Flightdeck Friday Special Edition: Kitty Hawk Decommissioning

We noted last year that the Kitty Hawk would not be with us much longer…Today, forty-eight years after being commissioned, the mighty Battle Kat was finally silenced: Kitty Hawk’s Final Chapter “It ties a loop around almost half a century,” Capt. Todd Zecchin, the ship’s 34th and final commanding officer, said of the event. Martinelli, 68,…

Sayonara Kitty Hawk

Skippy can provide a learned dissertation on the various forms of “Good-bye” one encounters in the Japanese language, but he will tell you that the one with a note of finality about it is “Sayonara.” YOKOSUKA, Japan (May 28, 2008) The aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) departs Yokosuka, Japan for the final time…

9 Ships + 1 Aircraft Denied ≠ A Mere “Snafu”

  WASHINGTON (CNN) — China has refused nine U.S. Navy ships and one Air Force jet entry to Hong Kong in the past month, U.S. military officials said Friday.  Senior Navy officials said that Beijing denied permission for the USS Reuben James, a Navy frigate, to make a holiday port call for sailors at the end…

Красная Звезда в четверг (Red Star Thursday)

 A bit more about China and the Kitty Hawk deal, plus some more below the fold about another failure of Russia’s Bulava SLBM and some other aspects of the Russian defense industry.   Panda Bashing? On the heels of the story of the Chinese turning away the Kitty Hawk comes that of the two minesweepers…