US aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk ends mission in Japan

Wed May 28, 9:51 AM ET

YOKOSUKA, Japan (AFP) - The US aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk on Wednesday ended a decade in Japan, opening the way for a controversial nuclear-powered ship to replace it in August.

Photo: US sailors line up for a last farewell on board the USS Kitty Hawk from Yokosuka US Naval Base. The US aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk on Wednesday ended a decade in Japan, opening the way for a controversial nuclear-powered ship to replace it in August.

On a sunny morning, hundreds of people gathered in Yokosuka, a port on Tokyo Bay, to see off the only US aircraft carrier permanently deployed overseas.

As people on land waved and held up a farewell banner, sailors in white uniforms on the USS Kitty Hawk formed the shape of the Japanese word "Sayonara," or "Goodbye."

The aircraft carrier, which heads to Hawaii and will be retired, has been deployed here since 1998.

With a capacity to carry more than 5,000 crew, the Kitty Hawk's missions included deployment to the Arabian Sea in support of the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The Kitty Hawk contributed to the peace and stability of Japan and Asia for 10 years," said Yokosuka Mayor Ryoichi Kabaya. "I wish it a safe voyage as it completes its mission.

Japan has agreed to accept the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered USS George Washington in August to replace the Kitty Hawk, the US military's only diesel aircraft carrier.

The decision comes despite vocal opposition by some in Yokosuka. The aircraft carrier would be the first nuclear military hardware stationed in Japan.

Japan is the only nation to have been attacked with a nuclear weapon -- more than 210,000 people died when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed by US forces in 1945.

Further concerns came last week when a fire broke out on the USS George Washington, injuring some two dozen sailors.

The new mother ship also comes in the wake of a series of crimes by US troops that have marred local sentiment, including the alleged murder of a taxi driver by a deserter from the Kitty Hawk.

The US military has said all its other aircraft carriers are now nuclear-powered and that East Asia's unpredictable security environment meant the most capable ships had to be deployed.

More than 40,000 US troops are based in the country under a security treaty reached after World War II, when Japan became officially pacifist.

Yokosuka has hosted US aircraft carriers -- the USS Midway, Independence and then the Kitty Hawk -- since 1973.