Posted on 10/22/2002 4:53:00 PM PDT by GATOR NAVY
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The USS Kitty Hawk successfully completed a compressed series of sea trials last week and is ready for its upcoming fall deployment, Navy officials in Yokosuka said Monday.
The Kitty Hawk, which went though a major upheaval when its commanding officer was replaced unexpectedly in early September, is back in port at Yokosuka after four days of under-way tests.
While at sea, the crew conducted live-firing exercises, started the carrier qualification process for air wing pilots, did numerous damage-control drills and completed a series of man-overboard drills.
Monday morning, many Kitty Hawk sailors said that after the past two months’ turmoil, getting under way — even for a stressful period of tests — was a relief.
“In my department, it was definitely good to get out to sea and prove that we’re ready,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Anthony Thornton of engineering.
Attention centered on the Kitty Hawk engineering department after it failed a crucial “light-off” assessment, a precursor to firing up the ship’s giant boilers. The failure came just before Vice Adm. Robert Willard, 7th Fleet commander, relieved Capt. Thomas Hejl on Sept. 3.
Shortly after, 11 supervisors in the engineering department were forced from the ship and transferred by new Kitty Hawk commander Capt. Robert Barbaree.
“With the extended in-port period and all of the things that happened this fall, it was important for us to get out there and show that the leadership could have confidence that we can complete our missions,” Thornton said.
During sea trials, the engineering department completed a series of tests, including a full-power run, rudder swing tests and boiler checks. Engineering sailors worked around the clock in shifts of six hours on, six off.
“We proved that if we need a full power run like last fall, we’re ready for it,” Thornton said, referring to the 11-day speed run from Yokosuka that put the Kitty Hawk into the Afghan campaign in early October last year.
Sea trials also gave departments a chance to qualify new personnel in jobs that will be necessary under way. For the air department, that meant conducting flight operations — which usually aren’t done during sea trials — at the same time they were qualifying sailors.
“For a lot of these guys, it was the first time they’ve touched a real plane,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Terrence Billings of the air department.
Billings is an aircraft handler; about 20 of the 75 sailors in that division were going to sea for the first time, he estimated.
“When the air wing comes on, they’ve got to get all of the aircraft loaded and secured properly in a short period of time,” Billings said. “We have the overall responsibility for the safe and efficient movement and storage of the aircraft.”
Among Billings’ big challenges was the full-rudder swing test, in which the ship makes a series of turns at the maximum angle its steerage will allow. During that time, everything in the hangar bay must be secure, lest it break loose and injure someone or damage an aircraft.
All of the tests and drills are required before the ship can pull out for its fall underway period. Kitty Hawk officials said they do not yet know what the upcoming cruise will entail, and it could be anything from a six-week swing through the Pacific to a possible combat assignment in the Persian Gulf.
“We’ve had very successful sea trials in my mind,” said Barbaree in an address to the crew, according to a Navy press release. He’s declined several interview requests since assuming command.
“Most importantly, we got back to sea and got to knock the rust off of our skills,” he said. “Hawk is back.”
What this ship has accomplished and will accomplish are of epic proportion.
God Speed Kitty Hawk.
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