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Where, oh where, will the Kitty Hawk go?

Rumor control – it’s this unofficial and faceless “office” on a ship that spreads all kinds of gouge around the ship. Some sailors call them “mess deck” rumors as that’s the most social a place on a ship at sea where sailors swap stories. Smoking areas also serve this purpose, besides allowing for nicotine breaks, too.

Here on Kitty Hawk, the most popular rumors for the past 36 hours deal with just where the Kitty Hawk is bound for. Officially we are still bound for Pearl Harbor and a rendezvous with the carrier George Washington, who will replace Kitty as the forward deployed carrier. But with fire damage on board and a lot of damaged communications cables it is unsure, yet, if she will meet Kitty in early to mid June in Hawaii.

Ah, and that’s fuel for rumors, which have ranged from the ship heading straight to San Diego and bypassing Pearl altogether; Heading to the Persian Gulf to relieve the carrier Nimitz, which will come home early – giving GW time to lick her wounds, pull some new cable – chip and paint the smoke damage away and get underway again; there’s even talk of a trip around the horn to Mayport, Fla. to replace the Kennedy there. I’m also sure there’s a few more variations on all those themes.

But the most prevalent rumor to date is the idea the ship will go to Guam. That way she can refuel, resupply and train so she and her airwing can participate in the RIMPAC exercise that was to be GW’s first official act as the new incumbent “forward deployed” carrier while Kitty slid silently home towards decommissioning.

Well there may be a larger last hurrah for the aging Kitty – we’ll see – once the fog of rumor clears….Kitty’s crew seems prepared for any eventuality – but one thing seems clear enough – she’s left Japan for good – ah, but who knows …