Two Pearl ships
on Kosovo alert

Kosovo's crisis may mean
early duty for the guided missile
cruisers scheduled for
June deployment

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

Two Pearl Harbor-based warships have been alerted for possible early duty in the western Pacific because of the crisis in Kosovo.

The guided missile cruisers USS Chosin and Lake Erie are part of the carrier battle group USS Constellation, which was placed on short-notice deployment Friday by Secretary of Defense William Cohen.

The Constellation battle group is slated to begin a routine six-month western Pacific deployment in June.

However, its status was changed last week when the USS Kitty Hawk carrier battle group, based in Yokosuka, Japan, was ordered to relieve the Enterprise battle group so it can return to the United States in May.

The shift will leave a carrier gap in the Pacific.

The Enterprise was supposed to have been relieved in the Persian Gulf by the USS Theodore Roosevelt battle group, which was diverted to the Mediterranean in support of Operation Allied Force and the defensive against Kosovo.

A carrier battle group generally consists of an aircraft carrier, guided missile cruisers, guided missile destroyers, guided missile frigate, combat support ships and an attack submarine.

Currently, no Pearl Harbor-based warships are involved in the Kosovo crisis.

Yesterday, the last of nearly 200 Hawaii Air National Guard refuelers and at least five jet tankers from the 203rd Refueling Squadron returned to Hickam Air Force Base.

The citizen airmen have spent the last few weeks operating from a base in southern France, where they flew missions refueling NATO fighters and bombers involved in the bombing of Kosovo.