Posted on 03/17/2017 7:03:30 AM PDT by pabianice
It was not a good time for the carrier Kitty Hawk as it steamed across the South China Sea toward Vietnam in October 1972. The ship already had been deployed for eight months, and was on track to spend a record number of days at sea with a grueling pace of flight operations to support U.S. troops in Vietnam.
Racial tensions were high, in part stemming from the civil rights movement at home. There were nearly 4,500 sailors aboard — and only 302 were black. Inside the Navy, race relations were uniquely troubled as black sailors were typically assigned to the ship’s most miserable jobs.
The Kitty Hawk was a powder keg awaiting a fuse to be lit. And that came on Oct. 11, when racial unrest triggered the worst shipboard riot in U.S. Navy history.
According to historians, it started in the galley, when a black sailor wanted two sandwiches but was told by a white mess cook that he was only allowed one. The black sailor reached across the food line and grabbed an extra sandwich, a shouting match ensued.
The ship erupted into chaos. Mere hours later angry black sailors roamed the ship’s passageways, beating white sailors with makeshift weapons such as broom handles, wrenches and pieces of pipe. By the next day, 50 sailors, nearly all white, were injured, some severe enough to be evacuated from the ship to onshore hospitals. The fallout would see a number of black sailors being disciplined for their role in the incident.
(Excerpt) Read more at navytimes.com ...
So how many of the mutineers were hanged?
Mutiny..................
The race riot on the s**tty kitty was far from pretty.
US troops were killed in Vietnam up until the last day before the fall of Saigon in 1975.
302 ran roughshod over 4198? I’ve trained with blacks before. They aren’t THAT bad. What happened, was there no resistance? I don’t recall that incident.
We still had a presence there until April 30, 1975.
Africans are plenty fit physically, but an extraordinary number of them are from the left side of the Bell IQ curve. Like or not, those are the facts.
I joined in 1973. Lots of training ref the Kitty hawk. And lots of black ass kissing for many years. The punishment wasn’t near bad enough. Just the way I saw it.
You have to love that spin. Anyone who scored low on their qualification exam got a low level job. That's not discrimination, that's the way it works. But then the article tries to play up the fact that blacks scored lower because they had "less access to education." OK. So what? A naval ship at a time of war is not the time or place to play affirmative action job placement games. But if you are going to turn job placement aboard the ship into a racial spoils system, then why even have the exam?
If there were racial tension on the ship (and there may well have been), job assignments should not have been a legitimate reason for it.
Ah tole him gibmedat other samwich.
...black sailors were typically assigned to the ship’s most miserable jobs.
Really? Navy jobs are assigned by rating (specialty), rank and availability (off watch during working hours). Usually the most junior enlisted men pay their dues with the crap jobs. I can visualize a few white petty officers with racist tendencies doing otherwise, but not as overall policy.
What are the "miserable" jobs? Over the side painting the hull? Cleaning the bilges? Sweeping down all decks, ladders and passageways? Holystoning teak decks? (yep, been there, done that!) Aloft slushing down the standing rigging? Installing the ratguards on the mooring lines? There are plenty of such jobs to go around.
Don’t confuse facts with perceptions. A lot of losers in the DNA lottery blame other factors, like racism, for their circumstances.
The Shitty Hawk was rather well known as a place where troublemakers went to on their way out.
“So how many of the mutineers were hanged?”
I might be confusing incidents but I remember hearing somewhere that at least one “fell overboard.”
would those work in congress?
Facts, Damn Facts & Statistics.
There’s always an excuse for poor behavior and skills. For the left, the excuse is never the reflection in the mirror.
We who observe behavior with our eyes and experiences, know way better that the spin isn’t the truth.
That explains a few things. I grew up in San Diego. Some of the sketchier families in my neighborhood had dads who deployed on the Kitty Hawk.
You cant miss that spin, and can tell that some live their lives by it.
Racism can never die if we just keep bringing it up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.