His aircraft carrier may forever be known as the ship that buried Osama bin Laden, but Rear Admiral Samuel Perez was in no mood to go into details as it berthed in Hong Kong amid signs of tight security yesterday.
After happily talking up the 'electricity and warmth' in Hong Kong and even an evolving military relationship with the PLA Navy, he replied with a blunt 'no' when asked about the order of silence surrounding the historic operation on the USS Carl Vinson. He ducked, too, a question about the morale among his sailors following the May 1 operation in the northern part of the Arabian Sea.
Perez confirmed that sea burials for veterans were routinely performed on the Vinson but when asked later for details of where on the ship they were performed and how, he replied: 'You really think you're going to catch me out like that?' And with that he turned on his heels and left for another appointment.
Other officers said the massive lifts used to take planes from the flight deck to the carrier's hangars were typically lowered and used for burial ceremonies to allow coffins to be tipped into the sea or ashes scattered.
The Nimitz-class carrier anchored east of Lantau yesterday morning, flanked by its support ships, the guided missile destroyers USS Gridley and USS Shiloh and the guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill. As the ships arrived, Hong Kong police divers conducted searches off Fenwick Pier in Wan Chai - the first stop in Hong Kong for many of the 7,000 sailors due to take shore-leave over the next four days.
Perez said he was confident measures taken by the Hong Kong authorities would allow his sailors to enjoy shore leave safely. 'The Hong Kong police and the entire city has been very welcoming to us and have provided us strong assurances that they will keep our sailors and our ships safe ... we feel very safe in Hong Kong,' he said.