The Fantail - Navy Blog - Navy Times

Sayonara Yokosuka!

With a little fanfare it was gone — vanished as the ship steamed over the horizon. After nearly 10 years as the Navy’s forward deployed carrier, the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk steamed out of Tokyo Bay and into carrier history. It’s the beginning of the end for the oldest ship in the fleet.

“This is a little different this time,” said Operations Specialist 3rd Class Edward Valentine as he stood look out watch in the flight deck catwalks as the ship was pulled by the Navy’s few remaining tugboats into the channel where it took off under it’s own power.

Valentine will be back — on the nuclear-powered carrier George Washington, sometime in August.

“I’ve been with “The Hawk” for three years, it is my first ship so this is a little sad,” he said. “But on the other hand, I’ve not been back to the states in a while so Hawaii will be nice.”

In the end, he likened it to trading in an old car for a newer model.

“Sometimes it’s just time,” he said.