Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 21, 2008 By Steve Liewer, Staff Writer
SAN DIEGO – The fire-damaged aircraft carrier George Washington will remain in San Diego for repairs until at least August, Navy officials said.
The ship was traveling from its former home port of Norfok, Va., to its new home in Yokosuka, Japan, when it caught fire May 22, causing minor injuries to two dozen sailors. It arrived at North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado five days later for a damage assessment.
Navy officials said they still don't know what caused the blaze. The fire damaged 80 of the ship's 3,800 rooms, and it burned or melted huge bundles of electrical cables.
Inspectors have not determined how much the repairs will cost, said Jon Yoshishige, a spokesman for the Navy's Pacific Fleet command.
The George Washington was scheduled to exchange personnel and equipment with the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk – the ship it is replacing in Japan – at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in early June. Then it was going to participate in RIMPAC 2008, an international naval exercise conducted near Hawaii every two years, from June 29 to July 31.
Now the Kitty Hawk will replace the George Washington as the only aircraft carrier in the exercise. The turnover of crew and equipment between the two ships has been rescheduled for August in San Diego, Yoshishige said.
Afterward, the Kitty Hawk will continue to Bremerton to be mothballed and decommissioned in January.
June 21, 2008 By Steve Liewer, Staff Writer
SAN DIEGO – The fire-damaged aircraft carrier George Washington will remain in San Diego for repairs until at least August, Navy officials said.
The ship was traveling from its former home port of Norfok, Va., to its new home in Yokosuka, Japan, when it caught fire May 22, causing minor injuries to two dozen sailors. It arrived at North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado five days later for a damage assessment.
Navy officials said they still don't know what caused the blaze. The fire damaged 80 of the ship's 3,800 rooms, and it burned or melted huge bundles of electrical cables.
Inspectors have not determined how much the repairs will cost, said Jon Yoshishige, a spokesman for the Navy's Pacific Fleet command.
The George Washington was scheduled to exchange personnel and equipment with the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk – the ship it is replacing in Japan – at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in early June. Then it was going to participate in RIMPAC 2008, an international naval exercise conducted near Hawaii every two years, from June 29 to July 31.
Now the Kitty Hawk will replace the George Washington as the only aircraft carrier in the exercise. The turnover of crew and equipment between the two ships has been rescheduled for August in San Diego, Yoshishige said.
Afterward, the Kitty Hawk will continue to Bremerton to be mothballed and decommissioned in January.