Post by merc on Nov 11, 2019 11:08:02 GMT
17th of October 2000: The day the USS Kitty Hawk was caught with its pants down...
On the 17th of October 2000, the CV Kitty Hawk was sailing in the Sea of Japan when 2 planes coming from Japan and flying relatively low were detected and tracked on radar... They were soon identified as Russian !
Captain Allen Myers ordered jets to scramble, but the only jets available were on Alert-30 (30 minutes from Launch)! No plane was in the air and no plane was ready to launch on short notice... Furthermore, the Kitty Hawk was sailing at slow speed as it was being refueled by a tanker... It first had to jettison the fuel lines, adjust course and pick up speed before it could launch anything.
Before the Americans managed to launch interceptors, a Russian Flanker and a Fencer made a pass directly over the carrier, at an estimated speed of 500 knots and an estimated altitude of 200 feet! The Russians managed to overfly the carrier twice more before an EA-6B Prowler and a F/A-18 Hornet finally took to the air and escorted them away.
The Russians claimed victory and publicised the event far and loud. It was a blow that came out of nowhere as back in 2000, the Us and Russia were supposed to be on friendly terms... Then again, Moscow has always reacted angrily and erratically when NATO capital ships happen to sail relatively close to its zone of influence.
Back then, the Clinton administration, the Navy and the Pentagon all downplayed the incident and talked about how the Cold War was over, how the Kitty Hawk was ready to defend itself and how the Russian planes had been detected and tracked on radar before being escorted away...
But then, the Russian intelligence agency sent an email to the Kitty Hawk CO... It was a picture taken by the Fencer as it flew straight over the packed bridge as crew members scrambled frantically trying to get interceptors in the air... The picture was leaked to the BBC and the truth came out... It seems it took 40 minutes between the time the bridge detected incoming Russian planes and the time the first US jet took off to intercept the Russian intruders!
It was the first time in over 30 years that Soviet/Russian planes had managed to get that close to a US carrier.
On the 17th of October 2000, the CV Kitty Hawk was sailing in the Sea of Japan when 2 planes coming from Japan and flying relatively low were detected and tracked on radar... They were soon identified as Russian !
Captain Allen Myers ordered jets to scramble, but the only jets available were on Alert-30 (30 minutes from Launch)! No plane was in the air and no plane was ready to launch on short notice... Furthermore, the Kitty Hawk was sailing at slow speed as it was being refueled by a tanker... It first had to jettison the fuel lines, adjust course and pick up speed before it could launch anything.
Before the Americans managed to launch interceptors, a Russian Flanker and a Fencer made a pass directly over the carrier, at an estimated speed of 500 knots and an estimated altitude of 200 feet! The Russians managed to overfly the carrier twice more before an EA-6B Prowler and a F/A-18 Hornet finally took to the air and escorted them away.
The Russians claimed victory and publicised the event far and loud. It was a blow that came out of nowhere as back in 2000, the Us and Russia were supposed to be on friendly terms... Then again, Moscow has always reacted angrily and erratically when NATO capital ships happen to sail relatively close to its zone of influence.
Back then, the Clinton administration, the Navy and the Pentagon all downplayed the incident and talked about how the Cold War was over, how the Kitty Hawk was ready to defend itself and how the Russian planes had been detected and tracked on radar before being escorted away...
But then, the Russian intelligence agency sent an email to the Kitty Hawk CO... It was a picture taken by the Fencer as it flew straight over the packed bridge as crew members scrambled frantically trying to get interceptors in the air... The picture was leaked to the BBC and the truth came out... It seems it took 40 minutes between the time the bridge detected incoming Russian planes and the time the first US jet took off to intercept the Russian intruders!
It was the first time in over 30 years that Soviet/Russian planes had managed to get that close to a US carrier.
