BREMERTON – Puget Sound Naval Shipyard workers will be traveling to Japan to help retire the historic USS Kitty Hawk and maintain the aircraft carrier’s replacement.
Launched in 1960, the USS Kitty Hawk is the oldest aircraft carrier in active service and one of only two still powered by steam boilers. Stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base since 1998, it will be decommissioned and replaced by the nuclear-powered USS George Washington in 2008.
Maintaining nuclear-powered reactors is a specialty at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, whose people do the same work on aircraft carriers in San Diego.
“We have a very highly trained and skilled work force,” shipyard spokeswoman Mary Ann Mascianica said. “It takes years to get that kind of experience. They have the talent, they have the skills.”
Up to 600 of the Bremerton workers will make annual four-month treks to Yokasuka to maintain the repair the George Washington, said Capt. Dan Peters, shipyard commander. A permanent detachment will also be established.
“This is a tremendous undertaking that will take all of our efforts to be successful,” Peters said. “It is also an exciting opportunity for us to show the talents and abilities of our work force to the world.”
Once the George Washington takes over, the Kitty Hawk will return to San Diego, where it was home-ported for 25 years. No decommissioning date has been announced. A group in Wilmington, N.C., is lobbying to bring the ship to the city to serve as a floating museum alongside the battleship North Carolina.
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