Kitty Hawk captain loses control By Roland Watson in Washington and Glen Owen
THE captain of America's most famous aircraft carrier, the USS Kitty Hawk, has been sacked for losing control of his crew, just as President Bush is readying the US military for an attack on Iraq. Naval chiefs dismissed Captain Thomas Hejl after a series of arrests of crew members for alleged robbery, assault and drug-smuggling.
In a blunt statement announcing the departure, Vice-Admiral Robert Willard, the Commander of the US Seventh Fleet, said that he had acted "due to a loss of confidence in Captain Hejl's ability to lead his crew".
Although the admiral stopped short of directly linking the decision to a possible war with Iraq, he said that the loss of confidence in Captain Hejl' s leadership extended to his ability to "carry out essential missions and taskings".
He added: "The United States is engaged in a global war against terrorism, and it is vital that our forward deployed ships be ready to carry out our nation's taskings when ordered."
The 86,000-ton Kitty Hawk is the only one of America's dozen aircraft carriers to be permanently deployed overseas. She is based at the Yokosuka naval base in Japan.
In recent weeks US sailors from the Kitty Hawk, which is named after the part of the North Carolina coast where the Wright brothers launched the first powered flight, have been involved in a spate of on-shore controversies.
On August 11 a petty officer was charged with assaulting and attempting to rob a 68-year-old Japanese man. He fled the scene and was arrested 200 yards short of the Yokosuka naval base. Two days later Japanese police arrested a 19-year-old crew member for carjacking after a 43-year-old woman was attacked in her car at a traffic light. Ten days after that, a 29-year-old second class mate was arrested by Japanese Customs, allegedly with a kilogram of cannabis in a cylindrical crisp container in his bag. The man, who was arriving at Narita airport from Bangkok via Hong Kong, has denied the charge.
The Kitty Hawk, which can carry 70 aircraft, was stationed in the Arabian Sea during the conflict in Afghanistan and would be expected to play a central role in any war with Iraq. Captain Hejl was replaced by Captain Robert Barbaree, commanding officer of the warship USS Seattle, who sounded an immediate warning to crew members that he intended to impose a stricter regime. "An aircraft carrier, like all warships, will only be as good as the sailors who serve aboard," he said.
The giant aircraft carriers of the US Navy are run like modern cities, boasting 2,400 telephones, six-channel television, five dentists, four shops, two barbers' shops, two lawyers and one post office. On any one day more than 17,000 meals are being prepared and served for the 5,600-strong crew.
Boarding one is like entering a time warp back to the former Deep South. In the bowels of the carrier, where the crew are cooped up for six months at a time, manual workers sleep dozens to a room. Most are black or Puerto Rican, paid $7,000 to $10,000 a year to work in the broiling temperatures of the kitchens and engine rooms.
As you move up the 11 segregated levels towards the pilots' quarters beneath the deck, the living quarters become larger, the air cooler and the skin tones lighter. Officers exist in almost total ignorance of the teeming world beneath them, passing around second-hand tales of murders, gang-fights and drug abuse. Visitors are banned from venturing down to the lowest decks, which swelter next to the vast nuclearpowered engines.
Despite the reminders of normality suggested by libraries and supermarkets, there are few real diversions. Television monitors are dotted about the ship relaying news programmes and feature films from the United States, but otherwise the daily routine revolves around work, sleep and repetitive slop from the ship's canteens. Religious differences are catered for by allowing different denominations to worship in the ships' chapels - there are 12 Muslim chaplains serving in the US Armed Forces.
Access to the deck, which buzzes with F14 and F18 aircraft taking part in exercises, is banned for all except the flight crew. Every couple of months, the carriers stop for a few days shore leave to restock with supplies and allow the crew to glimpse natural sunlight.
While the officers have the distraction of military exercises, the rest of the crew spend most of their time looking forward to their return.
"I wanted to see the world, and board and lodging is free," is a typical response when questioned about the appeal of life below decks.
"I would only have ended up in prison" is another, frank, explanation offered.
The US Navy, sensitive to claims of on-board racism after well-publicised riots on the Kitty Hawk in the 1970s, has trained recruiting specialists to persuade ethnic candidates that their career opportunities can extend beyond the engine rooms. This was backed by an advertising campaign promising that "You Can Be Black, and Navy Too".