The Chinese approval to dock in the Hong Kong for the Thanksgiving holiday has come too late for the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier, the US Navy said. The flotilla had already left the neighboring waters after China initially refused their request to dock.

The approximately 8,000 crew members of the USS Kitty Hawk and of the other ships sailing along were expected to go ashore for the holiday, but instead have spent most of Thanksgiving aboard their ships on the South China Sea. The 46-year-old Kitty Hawkis is the only U.S. aircraft carrier permanently deployed abroad.

After their request to dock in Hong Kong had been refused, the flotilla had already left port to return to the Japanese port city of Yokosuka, their base port. The Chinese high ranking authorities said that the change of mind came due to "humanitarian" reasons.

"We have decided to allow the Kitty Hawk strike group to stay in Hong Kong during Thanksgiving, and it is a decision out of humanitarian consideration only," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said. "China has informed the U.S. of this."

When asked about the reason of refusing the Kitty Hawk and its five support vessels access in the harbor Mr. Liu declined to comment.

Hundred of relatives of crew members that had come to Hong Kong in order to celebrate Thanksgiving with the sailors were very disappointed about the turn of things. The Wanchai bar district in Hong Kong has been a standard port of call for U.S. sailors on "R & R" (rest and recuperation) ever since the Vietnam War.