A couple of weeks ago, the USS George Washington was tabbed by "sources" as the carrier slated to shift to Japan when the USS Kitty Hawk is retired, but the Navy denied that any decision had been made. Japanese media put their money on the George H.W. Bush, still under construction. Yesterday the Navy announced that a decision had been made, and that they decided the Washington was it.
There had been talk of basing the forward-deployed carrier at Guam instead of Japan, mostly because the Japanese have been opposed to having a nuclear-powered ship based on their territory. The Kitty Hawk and the John F Kennedy are the last two conventionally-powered carriers in the US Navy. The JFK will be retired next year now that an expensive 15-month overhaul has been cancelled, leaving only nuclear flat-tops in the fleet after 2008. Mostly, though, the Guam talk was about an additional forward-based carrier, not a move back from Japan. Hawaii is also an option for an additional carrier closer to potential Pacific action.
Recently, protesters did their thing in Japan over the decision to allow nuclear ships to be home-ported in Japan. The city council of Yokosuka, the port city, also voted unanimously to reject the Japanese national government's decision.
Meanwhile, Japan's 54th nuclear power plant is about to go online. Japan gets 30 percent of its power from nuclear plants.
Last week, a short announcement about "suspending the operation of the nuclear reactor while docking" the carrier was made. The Navy noted that it meant "while docked" and that it was standard procedure.
Carrier Air Wing Five will remain the forward-based air wing after the Kitty Hawk retires.
Have I mentioned that I don't think 11 carriers are enough?
--cross-posted from Murdoc Online
This is exciting news indeed.
I'm not sure there's enthusiasm for Carrier in Pearl.
First, there's the causeway to Ford Is, making it hard to get to one section of the harbor.
Second, there might be some resentment about basing carriers there.
Was not the Kitty Hawk the carrier that Russian fighters overflew, celebrating by sending back pictures of the flight deck?
When I asked if their targeting radar was painting the planes as they flew over, I received no response, indication negatory.
A U.S. ship that shuts down when not under fixed base protection is under incompetent command.
I'm currently stationed on the Kitty Hawk and can tell you that in the past (like 3 years ago) we had major leadership problems that resulted in 2 commanding officers being relieved back to back. What happened in the past is in the past (ala the Russian fighter, as well as an incident with Iranian aircraft 4-5 years ago), now we have had 2 great CO's back to back (including the one who led the Kitty Hawk to being the best performing aircraft carrier during Iraqi Freedom, despite being the oldest carrier, it flew the most sorties) and we've gotten this ancient warship back to fighting condition, a point all of us onboard are very proud of.
Nevertheless, with growing threats from China and North Korea, along with the possibility of sustained operations in places like Indonesia and the Gulf, 7th Fleet needs an upgrade, and the George Washington is certainly that. Its capabilities surpass those of the Kitty Hawk and with good leadership, this part of the Pacific will be even better protected than it was in the past.
Congrats to the men and women of the Kitty Hawk for getting it together and performing so well. Sounds like a great ship is going out in style and honour.