USS Kitty Hawk headed for the scrapyard

Navy Times | Jan 18, 2022 | Geoff Ziezulewicz

[rlmorel]

When I was a kid, living on Navy bases, I would go down to where the ships were tied up and try to get sailors to take me aboard for a tour.

So I spent a good deal of time looking at the ships. One of the most vivid memories for me was the first time I saw a carrier close up, and it was the Kitty Hawk.

As I stood on the pier looking up, the tails of Phantoms spotted next to each other on the flight deck peeked out, looking like so many tail feathers on an arrow.

As a young boy of maybe 10, it was something to see.

Thanks to her, and all the men who served on her.

[21twelve]

From the webs:

On 7 August 2003, Constellation’s commissioning pennant was hauled down and her deck log closed. The ship was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 2 December 2003. Her legacy might best be remembered today in the words of President Reagan from 1981: “Let friend and foe alike know that America has the muscle to back up its words, and ships like this and men like you are that muscle . . . you are America’s Flagship.”

I did some work on the drydock in Bremerton. The Constellation was parked there as we did the work underneath her. Her hull was supported by a whole bunch of wood beams. It was a bit odd to be working under tons of a “modern” ship that was supported by wood. (I would have thought a more technological solution would have arisen.)

I tried to put off the thought of an earthquake.

[Joe 6-pack]

"What is it about a ship? Some people would say it is only a big hunk of metal. But in my mind, the one I spent the most time on is more than that."

I was an Army dog, and so while I never served aboard a ship, I get it. I've always been a nostalgic guy (some would say overly so). I spent two years as an armor platoon leader before transferring to the MP Corps, and I felt that way about my Abrams. Hell, there have been times in my life I've gotten choked up trading in a used car. It's not so much the chunk of metal, but the memories we associate with it, and what it has come to symbolize for us.

[rlmorel]

Love it...thanks for your service. I lived in Subic for about 2 1/2 years as a military dependent, my dad was the base XO.

This is him at his Change of Command, he is the one with the sword, and my mom is the woman with the black beehive, sunglasses, and purse on her arm being escorted...:)

He had a plaque with his sword in it made up when he retired, and over the years it deteriorated and the whole thing came apart. The scabbard disappeared (my younger brother used it in a school play and it never came back home) so I rebuilt the plaque, replaced the crumbling wooden part the insignia is attached to, and since I didn't want to pay the money to buy a new scabbard I designed and printed one on my 3-D printer...:)
Yes. Haze Gray and Underway, FRiends...:)

[rlmorel]

"...It's not so much the chunk of metal, but the memories we associate with it, and what it has come to symbolize for us..."

By gosh, Joe 6-pack, I think you have hit it on the head.

[rlmorel]

Ahh. You were on an Alpha Party...:)

[rlmorel]

Hmm. I thought the USS JFK was the last oil-fired carrier built. Perhaps the Kitty Hawk was the last oil-fired carrier in service...

[Joe 6-pack]

Aristotle taught us the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. When you think about a ship, it is not a chunk of metal. It is the heart and soul of the miners who dug the ore. It is the birthday present of the steel worker’s child purchased with his sweat. It’s the welder who was able to buy an engagement ring for his sweetie because he got a good job at the shipyard. When christened, it becomes the historical heir to it’s namesake. Over time, it becomes the collective blood, sweat, tears, hopes and dreams of the men who serve aboard her.

[major_gaff]

I saw the Midway in Subic Bay when I was at NAS Cubi Point with MAG
12 in '87...She was sitting at anchor with a serious list to one side...we
winger Jarheads always wondered what had happened to cause that but
never could find a Squid out in the Ville to tell us the tale.

[rlmorel]

Well put, that is all so true. That is how I see it.

I read a story about the USS Atlanta, a light cruiser that was sunk by friendly fire early in the war in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal (easy to understand because of the night action brawl) and the wife of one of the officers who was killed that night spoke about how they had felt like the ship was a living being, but after being sunk by their own ships and having it covered up, they were very disillusioned and felt that it was a “hunk of metal”.

They somehow felt it was bad that they were caught up in the esprit de corps of a new ship, that the families had been naive and gullible. (The ship had been christened by Margaret Mitchell, author of “Gone With The Wind”)

You are right, though, and I feel the same. It is more than the sum of its parts.

[Chode]

100% Amen.

[Chode]

beautiful...

[suthener]

I was there with you. USS Mars (AFS 1) 78-82. I’m sure we un-repped with both of your ships.

[suthener]

Everything in your post is very impressive. Thanks.

[rlmorel]

Thanks...I had a lot of fun restoring my dad’s retirement plaque. His sword has sat for about 20 years on a shelf gathering dust and tarnishing, and every time I saw it, I felt guilty leaving it there. Now, I see it every day and it reminds me of him.

A good and capable man.

[jumpingcholla34]

This the ship that suffered a race riot during a Southeast Asian deployment.

[DaveArk]

The Midway had just come out of the shipyard at Yokosuka in Japan to add “blisters” to the hull. It was supposed to stabilize the ship under certain flight ops. They brought it down to the PI to fly in a Cope Thunder. They were flying and the ship had some sort of shift and actually caused a 12” lip in the landing deck that would have ripped off the tail of a landing aircraft. All the A/C recovered to Cubi. The ship went to Subic to figure out what to do next.

[Doofer]

They did a Shipalt on the Midway in Yokosuka and it didn’t workout.

https://trid.trb.org/view.aspx?id=409907

[major_gaff]

Thank you for the explanation