Pong Ho Kat
A group of 40 students and professors from Chu Hai College of Higher Education including our reporter, visited the U.S. aircraft carrier “George Washington” that moored off at Tsang Yi during its routine port visit to the city.
During the afternoon visit on November 11, the visitors, most of them are students, were allowed to enter the carrier’s control room which is equivalent to twenty two stories high.
They were invited to sit in the captain chair one by one, holding the telescope just like the captain , who acts as a Rear Admiral.
On the deck of this Nuclear- powered aircraft carrier, the reporter and other visitors got a close look at the equipped fleet such as the Super Hornet Fighter jets and Greyhound Transport aircrafts. Before, all of them could only watch such military aircrafts on TV.
The U.S. Navy soldiers on board were willing to share their experience with the visitors.
Derrick Ingle, having taken service on the aircraft carrier for three years, showed a bracelet which engraved the name of his late friend and said, “I had stationed at Afghanistan for three months and one of my friends sacrificed there.”
Benjamin Rittleson, the Facebook Webmaster of George Washington, said the life on board is never boring.
“I have worked in George Washington for near one year. There are library and gym room on board. We exercise and read books during the leisure time. And we also follow the carrier to visit the different city which is the great experience.”
The visit from Chu Hai College of Higher Education was organized in October, and was attributed to the unique tradition of Navy soldiers visiting Hong Kong.
“It’s a renewed of old traditions between the Navy and the locals.
“In 60s to 70s, U.S. Navy soldiers visited Hong Kong frequently and had changes to play the basketball with students from Chu Hai,” Tom Cooney, the U.S. Deputy Consul General in Hong Kong, accompanying the visitors boarding the aircraft carrier said.
In fact, to all members of the group, this short visit is very attractive and unforgettable .
“I am a military enthusiast. This is a rare opportunity to be able to visit the aircraft carrier. The Navy soldiers are nice and explain the information of the warplanes . I know that George Washington will retire from the military very soon, I am not sure I can ever board of this carrier anymore, ” Choi Yin-Cheung, a year-3 student from Chinese department said.
According to records, George Washington was a Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier commissioned in 1992.
It incorporated into the Seventh Fleet and stationed in Japan’s Yokosuka Naval Base since 2008.
