Ruling the
Waves and Keeping
Tradition
by Roger Witherspoon
The US Second Fleet’s Vice
Admiral Melvin Williams com-
mands more than 100 ships that
operate in the western Atlantic,
the Gulf of Mexico, and the
Caribbean.
I
t was 11 pm in Yokosu-
ka, Japan on the night
of Sept. 11, 2001. And
all was quiet on the bridge of USS
Kitty Hawk. The old United States
Navy fl eet aircraft carrier, and its
battle group serving aboard, was laid up for routine main-
tenance in their homeport. A few hours later, the night watch notifi ed second-in-command
Melvin G. ‘Mel’ Williams, Jr., chief of staff, Carrier Strike Group 5, that a jet had crashed into
one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City.
16 USBE & Information Technology I WINTER 2008
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