Kitty Hawk to Make Homeport Bremerton, Wash.
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS080516-01
Release Date: 5/16/2008 11:53:00 AM
From USS Kitty Hawk Public Affairs
YOKOSUKA, Japan (NNS) -- USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, will be homeported in Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., effective July 15.
The change was announced in an April 14 message from Vice Adm. John C. Harvey, Jr., director of the Navy staff in Washington, D.C.
Kitty Hawk will leave Yokosuka in late May to turn over duties as the Navy's only forward deployed aircraft carrier to USS George Washington (CVN 73) in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Kitty Hawk will then sail to San Diego for a three week stop, before sailing on to Bremerton where the ship will eventually be decommissioned.
"Personnel who are going to Bremerton and working to prepare the ship for decommissioning will begin to receive Bremerton entitlements," explained Capt. Todd Zecchin, Kitty Hawk's commanding officer. "One example of a Bremerton entitlements is the ability of a third class petty officer or above, with over four years of service, to be approved for BAH [stateside housing allowance]."
While the overall entitlement portion is relatively cut-and-dry, each Sailor affected by the July 15 change of homeport date has his or her own individual details to work through.
Kitty Hawk officials have worked quickly to ensure that each Sailor's specific circumstances are clearly articulated, and any questions answered.
The chain of command, according to Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Bryan Choa, has been getting information to the crew as quickly as they could.
"The timing [of the message] was sudden," he explained.
"Despite the logistics [of the ship being at sea and families being in Yokosuka] they're getting all the information out, given the circumstances."
"There's been a lot of questions," explained Chief Aviation Electronics Technician Zach Silber. "I've seen positive action by the command to, one, answer questions, and second, to plan a course of action that's most beneficial to the crew."
A 14-page document with 128 frequently asked questions was forwarded to the crew within days of the message's release.
To further clarify individual concerns, the ship's personnel officer and assistant personnel officer went on the ship's closed-circuit television for an hour April 26, taking questions from the crew.
"The diversity of situations is pretty vast," Silber said. "There were a lot of specific questions for specific situations. Most have been solved, but there are still some that need to be answered."
Sailors who are remaining with Kitty Hawk, yet cross-decking to George Washington after July 15, will continue to receive cost-of-living allowance for Japan.
They will be administratively "transferred" to the Washington and will only be on "temporary duty" to Kitty Hawk. Therefore, they will receive all allowances based on their being permanently stationed aboard George Washington.
About 2,700 Sailors will leave Japan with Kitty Hawk in May. More than 900 of Kitty Hawk's crew will be cross-decking to George Washington between June and January; about 423 Sailors are expected to transfer before July 15.
The number of Sailors remaining as part of the crew will quickly drop from about 1,400 on arrival in Bremerton to about 600 by October.
Moving families is a big concern. The latest message allows Sailors without permanent change of station orders to receive a change-of-homeport certificate with which they can ship their household goods and fly their families to the United States.
About 350 Sailors don't have orders yet.
"Another good thing about the change [of homeport certificate] for the shipmates who are going to Bremerton is that it allows them to send their families either to Bremerton, or anywhere in the continental United States that they would prefer, and get entitlements for that area," Zecchin said.
The moves will be at government expense; a change of homeport move is considered the same as a permanent change of station move.
Those who already have permanent change of station orders elsewhere have been able to move their families to their new duty stations. Those cross-decking to George Washington would generally not need to move families.
Anyone who chooses to move their families from Yokosuka to the States, based on the change of homeport message, will receive a stateside housing allowance and even a dislocation allowance of more than $2,000. Single Sailors who live off the Yokosuka base and choose to live off base in Bremerton will also receive this dislocation allowance.
If that Sailor receives orders and transfers to a new duty station, they will again be moved at government expense.
Other Sailors may not be able to move their families by the July 15 date. Ship officials are collecting paperwork requests from Sailors for their families to receive continued logistic support for services on Fleet Activities Yokosuka.
Ship officials cannot approve the continued logistic support, however. Naval Forces Japan approves requests for less than 60 days in length; U.S. Forces Japan approves anything longer.
Additionally, Sailors needing to keep their families in Yokosuka and who want to continue receiving overseas cost of living allowance, and if eligible overseas housing allowance, are filing a separate request with Navy officials in Washington, D.C.
Ship's personnel officials are collecting, checking and sending all the documents to the appropriate agency.
While relatively few Sailors will need these additional services, some Sailors could be facing serious hardships without the approved support.
One Sailor's wife is pregnant, for example, and the baby won't be born until after July 15. She can't medically travel until after the baby's born, but the baby can't travel without a passport, which they may not get for a few months.
Another Sailor is waiting on a U.S. entry visa for his foreign-born adopted child. He's applying for the additional logistic support.
As individual issues are brought up and answered officials will update the frequently asked questions list, which is available to the crew on the ship's intranet.
"We've answered as many questions as we can," explained Senior Chief Personnel Specialist Frank Sanchez, assistant personnel officer, "and we'll continue to answer Sailors' questions as they come up."
For more news form USS Kitty Hawk, visit www.navy.mil/local/cv63/.
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