‘Hawk’ Crew Bids Adieu

When the Navy band struck up “Anchors Aweigh” for a second time, the 1,800 spectators who had been shouting farewells to their blue-clad kin aboard the Kitty Hawk fell silent, and the thin mask of merriment melted from their faces. This was really goodby.

Minutes before, a crewman’s foghorn voice from the afterdeck of the aircraft carrier had yelled to his girlfriend: “You wanna change places?”

She tossed her head and didn’t answer, probably wondering what being the only woman aboard with 5,200 men would be like.

As the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk was shoved away from the quay on North Island by tugboats for its last majestic parade across San Diego Bay on Saturday morning, many of the sailors lining its flight deck were contemplating a similar thought: Six months of sea duty without their women.

On shore, amid banners and baby strollers, a lot of sweethearts and wives were wondering how they would cope with the loneliness of a world without their men.

Cecile Hoffler will have her teen-age son and daughter to keep her company. She also will have the woes of hundreds of other Navy wives to cope with and to help her forget her loneliness. She is an ombudsman for dependents, one of four women with the task of easing the the move from West Coast to East Coast for hundreds of families.

“Right now, my phone is not ringing,” she said. “But it will, it will,” before the Kitty Hawk completes its tour next July and goes into dry dock for a 3 1/2-year, $800-million refitting, and the 12,000 dependents again see their men. Already, the wives’ clubs, both officers and noncoms, are beginning to plan a pre-Easter mid-cruise treat for the seamen--a video visit with their families.

“The kids are ambivalent about the move,” Hoffler said of Melinda, 14, and Michael, 13. “They want to go back East because that’s where their grandmother is, but they want to go to high school here with their friends.”

Petty Officer 1st Class Mike Hoffler doesn’t worry about uprooting his family. “We are Navy. My wife joined the Navy when I did,” the Kitty Hawk journalist explained, referring to their marriage within months of Hoffler’s enlistment in 1972. “The kids have grown up moving around.”

Both teen-agers were born in Hawaii and have lived in Norfolk, Va., Illinois, St. Louis, San Diego and, in June, will add Elizabeth City, N.C. (grandmother’s house) and the Philadelphia area to that list.

While young lovers were frozen in marathon embraces all around him, a retired admiral rocked back on his heels and admired the lady that he had come to bid goodby, the ship “that has been a big part of my life.” Donald (Red Dog) Davis, clad in civvies, including an argyle sweater and sporting a silver crew cut, reminisced about the days that he had captained “The Hawk” in 1967 and 1968, in the waters off Vietnam. Later, the Kitty Hawk served as his flagship as he rose in rank and power in the Pacific Command.

Now Davis is a La Jolla resident, still active in his family business, the Herzog Corp., one of the firms that is constructing segments of the San Diego Trolley. But his heart is still with the carrier and the Navy.

“She’s beautiful and she’s aged a helluva a lot better than I have,” Davis said as he strode away to greet old Navy friends.

Jim and Marlene Lierow were the envy of many at the three-hour farewell ceremonies as they relaxed in lounge chairs. Jim Lierow is a retired Army sergeant-major with two sons in the Army, “and only one gone astray,” Jeffrey, a sailor aboard the Kitty Hawk.

The Lierows came from Des Moines, Iowa, to see their Navy son off, visit relatives, and, incidentally, watch Iowa in its one-point victory over San Diego State in the Holiday Bowl. San Diego, they admit, isn’t half bad. And perhaps Jeffrey didn’t go wrong in picking the Navy.

Mary Wright left the send-off ceremonies early, clutching sleeping Brian, 3 months old. Her face was still wet with the tears that came despite her resolution to remain cheerful in her last goodby with her Navy lieutenant husband, Jim, who everyone calls “Butch.” Mary Wright and her friend, Elaine Morlock, will remain in San Diego and await their husbands’ return.

“We have a house,” Mary Wright said, and she will stay right there in Santee until that wandering man comes home, ideally to be reassigned in the San Diego area.

Most of the women left behind are planning to follow their husbands to Philadelphia, where the Kitty Hawk goes in for a refurbishment intended to extend the ship’s life another 25 years. Although the carrier has spent its first quarter-century based in San Diego, it will not return. After a three-year overhaul, the ship is headed for Pensacola, Fla.

In 1988, the carrier Independence is due to take the Kitty Hawk’s place next to the Constellation and Ranger, bringing with it the $36 million payroll that will be lost with the departure of the Kitty Hawk.

One North Island Naval Air Station veteran saw something positive about the loss of the Kitty Hawk: Fewer early morning-late afternoon traffic jams on the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge.

“We’ve had all three carriers in port most of the last six months,” he said. “Commuting has been a headache.”

Civilian well-wishers caused a traffic jam along Point Loma on Saturday as they tried to find the best viewpoint to watch the Kitty Hawk leave. Traffic backed up for more than a mile on Catalina Boulevard as motorists tried to reach the Cabrillo National Monument before the Kitty Hawk cleared the harbor and headed out to sea. Parking was at a premium all along the bay front.