Nimitz, strike group to deploy to Japan

[unhappycamper]

Headed back out to sea
No word how long it will be underway.


Nimitz, strike group to deploy to Japan
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 18, 2008 5:59:20 EST

SAN DIEGO — Four months after returning from a deployment to the Persian Gulf, the crew of the aircraft carrier Nimitz will head back to sea next week, this time to fill the gap in the Western Pacific while the Yokosuka, Japan-based Kitty Hawk is in the shipyards for maintenance, Navy officials said Thursday.

The Jan. 24 departure is a “regularly scheduled” deployment under the Navy’s Fleet Response Plan for the nuclear-powered ship, said Lt. Sarah Self-Kyler, a U.S. 3rd Fleet spokeswoman in San Diego.

“It was scheduled that way knowing that the Kitty Hawk was going to be in the yards,” Self-Kyler said.

The conventionally powered Kitty Hawk is slated for retirement and is expected to leave its Yokosuka home port later this year. “This is the last availability period before coming back to the states,” she said.

Nimitz, commanded by Capt. Mike Manazir, returned Sept. 30 to its North Island Naval Air Station home after a six-month deployment. The carrier strike group has done several at-sea training exercises and “have remained . They have been a surge-ready ship,” Self-Kyler said.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/navy_nimitzjapan_080117w/

[Cooley Hurd]

1. What ever happened to Japan's ban on nuclear powered warships in their ports?

:shrug: