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. The black sailor reached across the food line and grabbed an extra sandwich, a shouting match ensued. 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. 11, when racial unrest triggered the worst shipboard riot in U.S. The Kitty Hawk was a powder keg awaiting a fuse to be lit.
Inside the Navy, race relations were uniquely troubled as black sailors were typically assigned to the ship's most miserable jobs. There were nearly 4,500 sailors aboard - and only 302 were black. Racial tensions were high, in part stemming from the civil rights movement at home.
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. It was not a good time for the carrier Kitty Hawk as it steamed across the South China Sea toward Vietnam in October 1972.
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