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U.S. Aircraft Carrier Makes First Call to Singapore's Changi Naval Base
Singapore navy Friday held a ceremony at its newly -constructed Changi Naval Base to welcome the arrival of U.S. aircraft carrier the USS Kitty Hawk and its escorts in a bid to highlight "excellent relations" between the two countries and "strong ties" between the two defense establishments.
USS Kitty Hawk and its escorts arrived at Changi Naval Base Thursday morning and berthed alongside the pier. Its arrival move is the first call by U.S. naval ships to Changi base allegedly equipped with the latest facilities and state-of-art and believed to be the largest and most advanced base among Singapore Armed Forces' bases.
The Construction of the project of Changi Naval Base started in 1998 and its first phase was completed in December 2000. The total completion of the project is expected by 2003.
The arrival of USS Kitty Hawk means that U.S. Navy has started to use Changi Naval Base as its logistic hub in the region and effectively implemented relative agreements between the defense establishments of the two countries.
In November 1998, Singapore and the U.S. signed an addendum to a 1990 Memorandum of Understanding which formalizes arrangements for U.S. navy ships to use the new Changi Naval base when it is ready by the end of 2000. In April 2000 the two navies concluded an Implementing Arrangement setting out the facilities and services that would be made available to USS ships berthed there.
USS Kitty Hawk and its escorts are due to leave for Thailand on Monday.
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