off the Southern California coast. Most of the wing’s aircraft had already left the ship earlier in the day, but two aircraft — an F/A-18 Hornet from Strike Fighter Squadron 102 and an EA-6B Prowler from Carrier Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 136 — had maintenance issues and needed parts delivered to the ship.

A final launch was scheduled for after 5 p.m., when the C-2A Greyhound from Detachment 5 of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 30 was due to return to the ship.

As it happens, the COD was late. But when it finally landed, the maintenance crews grabbed their parts, and the race was on to see who would make the sundown deadline for launch. It would be close.

In the meantime, Capt. Todd Zecchin, the Kitty Hawk’s commanding officer, climbed into the right-hand seat of the COD and was shot off the ship as the co-pilot to VRC 30’s Lt. Cmdr. Mark Nicholson.

At 7:01 p.m., Zecchin and Nicholson brought the C-2A back onto the flight deck, catching the No. 3 wire for what would be Kitty Hawk’s 407,511th and final arrested landing.

“It was a real joy and a great honor to have been able to get my first trap on the Kitty Hawk and the ship’s last all at the same time,” Zecchin said afterward. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Zecchin, who will decommission the Kitty Hawk at the end of January in Bremerton, Wash., was also the final commanding officer of the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, but during his command, the ship was no longer certified to have fixed-wing flight ops.

It almost appeared as though the final catapult launches might have to wait until Thursday morning as Cmdr. John Kurtz, the ship’s air boss, came over the ship’s flight deck announcing system: “For those of you keeping track, we’ve got 20 minutes left to make these launches,” he said.

Near Elevator 4 on the starboard side, Prowler No. 503 was the first to get the necessary parts installed and tested. Very quickly, the maintenance crews had the aircraft buttoned up and the engines turning and moving onto Catapult 3 abreast the island. A few minutes later, Lt. Cmdr. Billy Fraser, Lt. Kumar Sankara and Lt. j.g. Dan Peel shot off the catapult and headed to shore.

Meanwhile, the COD was next to go, and Nicholson made that catapult shot with co-pilot Lt. Robert J. Deneau.

Now it was just Hornet 104 that had yet to launch, and the air boss’ 20-minute deadline had come and gone.

The maintenance crews were still buttoning up side panels as pilot Lt. Cmdr Jeremy Andrew and weapons officer Lt. j.g. David Robinson climbed into their aircraft and began to fire it up. A thumbs up later, they taxied to Catapult 3. Shooter Lt. Dustin Hendrix got the signal to launch, and at 7:53 p.m., the final aircraft left the Kitty Hawk.

“Launch complete,” Kurtz announced with little fanfare as Hornet 104 climbed out of sight and headed to shore.

But the celebration had just begun. It had been a light-hearted day on the deck.

Traditionally, all the ship’s shooters use a final catapult shot to launch off their boots at the end of a deployment. That didn’t happen. Immediately after the final launch, the steam was blown off. But the group removed their boots, headed to the aft end of the flight deck and heaved their boots into the ocean manually.

As Air Wing 5’s aircraft headed to shore, they too, were making history. It has been 35 years since the complete wing has landed in the U.S. They left in 1973 on the aircraft carrier Midway and have called Naval Air Station Atsugi, Japan, home ever since. Their stay in the U.S. will be a short one, as they are due to fly onto the George Washington shortly after the ship leaves port Aug. 21.

The final statistics have Kitty’s bow catapults, No. 1 and 2, at 165,433 and 99,190 shots, respectively. On the waist, Cat. 3 ended its career at 100,085 — the only waist catapult in the Navy to achieve more than 100,000 — while Cat. 4 finished its career at 83,592.

Though the catapults themselves have fired a total of 448,301 times during their lifetime, Kurtz said that number also takes into account shots where no aircraft are attached. The arrested landing number, however, is an exact count of landings on the ship, he said.