[Seruzawa]

Maybe are just afraid that a ship as old as the Kitty Hawk is now entirely composed of rust held together with paint and that it might just collapse in a heap in port. :-)

I remember riding on a Tin Can escorting the Kitty Hawk off Vietnam 40 years ago. Isn’t it time the poor thing was put to rest?

[topher]

It burns oil, not nuclear fuel...

The Japanese have a thing about Nuclear Reactors -- they don't want them, and I believe that the USS Kitty Hawk is based in Japan or at least makes port calls to Japanese ports.

Japan made a big stink about giving oil fuel to the USS Kitty Hawk because some of that fuel could have been used in attacks in Afghanistan.

Japan cannot aid those who are at war...

[cva66snipe]

Maybe are just afraid that a ship as old as the Kitty Hawk is now entirely composed of rust held together with paint and that it might just collapse in a heap in port. :-) I remember riding on a Tin Can escorting the Kitty Hawk off Vietnam 40 years ago. Isn’t it time the poor thing was put to rest?

And replace it with what? Poppy, Cheney, Congress, Clinton, and the Smirking Chimp have let our Navy sink down close to 300 active left.

KH is going out of service soon though. She's the last of her class and was the oldest as well. She got all her yard work done and lasted as designed. Actually if you want to compare service years try this. Kitty Hawk CV 62 Commission Date: 04/29/1961 Enterprise CVN 65 Commission Date: 11/25/1961

[JSteff]

“I remember riding on a Tin Can escorting the Kitty Hawk off Vietnam 40 years ago. Isn’t it time the poor thing was put to rest?”

There is a reason it is forward deployed across from the Dragon.

[dk/coro]

“Isn’t it time the poor thing was put to rest?”

Your comment saddens me deeply.

The Connie and the Kitty Hawk were indeed the heavy lifters within the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club.

I have very fond memories of my time as a young Commander, landing aboard the Hawk in 1966-67, when delivering Alfa Strike targets to CCD-5 (CTF-77) from TSN (as the C7F/7AF joint strike coordinator, for Vadm. Hyland.

I can state without caveat that Kitty Hawk was the finest carrier I ever was associated with —bar none. And my log book contains landings aboard well over a dozen carriers, in the course of my career.

Kitty Hawk was in a class alone — heads and shoulders above its contemporaries.

Let the old lady fly the Ensign from her truk as long as she can make steam. She serves our Republic with valor and intrepidity. Thank you.

[PAR35]

The Kennedy had to be retired out of sequence. The Kennedy had originally been set to replace the Kitty Hawk in Japan, with the Kennedy scheduled to be retired in 2018.

The Kitty Hawk is due to be replaced by the Bush when it comes on line, but the Navy will remain one carrier short.

[Cheburashka]

Scheduled to be retired in 2008.