Today: December 17, 2001 at 8:30:24 PST

                        Captain Stripped of Kennedy Command

                        JACKSONVILLE, Fla.- The captain removed from the USS
                        John F. Kennedy because of a failed inspection says
                        inspectors showed up immediately after the aircraft carrier
                        returned from a week at sea.

                        "It was a bad day for the Big John, and she burped," Capt.
                        Maurice Joyce said. "The week before, she was glorious."

                        But Joyce, stripped of his command on Thursday,
                        accepted responsibility for the ship's poor "material
                        condition."

                        "When you're in command, you're responsible for every
                        aspect of your ship," Joyce said in an interview with The
                        Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville published Saturday.
                        "No matter what you may have identified or who you may
                        have identified it to, you're still responsible."

                        The ship is still expected to leave next month for a
                        six-month mission to relieve the USS Theodore Roosevelt
                        battle group in the Arabian Sea region. But before it
                        departs, all deficiencies must be corrected.

                        Inspectors cited failing aircraft elevators and catapults,
                        flight deck firefighting systems, main engines and general
                        maintenance in a stem-to-stern inspection conducted
                        between Dec. 2 and Dec. 7.

                        The Kennedy spent a week at sea immediately before the
                        inspection, training new pilots. Some of the problems,
                        including steam leaks that damaged the plane-launching
                        catapults, occurred during that week, Joyce said.

                        "This didn't give us the time to work those repairs," Joyce
                        said, noting that evaluators gave the ship high marks
                        during a performance evaluation in Puerto Rico in October.

                        Capt. David Denis, commander of the Atlantic Fleet's
                        Board of Inspection and Survey, wrote in a preliminary
                        report that the "USS John F. Kennedy could not prudently
                        demonstrate safe and reliable underway operations," the
                        Times-Union reported.

                        Denis also said the ship was "seriously degraded in her
                        ability to conduct air operations" and that "topside
                        corrosion ... was the worst observed in three years."

                        Navy officials in Washington said last week that the ship's
                        failed inspection had nothing to do with its combat
                        readiness.

                        ---

                        On the Net:

                        USS John F. Kennedy:
                        [url]http://www.navy.mil/homepages/cv67[/url]