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KH Sailors Conclude Successful Fall Underway Period

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS051212-02
Release Date: 12/12/2005 2:44:00 PM

By Photographer’s Mate Airman Adam York, USS Kitty Hawk Public Affairs

USS KITTY HAWK, At Sea (NNS) -- USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) returned to its forward-deployed operating port of Yokosuka, Japan, Dec. 12, after completing its fall underway period, during which the ship’s crew overcame several challenges and experienced many successes.

The highlights of Kitty Hawk’s fall underway period included passing two major assessments, participating in an annual exercise (ANNUALEX) involving the U.S. Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), and a four-day port visit to Hong Kong.

ANNUALEX 2005 was the first major challenge for the Battle Cat and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 during the fall underway period.

“[ANNUALEX] was a successful demonstration of bilateral cooperation between [JMSDF] and the U.S. Navy,” said Lt. Jaesen Yerger, Carrier Strike Group 5’s anti-submarine warfare officer. “The combined interoperability and operations between Japanese and American forces built upon already strong personal and working relationships and assisted both nations’ armed forces in the real world exercise of surface, sub-surface and air operations.”

In addition to ANNUALEX, Kitty Hawk Sailors participated in a shipwide maintenance and material management (3M) assessment, which resulted in the crew setting the standard for aircraft carriers in the fleet, according to Lt. Cmdr. Billy Partington, Kitty Hawk’s maintenance officer.

“We are the first aircraft carrier ever to have all departments pass the assessment,” he said.

A few weeks later, maintenance department’s quality assurance (QA) division hosted a QA assessment visit that involved all the divisions on the ship that perform corrective maintenance.

“The [QA] program is in very good condition, and it is evident that there is a culture of quality assurance on board,” the QA assessment team said in its report. “The complexity and quantity of controlled work performed by Kitty Hawk far exceeds all Pacific Fleet carriers and was the only carrier that had no rework required.”

Kitty Hawk and CVW 5 Sailors also enjoyed liberty in Hong Kong, Nov. 24-28.

“The crew did great,” said Kitty Hawk Command Master Chief (SW) Ashley Smith. “They enjoyed their liberty and represented the ship well.”

According to Partington, with the underway complete, Kitty Hawk is ready to roll into its ship’s restricted availability (SRA) period.

“We already have some advisors on board to help prepare the crew by giving refresher training on tag outs and work authorization forms (WAF),” he said. “We’re getting started on tagging out equipment and putting up WAFs so we can get started on some maintenance as soon as we pull in.”

During SRA, Kitty Hawk Sailors should continue to work hard while enjoying being in port, said Smith.

“My expectation of the crew is that they take this time to improve themselves personally and professionally,” he said. “They need to enjoy the time spent with their family and friends, but still put time into improving and maintaining Kitty Hawk.”

The Kitty Hawk Strike Group is the largest carrier strike group in the Navy and is composed of he aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, the guided-missile cruisers USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) and USS Cowpens (CG 63), and Destroyer Squadron 15.