years of active service as the ship and crew sailed south to participate in Exercise Tandem Thrust 2001 with the Australian and Canadian navies. The ship returned to Yokosuka on 11 June 2001. On 17 October 2000, and again on 9 November 2000, Kitty Hawk was buzzed by a group of Russian warplanes in the Sea of Japan, which proceeded to take pictures of the reaction on deck. General Anatoly Kornukov, then Russian air force's commander in chief, stated that the Russian warplanes managed to evade Kitty Hawks antiaircraft defense system and that "In the pictures, you can clearly see the panic on deck." In October 2001, Kitty Hawk deployed to the North Arabian Sea for the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom. The ship served as an afloat forward staging base for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, with a reduced air wing. In April 2002, Kitty Hawk was underway for her scheduled spring training. Along with a Guam port call, the spring underway included port visits to Singapore and Hong Kong, where the crew celebrated Kitty Hawks 41st birthday. In the fall of 2002, Kitty Hawk was training in the Western Pacific. Kitty Hawk and her battle group combined with U.S. Air Force units and elements of the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force to conduct AnnualEx 14G in the waters surrounding Japan. Later, the ship and her crew made a port visit to Hong Kong. On 11 September 2002, all US Navy ships were ordered to fly the First Navy Jack. The ship once again departed Yokosuka on 23 January 2003 for a routine training mission, but a short time later, orders were received to transit to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility to support the Global War on Terrorism and to prepare for future contingencies. Kitty Hawk was soon involved in Operations Southern Watch and Iraqi Freedom in the North Persian Gulf. Although the cruise was originally intended to be short, the ship served 110 continuous days at sea. Kitty Hawk returned to Yokosuka on 6 May 2003, immediately entering an extensive drydock period, or drydocking ship's restricted availability (DSRA), that lasted until October of that year. In October 2006, Kitty Hawk and her escort warships were undergoing exercises near Okinawa, and a Chinese Song-class submarine shadowed the group then surfaced within of the group on 26 October 2006. It was considered to be quite rare for