USN Aircraft Carriers

[courageneverdies]

USS Shangri-La (CV 38)​

15 Sep 1944 / 30 Jul 1971

Stricken from the Navy List 15 Jul 1982; disposed of by MARAD exchange 9 Aug 1988.

displacement: 27,100 tons
length: 888 feet
beam: 93 feet; extreme width at flight deck: 147½ feet
draft: 28 feet 7 inches
speed: 32.7 knots
complement: 3,448 crew
armament: 12 5-inch guns, 44 40mm guns, 60 20mm guns
aircraft: 80+
class: Essex

Shangri-La, an aircraft carrier, was laid down by the Norfolk Navy Yard, at Portsmouth, Va., on 15 January 1943, launched on 24 February 1944, sponsored by Mrs. James H. Doolittle, and commissioned on 15 September 1944, Capt. James D. Barner in command.


Shangri-La completed fitting out at Norfolk and took her shakedown cruise to Trinidad, B.W.I., between 15 September and 21 December 1944, at which time she returned to Norfolk. On 17 January 1945, she stood out of Hampton Roads, formed up with the large cruiser USS Guam (CB-2) and USS Harry E. Hubbard (DD-748), and sailed for Panama. The three ships arrived at Cristobal, C.Z., on the 23rd and transited the canal on the 24th. Shangri-La departed from Balboa, C.Z., on 25 January and arrived at San Diego, Calif., on 4 February. There she loaded passengers, stores, and extra planes for transit to Hawaii and got underway on 7 February. Upon her arrival at Pearl Harbor on 15 February, she commenced two months of duty, qualifying land-based Navy pilots in carrier landings.


On 10 April 1945, she weighed anchor for Ulithi Atoll where she arrived ten days later. After an overnight stay in the lagoon, Shangri-La departed Ulithi in company with USS Haggard (DD-555) and USS Stembel (DD-644) to report for duty with Vice Adm. Marc A. Mitscher's Fast Carrier Task Force. On 24 April, she joined Task Group 58.4 while it was conducting a fueling rendezvous with TG 50.8. The next day, Shangri-La and her air group, CVG-85, launched their first strike against the Japanese. The target was Okino Daito Jima, a group of islands several hundred miles to the southeast of Okinawa. Her planes successfully destroyed radar and radio installations there and, upon their recovery, the task group sailed for Okinawa. Shangri-La supplied combat air patrols for the task group and close air support for the 10th Army on Okinawa before returning to Ulithi on 14 May.


While at Ulithi, Shangri-La became the flagship of the 2nd Carrier Task Force. Vice Adm. John S McCain hoisted his flag in Shangri-La on 18 May 1945. Six days later, TG 58.4, with Shangri-La in company, sortied from the lagoon. On 28 May, TG 58.4 became TG 38.4 and Vice Adm. McCain relieved Vice Adm. Mitscher as Commander, Task Force 38, retaining Shangri-La as his flagship. On 2 and 3 June, the task force launched air strikes on the Japanese home islands — -aimed particularly at Kyushu, the southernmost of the major islands. Facing the stiffest airborne resistance to date, Shangri-La's airmen suffered their heaviest casualties.


On 4 and 5 June, she moved off to the northwest to avoid a typhoon; then, on the 6th, her planes returned to close air support duty over Okinawa. On the 8th, her air group hit Kyushu again, and, on the following day, they came back to Okinawa. On 10 June 1945, the task force cleared Okinawa for Leyte, conducting drills en route. Shangri-La entered Leyte Gulf and anchored in San Pedro Bay on 13 June. She remained at anchor there for the rest of June, engaged in upkeep and recreation. On 1 July, Shangri-La got underway from Leyte to return to the combat zone. On 2 July, the oath of office of Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air was administered to John L. Sullivan on board Shangri-La, the first ceremony of its type ever undertaken in a combat zone. Eight days later, her air group commenced a series of air strikes against Japan which lasted until the capitulation on 15 August.


Shangri-La's planes ranged the length of the island chain during these raids. On 10 July, they attacked Tokyo, the first raid there since the strikes of the previous February. On 14 and 15 July, they pounded Honshu and Hokkaido and, on the 18th , returned to Tokyo, also bombing battleship Nagato, moored close to shore at Yokosuka. From 20 to 22 July, Shangri-La joined the logistics group for fuel, replacement aircraft, and mail. By the 24th, her pilots were attacking shipping in the vicinity of Kure. They returned the next day for a repeat performance, before departing for a two-day replenishment period on the 26th and 27th. On the following day, Shangri-La's aircraft damaged cruiser Oyoda, and battleship Haruna, the latter so badly that she beached and flooded. She later had to be abandoned. They pummeled Tokyo again on 30 July, then cleared the area to replenish on 31 July and 1 August.


Shangri-La spent the next four days in the retirement area waiting for a typhoon to pass. On 9 August, after heavy fog had caused the cancellation of the previous day's missions, the carrier sent her planes aloft to bomb Honshu and Hokkaido once again. The next day, they raided Tokyo and central Honshu, then retired from the area for logistics. She evaded another typhoon on 11 and 12 August, then hit Tokyo again on the 13th. After replenishing on the 14th, she sent planes to strike the airfields around Tokyo on the morning of 15 August 1945. Soon thereafter, Japan's capitulation was announced; and the fleet was ordered to cease hostilities. Shangri-La steamed around in the strike area from 15 to 23 August, patrolling the Honshu area on the latter date. Between 23 August and 16 September, her planes sortied on missions of mercy, air-dropping supplies to Allied prisoners of war in Japan.


Shangri-La entered Tokyo Bay on 16 September, almost two weeks after the surrender ceremony on board USS Missouri (BB-63), and remained there until 1 October. Departing Japan, she arrived at Okinawa on 4 October stayed until the 6th, and then headed for the United States in company with Task Unit 38.1.1. She sailed into San Pedro Bay, Calif., on 21 October and stayed at Long Beach for three weeks. On 5 November, she shifted to San Diego, departing that port a month later for Bremerton, Wash. She entered Puget Sound on 9 December, underwent availability until the 30th, and then returned to San Diego.


Upon her return, Shangri-La began normal operations out of San Diego, primarily engaged in pilot carrier landing qualifications. In May 1946, she sailed for the Central Pacific to participate in Operation Crossroads, the atomic bomb tests conducted at Bikini Atoll. Following this, she made a brief training cruise to Pearl Harbor, then wintered at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. In March 1947, she deployed again, calling at Pearl Harbor and Sydney, Australia. When she returned to the United States, Shangri-La was decommissioned and placed in the Reserve Fleet at San Francisco on 7 November 1947.


Shangri-La recommissioned on 10 May 1951, Capt. Francis L. Busey in command. For the next year, she conducted training and readiness operations out of Boston, Mass. Reclassified an attack aircraft carrier, CVA-38, in 1952, she returned to Puget Sound that fall and decommissioned again on 14 November, this time for modernization at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.


During the next two years, she received an angled flight deck, twin steam catapults, and her aircraft elevators and arresting gear were overhauled. At a cost of approximately $7 million, she was virtually a new ship when she commissioned for the third time on 10 January 1955, Capt. Roscoe L. Newman commanding.


She conducted intensive fleet training for the remainder of 1955, then deployed to the Far East on 5 January 1956. On 2 September 1956, the second day of the National Air Show, Lt. (j.g.) R. Carson, flying an F3H-2N Demon of VF-124, captured the McDonnell Trophy with a non-stop, non-refueling flight from Shangri-La off the coast of San Francisco to Oklahoma City. Lt.(j.g.) Carson covered the 1,436 miles in two hours 32 minutes 13.45 seconds for an average speed of 566.007 mph.


On 16 March 1960, she put to sea from San Diego en route to her new home port, Mayport, Fla. She entered Mayport after visits to Callao, Peru; Valparaiso, Chile; Port of Spain, Trinidad; Bayonne, N.J.; and Norfolk, Va.


After six weeks of underway training in the local operating area around Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, she embarked upon her first Atlantic deployment, a NATO exercise followed by liberty in Southampton, England. Almost immediately after her return to Mayport, Shangri-La was ordered back to sea, this time to the Caribbean in response to trouble in Guatemala and Nicaragua. She returned to Mayport on 25 November 1960 and remained in port for more than two months.


Between 1961 and 1970, Shangri-La alternated between deployments to the Mediterranean and operations in the western Atlantic, out of Mayport. She sailed east for her first tour of duty with the 6th Fleet on 2 February 1961. On 1 June 1961, Shangri-La, along with USS Intrepid (CV 11) and USS Randolph (CV 15), was ordered to stand by off southern Hispaniola when a general uprising seemed about to follow the assassination of President Trujillo of the Dominican Republic.


She returned to the United States that fall and entered the New York Naval Shipyard. Back in Mayport by the beginning of 1962, Shangri-La stood out again for the Mediterranean on 7 February 1962. After about six months of cruising with the 6th Fleet, she departed the Mediterranean in mid-August and arrived in Mayport on the 28th.


Following a month's stay at her home port, the aircraft carrier headed for New York and a major overhaul. Shangri-La was modified extensively during her stay in the yard. Four of her 5-inch mounts were removed, but she received a new air search and height finding radar and a new arrester system. In addition, much of her electrical and engineering equipment was renovated. After sea trials and visits to Bayonne, N.J., and Norfolk, Va., Shangri-La returned to Mayport for a week in late March 1963; then put to sea for operations in the Caribbean. Eight months of similar duty followed before Shangri-La weighed anchor for another deployment. On 1 October 1963, she headed back to the 6th Fleet for a seven-month tour.


Shangri-La continued her 2nd and 6th Fleet assignments for the next six years. During the winter of 1964 and the spring of 1965, she underwent another extensive overhaul, this time at Philadelphia, then resumed operations as before. On 30 June 1969, she was redesignated an antisubmarine warfare aircraft carrier CVS-38.


In 1970, Shangri-La returned to the western Pacific after an absence of ten years. She got underway from Mayport on 5 March, stopped at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from the 13th to the 16th, and headed east through the Atlantic and Indian oceans. She arrived in Subic Bay, R.P., on 4 April and, during the next seven months, launched combat sorties from Yankee station. Her tours of duty on Yankee station were punctuated by frequent logistics trips to Subic Bay, by visits to Manila, R.P., and Hong Kong, B.C.C., in October, and by 12 days in drydock at Yokosuka, Japan, in July.


On 9 November 1970, Shangri-La stood out of Subic Bay to return home. En route to Mayport, she visited Sydney, Australia; Wellington, N.Z.; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She arrived in Mayport on 16 December and began preparations for inactivation. After pre-inactivation overhaul at the Boston Naval Shipyard, South Annex, Shangri-La decommissioned on 30 July 1971. She was placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet and berthed at Philadelphia


Shangri-La remained in the reserve fleet for the next 11 years, and was stricken from the Navy List on 15 July 1982. On 9 August 1988, she was disposed of by the Marine Administration.

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KIT Over n Out

 

[courageneverdies]

USS Lake Champlain (CV 39)​

3 Jun 1945 / 2 May 1966

Stricken from the Navy List 1 Dec 1969. Disposed of, sold by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping 28 Apr 1972.

displacement: 27,100 tons
length: 888 feet
beam: 93 feet; extreme width at flight deck: 147½ feet
draft: 28 feet 7 inches
speed: 33 knots
complement: 3,448 crew
armament: 12 5-inch guns, 72 40mm guns
class: Essex

The second Lake Champlain (CV-39) was laid down in drydock by the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth Va., 15 March 1943; launched by float 2 November 1944; sponsored 3 June 1945 by Mrs. Warren Austin, wife of Senator Austin of Vermont, and commissioned the same day, Capt. Logan C. Ramsey in command.


After shakedown and visits to New York and Philadelphia, Lake Champlain was assigned to "Magic Carpet" duty, departed Norfolk for England 14 October 1945, and arrived Southampton the 19th where she embarked veterans and returned them to New York.


She set a speed record for crossing the Atlantic 26 November 1945 when she arrived at Hampton Roads, Va., having completed a run from Cape Spartel, Africa, in 4 days, 8 hours, 51 minutes. This record stood until surpassed by SS United States in the summer of 1952.


Lake Champlain retired to the "Mothball Fleet" at Norfolk, Va., 17 February 1947. After the United States had allowed her active military strength to shrink to the danger point, the Communists struck in Korea. Fortunately, the U.S. had ships in reserve, though it took time to obtain and train crews and provide materiel. Lake Champlain was reactivated and modernized at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., and recommissioned 19 September 1952, Capt. G. T. Mundroff in command.


After shakedown in Cuban and Haitian waters, 25 November through 25 December 1952, the carrier departed Mayport, Fla., for Korea 26 April 1953 via the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and China Sea, becoming the largest ship to transit the Suez Canal up to that time. She moored at Yokosuka, Japan, 9 June 1953.

As flagship of Carrier Task Force 77, she sailed from Yokosuka 11 June 1953 and arrived off western Korea 14 June. The carrier's air group immediately launched sorties cratering runways; assaulting enemy troops; attacking trenches, bunkers, gun positions; and giving close air support to hard pressed ground forces. Her planes also escorted B-29 bombers on their way to enemy targets. Lake Champlain continued to strike at the enemy until the truce was signed 27 July. Relieved by USS Kearsarge (CVA- 33) 11 October 1953, Lake Champlain headed toward the South China Sea arriving Singapore 24 October. Bidding farewell to the Pacific Ocean 27 October, she steamed toward home touching at Columbo, Port Said, Cannes, and Lisbon before arriving Mayport, Fla., 4 December 1953.


In the years that followed, Lake Champlain made several cruises to the Mediterranean, participating with NATO forces. On 25 April 1957 she joined elements of the fleet in a high-speed run to the scene of tension in the Middle East, cruising in the vicinity of Lebanon and backing Jordan's stand against the threat of Communism. The swift and firm reaction averted a near catastrophe in the Middle East. Tension eased and Lake Champlain returned to Mayport 27 July.


Converted to an antisubmarine carrier and reclassified (CVS-39) on 1 August 1957, Lake Champlain trained off the eastern seaboard to master her new role. She departed Bayonne, N.J., 8 February 1958 for a Mediterranean cruise. While in the Mediterranean, she arrived 16 October 1957 at Valencia, Spain, and provided aid to thousands made homeless by a flood. Lake Champlain returned 30 October to Mayport, Fla. After yard overhaul, she again departed for the Mediterranean 10 June 1958 and visited Spain, Denmark, and Scotland, before returning to Mayport 9 August.


The carrier operated off Florida and in the Caribbean until 15 June 1958 when she sailed on another Mediterranean cruise returning to her newly assigned homeport, Quonset Point, R.I., 4 September.

The carrier operated out of Quonset Point, R.I., until 29 June 1960 when she made a midshipmen cruise to Halifax, returning 12 August. Beginning 7 February 1961, she made a cruise to the Caribbean, returning 2 March.


Lake Champlain was selected as the prime recovery ship for the first manned space flight. She sailed for the recovery area 1 May 1961, and was on station on 5 May when Cmdr. Alan Sheppard splashed down in spacecraft Freedom 7, some 300 miles down range from Cape Kennedy. Helicopters from the carrier visually followed the descent of the capsule and were over the astronaut two minutes after the impact. They skillfully recovered Astronaut Sheppard and Freedom 7 and carried them safely to Lake Champlain's flight deck.


For the next year the ship operated along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean. In June 1962, she embarked Naval Academy midshipmen for a summer cruise to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Kingston, Jamaica, where she represented the United States at the island's celebration of its independence, 3 August.


On 24 October 1962, Lake Champlain joined in a classic exercise of sea power — -the quarantine of Cuba, where the Soviet Union was constructing bases for offensive missiles. To block this grave threat, U.S. warships deployed throughout the western Atlantic, choking off the flow of military supplies to Cuba and enforcing American demands for the withdrawal of the Russian offensive missiles.


After the American demands were substantially complied with, Lake Champlain sailed for home 23 November, via St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and arrived Quonset Point, 4 December 1962. For the next few months the carrier was in New England waters for operations and overhaul. In mid-October 1963, four Navy ships, including Lake Champlain and the amphibious assault ship USS Thetis Bay (LPH 6), aided by Navy and Marine Corps cargo aircraft from east coast stations, delivered nearly 375 tons of food, clothing and medical supplies donated by relief agencies to the people of Haiti after that country was devastated by Hurricane Flora.


Lake Champlain returned to Quonset Point 9 November 1963 for operations in New England waters. She visited Bermuda briefly in spring of 1964 and steamed to Spain in the fall for landings near Huelva. She sailed 6 November from Barcelona for the United States, touched at Gibraltar and arrived at Quonset Point 25 November 1964..

On 19 January 1965, Lake Champlain recovered an unmanned Project Gemini space capsule launched from Cape Kennedy, Fla., after a suborbital flight 1,879 miles down the Atlantic Missile Range and to within 16 miles of the carrier.


The last major duty of her career occurred on 5 August 1965 when she served as the primary recovery ship for Gemini 5. Gemini 5 splashed down into the Atlantic 90 miles off target after a record-breaking eight-day space flight, and 45 minutes later, Navy frogmen helped astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad out of their space capsule and aboard a helicopter for the ride back to Lake Champlain. Soon after this duty was completed, she sailed to Philadelphia, where she commenced inactivation. She was decommissioned 2 May 1966.


The 24-year-old Lake Champlain was stricken from the Navy List on 1 December 1969, and sold by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping on 28 April 1972.

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KIT Over n Out

 

[courageneverdies]

USS Tarawa (CV 40) ​

8 Dec 1945 /13 May 1960

Stricken from the Navy List 1 Jun 1967.

displacement: 27,100 tons
length: 888 feet
beam: 93 feet; extreme width at flight deck: 147 feet
draft: 28 feet
speed: 32.7 knots
complement: 3,448 crew
armament: 12 5-inch guns, 72 40mm guns
class: Essex

The first Tarawa (CV-40) was laid down on 1 March 1944 at the Norfolk Navy Yard, launched on 12 May 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Julian C. Smith, the wife of Lieutenant General Julian C. Smith, USMC, who commanded the 2d Marine Division at Tarawa; and commissioned on 8 December 1945, Capt. Alvin Ingersoll Malstrom in command.


Tarawa remained in the Norfolk area until 15 February 1946, when she sailed for shakedown training in the vicinity of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and returned briefly to Norfolk on 16 April, before visiting New York in the latter part of the month. She arrived at Norfolk once again on the 30th. From then until late June, the warship completed her post-shakedown overhaul. On 28 June, she exited Hampton Roads bound for the west coast. Tarawa transited the Panama Canal early in July and reached San Diego on 15 July 1946.


Following training and upkeep, she left San Diego for a deployment to the western Pacific. The aircraft carrier reached Pearl Harbor on 7 August and soon thereafter continued on her voyage west. She reached Saipan on 20 August and operated in the vicinity of the Mariana Islands until late September when she headed for Japan. After a stop at Yokosuka between 28 September and 3 October and one at Sasebo from 7 to 11 October, the aircraft carrier got underway for the northern coast of China. She arrived in the vicinity of Tsingtao on the 15th and operated in that area until the 30th when she headed back to the Marianas.


On 7 November 1946, the carrier reached Saipan and, for the remainder of her Far Eastern tour, conducted operations in the Marianas. The only exception was a brief voyage to Okinawa and back early in January 1947, after which she departed Guam on the 14th to return to Pearl Harbor. The warship arrived in Pearl Harbor on 24 January 1947 and remained in Hawaiian waters until 18 February when she got underway for fleet exercises in the vicinity of Kwajalein. As a unit of Task force (TF) 57, she participated in battle practice attacks upon the carriers of TF 38 until early March. Tarawa returned to Pearl Harbor on 11 March for about a month, then headed for the west coast and arrived in San Francisco on 29 April.


After more than 16 months of air operations out of San Francisco and San Diego, Tarawa stood out of San Diego on 28 September 1948 and embarked upon a cruise most of the way around the world. She stopped at Pearl Harbor at the end of the second week in October and then continued her voyage on to her first foreign port of call, Tsingtao, China. The carrier arrived there on 29 October and spent the next five weeks observing events in strife-torn northern China. Early in December, she headed south for liberty calls at Hong Kong and Singapore. The warship departed the latter port on 23 December and headed for the newly independent Republic of Ceylon, and arrived at its capital, Colombo, on 29 December 1948.


Departing Ceylon on 2 January 1949, she steamed toward the Persian Gulf to call at Bahrain and Jidda before transiting the Suez Canal on the 20th and the 21st. Leaving Port Said, Tarawa continued her voyage to Greece, Turkey, and Crete. From Souda Bay, Crete, the warship headed across the Mediterranean on 8 February. She stopped overnight at Gibraltar on the 12th and 13th and then started out across the Atlantic. On 21 February 1949, she ended her voyage at Norfolk, Va. From then until early summer, the carrier conducted normal operations a long the east coast and in the Caribbean area.


After inactivation overhaul, Tarawa was placed out of commission on 30 June 1949 and was berthed with the New York Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet.


Her retirement, however, lasted less than 18 months. On 30 November 1950, she was ordered reactivated in response to the Navy's urgent need for warships — particularly for aircraft carriers — -to prosecute the war which had erupted in Korea the previous summer. On 3 February 1951, Tarawa was recommissioned at Newport, R.I., Capt. J. H. Griffin in command. Though reactivated in response to the Korean war, Tarawa never saw service in that conflict. Rather, she served as a replacement in the 6th and 2nd Fleets for carriers dispatched to the war zone. On 1 October 1952, she became an attack aircraft carrier, and was redesignated CVA-40. The warship finally made it to the Asiatic war zone in the spring of 1954, but long after the July 1953 armistice had ended hostilities.


The ship returned to the east coast in September 1954 and resumed her normal operations. In December, she entered the Boston Naval Shipyard for overhaul and conversion to an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) aircraft carrier. On 10 January 1955, while still undergoing conversion, she was redesignated CVS-40. Her alterations were completed that summer and, after shakedown, the carrier operated around Quonset Point, R.I., conducting training missions with the ASW air squadrons based there. That fall, she participated in exercises with Hunter-Killer Group 4 before returning to Quonset Point to prepare for the 1956 "Springboard" exercise.


Tarawa served with the Atlantic Fleet for the remainder of her active career. She remained on the east coast, operating out of Quonset Point and Norfolk and occasionally visiting the Caribbean area for exercises. In the main, her duty consisted of barrier patrols against the increasingly large Soviet submarine and surface fleet and assignments training pilots for the Atlantic Fleet.


In May 1960, however, Tarawa's active career come to an end. She was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Philadelphia, Pa., where she remained until the late 1960s. During her retirement, she received one more change in designation when she became AVT-12 in May 1961. On 1 June 1967, her name was struck from the Navy list; and, on 3 October 1968, she was sold to the Boston Metals Corp., Baltimore, Md., for scrapping.

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KIT Over n Out

 

[courageneverdies]

USS Midway (CVB 41)​

10 Sep 1945 / 11 Apr 1992

Stricken 17 Mar 1997; Towed to San Diego 5 January 2004 to be used as a museum and memorial.

displacement: 45,000 tons
length: 968 feet
beam: 113 feet
draft: 35 feet
speed: 33 knots
complement: 4,104 crew
armament: 18 5-inch guns, 84 40mm guns, 68 20mm guns
class: Midway

The third Midway (CVB-41) was laid down 27 October 1943 by Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Va.; launched 20 March 1945; sponsored by, Mrs. Bradford William Ripley, Jr.; and commissioned 10 September 1945, Capt. Joseph F. Bolger in command.


After shakedown in the Caribbean, Midway joined in the Atlantic Fleet training schedule, with Norfolk her homeport. From 20 February 1946 she was flagship for CarDiv 1. In March, she tested equipment and techniques for cold weather operations in the North Atlantic. East coast and Caribbean training was highlighted by Operation Sandy, in which in September 1947, she test fired a captured German V-2 rocket from her flight deck, first such launching from a moving platform.


On 29 October 1947, Midway sailed for the first of her annual deployments with the 6th Fleet, mighty peacekeeping force in the Mediterranean. A powerful extension of sea/air power, Midway trained between deployments and received alterations necessary to accommodate heavier aircraft as they were developed.


From 26 to 29 May 1952, the feasibility of the angled deck concept was demonstrated in tests conducted on a simulated angled deck aboard Midway by Naval Air Test Center pilots and Atlantic Fleet pilots in both jet and prop aircraft. Midway also participated in North Sea maneuvers with NATO forces, and on 1 October was redesignated CVA-41.

Midway cleared Norfolk 27 December 1954 for a world cruise, sailing via the Cape of Good Hope for Taiwan, where she joined the 7th Fleet on 6 February 1955 for operations in the western Pacific. This was the first operation of ships of her class in the western Pacific. Midway remained with the 7th Fleet until 28 June 1955 when she sailed for overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Here, she was out of commission until 30 September 1957, while she was modernized and such new innovations as an enclosed bow and an angled flight deck were installed.


Homeported at Alameda, Midway began annual deployments with the 7th Fleet in 1958. On 8 December 1958, the first firing of a Sparrow III air-to-air missile by a squadron deployed outside the U.S. was conducted by VF-64, based aboard Midway. The carrier was also on duty in the South China Sea during the Laotian crisis of spring l961. During her 1962 deployment, her aircraft tested the air defense systems of Japan, Korea, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Taiwan.


The carrier continued its role as a research and development platform. On 13 June 1963, Lt. Cmdr. Randall K. Billins and Lt. Cmdr. Robert S. Chew Jr., of Naval Air Test Center Patuxent River, Md., piloting an F-4A Phantom II and an F-8D Crusader respectively, made the first fully automatic carrier landings with production equipment on board Midway off the California coast. The landings, made "hands off" with both flight controls and throttles operated automatically by signals from the ship, highlighted almost 10 years of research and development and followed by almost six years the first such carrier landings made with test equipment.


When Midway again sailed for the Far East 6 March 1965, her aircraft were prepared for combat operations, and from mid-April flew strikes against military and logistics installations in North and South Vietnam. On 17 June 1965, while escorting a strike on the barracks at Gen Phu, North Vietnam, Cmdr. Louis C. Page and Lt. Jack E.D. Batson, flying F-4B Phantoms of VF-21, deployed aboard Midway, intercepted four MiG-17s and each shot down one, scoring the first U.S. victories over MiGs in Vietnam.

Returning to Alameda 23 November 1965, she entered San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard 11 February 1966 for extensive modernization, for which she was placed in Reserve, in commission special, 15 February 1966. She was recommissioned 31 January 1970 following the four-year conversion-modernization at the shipyard.


Midway returned to Vietnam and on 18 May 1971, after relieving USS Hancock (CVA 19) on Yankee Station, began single carrier operations which continued until the end of the month. She departed Yankee Station on 5 June, and completed her final line period on 31 October. She returned to her homeport on 6 November.


Midway, with embarked Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW 5), again departed Alameda for operations off Vietnam on 10 April 1972. On 11 May, aircraft from Midway along with those from USS Coral Sea (CV 43), USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), and USS Constellation (CV 64) continued laying minefield in ports of significance to the North Vietnamese — Thanh Hoa, Dong Hoi, Vinh, Hon Gai, Quang Khe and Cam Pha as well as other approaches to Haiphong. Ships that were in port in Haiphong had been advised that the mining would take place and that the mines would be armed 72 hours later. Midway continued Vietnam operations throughout the summer of 1972.


On 7 August 1972, an HC-7 Det 110 helicopter, flying from Midway, and aided by planes from the carrier and USS Saratoga (CV 60), conducted a search and rescue mission for a downed aviator in North Vietnam. The pilot of an A-7 aircraft from Saratoga had been downed by a surface-to-air missile about 20 miles inland, northwest of Vinh, on 6 August. The HC-7 helo flew over mountainous terrain to rescue the pilot. The rescue helicopter used its search light to assist in locating the downed aviator and, despite receiving heavy ground fire, was successful in retrieving him and returning to an LPD off the coast. This was the deepest penetration of a rescue helicopter into North Vietnam since 1968. HC-7 Det 110 continued its rescue missions and by the end of 1972 had successfully accomplished 48 rescues, 35 of which were under combat conditions.


On 5 October 1973, Midway, with CVW 5, put into Yokosuka, Japan, marking the first forward-deployment of a complete carrier task group in a Japanese port as the result of an accord arrived at on 31 August 1972 between the U.S. and Japan. In addition to the morale factor of dependents housed along with the crew in a foreign port, the move had strategic significance because it facilitated continuous positioning of three carriers in the Far East at a time when the economic situation demanded the reduction of carriers in the fleet.


Midway, USS Coral Sea (CVA 43), USS Hancock (CVA 19), USS Enterprise (CVAN 65) and USS Okinawa (LPH 3) responded 19 April 1975 to the waters off South Vietnam when North Vietnam overran two-thirds of South Vietnam. Ten days later, Operation Frequent Wind was carried out by U.S. Seventh Fleet forces. Hundreds of U.S. personnel and Vietnamese were evacuated to waiting ships after the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese. One South Vietnamese pilot landed a small aircraft aboard Midway, bringing himself and his family to safety.


On 21 August 1976, a Navy task force headed by Midway made a show of force off the coast of Korea in response to an unprovoked attack on two U.S. Army officers who were killed by North Korean guards on 18 August. Midway's response was in support of a U.S. demonstration of military concern vis-à-vis North Korea.

Midway relieved USS Constellation (CV 64) as the Indian Ocean contingency carrier on 16 April 1979. Midway and her escort ships continued a significant American naval presence in the oil-producing region of the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. On 18 November, she arrived in the northern part of the Arabian Sea in connection with the continuing hostage crisis in Iran. Militant followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini, who had come to power following the overthrow of the Shah, seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on 4 November and held 63 U.S. citizens hostage. Midway was joined 21 November by USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), and both carriers, along with their escort ships, were joined by USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and her escorts on 22 January 1980. Midway was relieved by USS Coral Sea (CV 43) on 5 February.


Following a period in Yokosuka, Midway was again on duty, this time relieving USS Coral Sea 30 May 1980 on standby south of the Cheju-Do Islands in the Sea of Japan following the potential of civil unrest in the Republic of Korea. On 17 August, Midway relieved USS Constellation to begin another Indian Ocean deployment and to complement the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) task group still on contingency duty in the Arabian Sea. Midway spent a total of 118 days in the Indian Ocean during 1980.


On 16 March 1981, an A-6 Intruder from VA-115 aboard Midway sighted a downed civilian helicopter in the South China Sea. Midway immediately dispatched HC-1 Det 2 helicopters to the scene. All 17 people aboard the downed helicopter were rescued and brought aboard the carrier. The chartered civilian helicopter was also plucked out of the water and lifted to Midway's flight deck.


Midway continued serving in the western Pacific throughout the 1980s. On 25 March 1986, the final carrier launching of a Navy fleet F-4S Phantom II took place off Midway during flight operations in the East China Sea. The aircraft was manned by pilot Lt. Alan S. Cosgrove and radar intercept officer Lt. Greg Blankenship of VF-151. Phantoms were being replaced by the new F/A-18 Hornets.


On 2 August 1990, Iraq invaded its neighbor Kuwait, and U.S. forces moved into Saudi Arabia as part of Operation Desert Shield to protect that country against invasion by Iraq. On 1 November 1990, Midway was again on station in the North Arabian Sea, relieving USS Independence (CV 62). On 15 November, she participated in Operation Imminent Thunder, an eight-day combined amphibious landing exercise in northeastern Saudi Arabia which involved about 1,000 U.S. Marines, 16 warships, and more than 1,100 aircraft. Meanwhile, the United Nations set an ultimatum deadline of 15 January 1991 for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait.


President George H.W. Bush addressed the nation on 16 January 1991 at 9 p.m. EST and announced that the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq, Operation Desert Storm, had begun. The Navy launched 228 sorties from Midway and USS Ranger (CV 61) in the Persian Gulf, from USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) en route to the Gulf, and from USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67), USS Saratoga (CV 60), and USS America (CV 66) in the Red Sea. In addition, the Navy launched more than 100 Tomahawk missiles from nine ships in the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf. At 9 p.m. EST on 27 February, President Bush declared Kuwait had been liberated and Operation Desert Storm would end at midnight. Midway departed the Persian Gulf 11 March 1991 and returned to Yokosuka.

In August 1991, Midway departed Yokosuka and returned to Pearl Harbor. Here, she turned over with USS Independence (CV 62) which was replacing Midway as the forward-deployed carrier in Yokosuka. Midway then sailed to San Diego where she was decommissioned at North Island Naval Air Station on 11 April 1992. She was stricken from the Navy List on 17 March 1997.


On 30 September 2003, Midway began her journey from the Navy Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, Wash., to San Diego where she will be a museum and memorial. She was docked at the Charles P. Howard Terminal in Oakland, Calif., during the first week in October while the construction of her pier in San Diego was completed. The carrier was towed from Oakland to San Diego, and arrived on 5 January 2004. She docked at the Naval Air Station North Island to load historic aircraft for display. She will be part of a major museum devoted to carriers and naval aviation.

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KIT Over n Out

 

[courageneverdies]

USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB 42)​

27 Oct 1945 / 1 Oct 1977

Stricken from the Navy List 30 Sept 1977; Disposed of, sold by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping 1 Apr 1978.

displacement: 45,000 tons
length: 968 feet
beam: 113 feet
draft: 35 feet
speed: 33 knots
complement: 4,104 crew
armament: 18 5-inch guns
class: Midway

Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42) was launched 29 April 1945 by New York Naval Shipyard as Coral Sea (CVB-42); sponsored by Mrs. John H. Towers, wife of the Deputy Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet; renamed Franklin D. Roosevelt 8 May 1945 following the death of the President; and commissioned 27 October 1945 Captain A. Soucek in command. She was reclassified CVA-42 on 1 October 1952.


During her shakedown cruise, Franklin D. Roosevelt called at Rio de Janeiro 1 to l1 February 1946 to represent the United States at the inauguration of the Brazilian president, Eurico G. Dutra, who came aboard for a short cruise. Fleet maneuvers and other training operations in the Caribbean preceded her first deployment to the Mediterranean, from 8 August to 4 October during which she was a part of a U.S. Navy force which visited Athens to bolster the government of Greece during its successful fight against the Communist. She received thousands of visitors during her calls to many Mediterranean ports, giving Europeans an opportunity to view this impressive addition to America's seapower for peace.


On 21 July 1946, Lt. Cmdr. James Davidson, flying the McDonnell XFD-1 Phantom, made a series of successful landings and take-offs aboard Franklin D. Roosevelt in the first U.S. test of the adaptability of jet aircraft to shipboard operations. In November, Lt. Col. Marion E. Carl, USMC, flying a jet propelled P-80A made two catapult launches, four free take-offs, and five arrested landings aboard Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of continuing tests into the carrier suitability of the aircraft.

Franklin D. Roosevelt operated off the east coast until July 1947 when she entered Norfolk Naval Ship Yard for a prolonged overhaul, during which she received improvements to her equipment and facilities. On 13 September 1948, the carrier sailed from Norfolk for a second tour of duty with the Mediterranean forces, from which she returned 23 January 1949.


In a demonstration of carrier long-range attack capabilities, a P2V-3C Neptune, with Cmdr. Thomas Robinson in command, took off from Franklin D. Roosevelt off Jacksonville, Fla., and flew over Charleston, S.C., the Bahamas, the Panama Canal, up the coast of Central America and over Mexico to land the next day at San Francisco Municipal Airport. The flight, which covered 5,060 miles in 25 hours 59 minutes, was the longest ever made from the deck of a carrier.


During the next few years, Franklin D. Roosevelt took part in intensive operations off the Virginia Capes, along the east coast, and in the Caribbean, and made four tours of duty in the Mediterranean. Assigned to extensive conversion at Puget Sound Naval Ship Yard, the carrier sailed from Norfolk 7 January 1954. Too large to pass through the Panama Canal, she rounded Cape Horn, and arrived at the shipyard 5 March. She was decommissioned there 23 April 1954.


In February 1957, the recommissioned Franklin D. Roosevelt sailed to the Gulf of Maine for cold weather tests of catapults, aircraft, and other carrier equipment, including the Regulus guided missile. In July, she sailed for the first of three post-conversion cruises to the Mediterranean completed through 1960. Her assignments in the Mediterranean added NATO exercises to her normal schedule of major fleet operations, and found her each year entertaining a distinguished list of guests.


Franklin D. Roosevelt supported the transport USS Kliensmith (APD 134) in the evacuation of 56 U.S. citizens and three foreign nationals from Nicara, Cuba, 24 October 1958, as the Cuban revolution came to a climax.


On 6 March 1965, a Sikorsky SH-3A Sea King helicopter, piloted by Cmdr. James R. Williford, took off from USS Hornet (CVS 12) berthed at North Island Naval Air Station, San Diego, and landed 15 hours and 51 minutes later on the deck of Franklin D. Roosevelt at sea off Mayport, Fla. The flight surpassed the existing distance for helicopters by more than 700 miles.

A new, major development in carrier fire prevention occurred on 26 May 1969 when Franklin D. Roosevelt put to sea from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va., after an 11-month overhaul which included installation of a deck edge spray system using the new seawater compatible fire-fighting chemical, Light Water.


Continuing to serve, Franklin D. Roosevelt, along with USS Independence (CV 62) and USS Guadalcanal (LPH 7) stood by for possible evacuation contingencies during the Yom Kippur War between Israeli and Arab forces during October 1973.


Another first was racked up by Franklin D. Roosevelt when, on 4 October 1976, the first overseas operational commitment on a carrier for the AV-8A Harrier began when VMA-231 embarked aboard for a Sixth Fleet deployment. On 13 January 1977, two other Harriers made bow-on approaches and landing aboard the carrier, marking the first time a fixed wing aircraft had made a bow-on, downwind landing aboard a carrier at sea.


Franklin D. Roosevelt was decommissioned 30 September 1977, and stricken from the Navy List the following day. She was sold by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping on 1 April 1978.

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KIT Over n Out

 

[Righteous_Fire]

Nice Thread ! though I would like some PIX as well

 

[courageneverdies]

USS Coral Sea (CVB 43) ​

1 Oct 1947 /26 Apr 1990

Disposed of, sold by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping 7 May 1993.

displacement: 45,000 tons
length: 968 feet
beam: 113 feet, extreme width at flight deck: 136 feet
draft: 35 feet
speed: 33 knots
complement: 4,104 crew
armament: 18 5-inch guns
class: Midway

Coral Sea (CVB-43) was launched 2 April 1946 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, Va., sponsored by Mrs. T. C. Kinkaid, commissioned 1 October 1947, Captain A. P. Storrs, III, in command; and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.


The ship began a series of career milestones when, on 27 April 1948, two P2V-2 Neptunes, piloted by Cmdr. Thomas D. Davies and Lt. Cmdr. John P. Wheatley, made JATO take-offs from the carrier as it steamed off the Norfolk, Va. This was the first carrier launching of planes of this size and weight. Coral Sea sailed from Norfolk 7 June 1948 for a midshipmen cruise to the Mediterranean and Caribbean, and returned to Norfolk 11 August.


After an overhaul period, Coral Sea was again operating off the Virginia Capes. On 7 March 1949, a P2V-3C Neptune, piloted by Capt. John T. Hayward of VC 5, was launched from the carrier with a 10,000-load of dummy bombs. The aircraft flew across the continent, dropped its load on the west coast, and returned nonstop to land at the Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Md. Following training in the Caribbean, Coral Sea sailed 3 May 1949 for her first tour of duty in the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet, returning 28 September.


On 21 April 1950, the first carrier takeoff of an AJ-1 Savage heavy attack bomber was made from Coral Sea by Capt. John T. Hayward of VC 5. The remainder of the pilots of the squadron completed carrier qualifications on board Coral Sea in this aircraft on 31 August, marking the introduction of this long-range attack bomber to carrier operations. At this time, Coral Sea returned to the Mediterranean for duty from 9 September 1950 to 1 February 1951, bringing her impressive strength to the 6th Fleet in its important role as guardian of peace in the Mediterranean.


An overhaul and local operations upon her return, as well as training with Air Group 17, prepared her for a return to the Mediterranean once more on 20 March 1951. As flagship for Commander, Carrier Division 6, she took part in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization Exercise Beehive I. She returned to Norfolk 6 October for local and Caribbean operations, next sailing for the Mediterranean 19 April 1952. While on service with the 6th Fleet, she visited Yugoslavia, and carried Marshall Tito on a one-day cruise to observe carrier operations. The ship was reclassified CVA-43 on 1 October 1952 while still at sea, and she returned to Norfolk for overhaul 12 October.


Coral Sea trained pilots in carrier operations off the Virginia Capes and Mayport, Fla., and in April 1953 she embarked the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives for a three-day cruise. On 26 April, the carrier sailed for a tour of duty in the Mediterranean. This cruise was highlighted by a visit to Spain, and participation in NATO Exercise Black Wave with Deputy Secretary of Defense R. M. Kyes on board as an observer. Returning to Norfolk 21 October, she carried out tests for the Bureau of Aeronautics and trained members of the Naval Reserve at Mayport, Fla., and Guantanamo Bay.


Coral Sea returned to the Mediterranean from 7 July to 20 December 1954, and during this tour was visited by Generalissimo Franco as she lay off Valencia, Spain. On her next tour of duty in the Mediterranean from 23 March to 29 September 1955, she called at Istanbul, and participated in NATO exercises.


Sailing from Norfolk 23 July 1956 for Mayport to embark Carrier Air Group 10, Coral Sea continued on to the Mediterranean on her next tour. She participated in NATO exercises, and received the King and Queen of Greece on board as visitors in October. During the Suez Crisis, she evacuated American citizens from the troubled area, and stood by off Egypt until November.


She returned to Norfolk 11 February 1957. She cleared that port on 26 February and visited Santos, Brazil; Valparaiso, Chile; an d Balboa, C.Z., before arriving at Bremerton, Wash., 15 April. Coral Sea was decommissioned for conversion 24 May 1957, and upon completion was recommissioned 25 January 1960 to rejoin the Fleet. During September 1960, she conducted training with her new air group along the west coast, then sailed in September for a tour of duty with the 7th Fleet in the Far East.


Installation of the Pilot Landing Aid Television (PLAT) system was completed on Coral Sea on 14 December 1961. She was the first carrier to have this system installed for operations use. Designed to provide a videotape of every landing, the system proved useful for instructional purposes and in the analysis of landing accidents, thereby making it an invaluable tool in the promotion of safety. By 1963, all attack carriers had been equipped with PLAT and plans were underway for installation in the CVSs and at shore stations.


Following the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August, Coral Sea departed on 7 December 1964 for duty with the U.S. Seventh Fleet. On 7 February 1965, aircraft from Coral Sea, along with those from USS Ranger (CVA 61) and USS Hancock (CVA 19), blasted the military barracks and staging areas near Dong Hoi in the southern sector of North Vietnam. The raids were in retaliation for a damaging Viet Cong attack on installations around Pleiku in South Vietnam. On 26 March, the Seventh Fleet units began their participation in Operation Rolling Thunder, a systematic bombing of military targets throughout North Vietnam. Pilots from Coral Sea struck island and coastal radar stations in the vicinity of Vihn Son. Coral Sea remained on deployment until returning home on 1 November 1965.


Coral Sea continued WestPac/Vietnam deployments until 1975. She deployed from 29 July 1966 to 23 February 1967; 26 July 1967 to 6 April 1968; 7 September 1968 to 15 April 1969; 23 September 1969 to 1 July 1970; 12 November 1971 to 17 July 1972; 9 March 1973 to 8 November; and from 5 December 1974 to 2 July 1975. Operations by Navy and Marine Corps aircraft in Vietnam expanded significantly throughout April 1972 with a total of 4,833 Navy sorties in the south and 1,250 in the north. Coral Sea, along with Hancock, was on Yankee Station when the North Vietnamese spring offensive began. They were joined in early April by USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) and USS Constellation (CV 64). On 16 April 1972, aircraft from Coral Sea, along with those from Kitty Hawk and Constellation, flew 57 sorties in the Haiphong area in support of U.S. Air Force B-52 strikes on the Haiphong petroleum products storage area in an operation known as Freedom Porch.


Operation Pocket Money, the mining campaign against principal North Vietnamese ports, was launched 9 May 1972. Early that morning, an EC-121 aircraft took off from Da Nang airfield to provide support for the mining operation. A short time later, Kitty Hawk launched 17 ordnance-delivering sorties against the Nam Dinh railroad siding as a diversionary air tactic. Poor weather, however, forced the planes to divert to secondary targets at Thanh and Phu Qui which were struck at 090840H and 090845H, Vietnam time, respectively. Coral Sea launched three A-6A and six A-7E aircraft loaded with mines and one EKA-3B in support of the mining operation directed against the outer approaches to Haiphong Harbor. The mining aircraft departed the vicinity of Coral Sea at 090840H in order to execute the mining at precisely 090900H to coincide with the President Richard M. Nixon's public announcement in Washington that mines had been seeded. The A-6 flight led by the CAG, Cmdr. Roger E. Sheets, was composed of Marine Corps aircraft from VMA-224 and headed for the inner channel. The A-7Es, led by Cmdr. Leonard E. Giuliani and made up of aircraft from VA-94 and VA-22, were designated to mine the outer segment of the channel. Each aircraft carried four MK 52-2 mines. Capt. William R. Carr, USMC, the bombardier/navigator in the lead plane, established the critical attack azimuth and timed the mine releases. The first mine was dropped at 090859H and the last of the field of 36 mines at 090901H. Twelve mines were placed in the inner segment and the remaining 24 in the outer segment. All MK 52-2 mines were set with 72-hour arming delays, thus permitting merchant ships time for departure or a change in destination consistent with the President's public warning. It was the beginning of a mining campaign that planted over 11,000 MK 36 type destructor and 108 special MK 52-2 mines over the next eight months. It is considered to have played a significant role in bringing about an eventual peace arrangement, particularly since it so hampered the enemy's ability to continue receiving war supplies.


The Paris Peace Accords, ending hostilities in Vietnam, were signed 27 January 1973, ending four years of talks. North Vietnam released nearly 600 U.S. prisoners by 1 April, and the last U.S. combat troops departed Vietnam on 11 August. However, the war was not over for the Vietnamese. By spring 1975, the North was advancing on the South. Coral Sea, USS Midway (CVA 41), Hancock, USS Enterprise (CVAN 65) and USS Okinawa (LPH 3) responded 19 April 1975 to the waters off South Vietnam when North Vietnam overran two-thirds of South Vietnam. Ten days later, Operation Frequent Wind was carried out by U.S. Seventh Fleet forces. Hundreds of U.S. personnel and Vietnamese were evacuated to waiting ships after the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese. South Vietnam officially surrendered to the North on 30 April.


On 12 to 14 May 1975, Coral Sea participated with other Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps forces in the recovery of the U.S. merchant ship SS Mayaguez and her 39 crew, illegally seized on 12 May in international waters by a Cambodian gunboat controlled by the Communist Khmer Rouge. Protective air strikes flown from the carrier against the Cambodian mainland naval and air installations as Air Force helicopters with 288 Marines from Battalion Landing Teams 2 and 9 were launched from Utapao, Thailand, and landed at Koh Tang Island to rescue the Mayaguez crew and secure the ship. Eighteen Marines, Airman, and Navy corpsmen were lost in the action. For her action, Coral Sea was presented the Meritorious Unit Commendation on 6 July 1976.

Coral Sea relieved Midway in the northern part of the Arabian Sea on 5 February 1980 in connection with the continuing hostage crisis in Iran. Militant followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini, who had come to power following the overthrow of the Shah, seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979 and held 63 U.S. citizens hostage. The hostage crisis ended on 20 January 1981 when Ronald Reagan succeeded Jimmy Carter as President of the United States and Iran released the U.S. citizens.


On 13 October 1985, Coral Sea returned to the Mediterranean Sea for her first Sixth Fleet deployment since 1957. Commanded by Capt. Robert H. Ferguson, with CVW-13 embarked, it was also the first deployment of the new F/A-18 Hornet to the Mediterranean. The Hornets were assigned to VFA-131 and VFA-132 in Coral Sea.


On 24 March 1986, Libyan armed forces fired missiles at U.S. naval forces operating in the Gulf of Sidra after declaring international waters as their own. U.S. retaliation was swift and deadly. Additionally, F/A-18 Hornets from Coral Sea and A-7E Corsairs from USS America (CV 66) conducted air-to-surface Shrike and HARM missile strikes against Libyan surface-to-air missile sites at Benghazi and Tripoli on 14 and 15 April.


Coral Sea continued deployments to the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean area throughout the remainder of the 1980s and into the 1990s. In 1987, she developed the "Coral Sea configuration" in which to help streamline aircraft maintenance, two attack squadrons on board used a shared maintenance. On 19 April 1989, while operating in the Caribbean, Coral Sea responded to a call for assistance from USS Iowa (BB 61) due to an explosion in the battleship's number two gun turret in which 47 crew members were killed. The explosive ordnance disposal team from Coral Sea removed volatile powder charges from the ship's 16-inch guns and flooded powder magazines. Coral Sea also dispatched a surgical team and medical supplies. VC-8, using SH-3G helicopters, also performed medevac and logistical support to Iowa.


Coral Sea was decommissioned 26 April 1990. Stricken from the Navy List, she was sold by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping on 7 May 1993.

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KIT Over n Out

 

[courageneverdies]

USS Valley Forge (CV 45) ​

3 Nov 1946 /15 Jan 1970

Stricken from the Navy List 15 Jan 1970; sold for scrap 29 Oct 1971 to Nicolai Joffre Corp., Beverly Hills, Calif.

displacement: 36,380 tons
length: 888 feet
beam: 93 feet
draft: 28 feet 7 inches
speed: 32.7 knots
complement: 3,448 crew
armament: 12 5-inch guns, 72 40mm guns
aircraft: 80
class: Ticonderoga

Valley Forge (CV-45) — built with money raised by the citizens of Philadelphia in a special war bond drive — was laid down on 7 September 1944 by the Philadelphia Navy Yard; launched on 18 November 1944, sponsored by Mrs. A. A. Vandegrift, wife of the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and commissioned on 3 November 1946, Capt. John W. Harris in command.

Following fitting out, the new carrier got underway on 24 January 1947 for shakedown training which took her, via Norfolk, to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Canal Zone. She completed the cruise on 18 March and returned to Philadelphia for post-shakedown overhaul. The ship left Philadelphia on 14 July, headed south, and transited the Panama Canal on 5 August. She arrived at her home port, San Diego, on the 14th and joined the Pacific Fleet. Following the embarkation of Air Group 11 and intensive air and gunnery training in coastal waters, the aircraft carrier, flying the flag of Rear Admiral Harold L. Martin, Commander of Task Force 38, got underway for Hawaii on 9 October. The task force devoted almost three months to training operations out of Pearl Harbor before sailing for Australia on 16 January 1948. After a visit to Sydney, the American warships conducted exercises with units of the Royal Australian Navy and then steamed to Hong Kong.


During a voyage from the British crown colony to Tsingtao, China, orders arrived directing the task force to return home via the Atlantic. With her escorting destroyers, the ship continued the round-the-world trip with calls at Hong Kong; Manila; Singapore; Trincomalee, Ceylon; and Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia. After operating for a time in the Persian Gulf, she became the largest aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal. The ship finally arrived at San Diego, via the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Panama Canal.


Valley Forge deployed to the Far East, departing the west coast on 1 May 1950. While anchored in Hong Kong harbor on 25 June, the warship received electrifying news that North Korean forces had begun streaming across the 38th parallel into South Korea. Departing Hong Kong the next day, the carrier steamed north to Subic Bay, where she provisioned, fueled, and set her course for Korea.

The first carrier air strike of the Korean conflict was launched from Valley Forge's flight deck on 3 July 1950. Outnumbered and outgunned, the South Korean troops battled desperately against veritable tides of Communist invaders. Waves of Douglas AD Skyraiders and Vought F4U Corsairs struck the North Korean airfield at Pyongyang while Grumman F9F-2 Panthers flew top cover. Tons of bombs from the attacking American planes pounded hangars, fuel storages, parked Russian-built aircraft, and railroad marshaling yards. Meanwhile, the escorting Panthers downed two Yak-9s and damaged another.


In spite of attempts by United Nations forces to interdict the steady flow of Communist infantry and armor, the North Koreans steadily pushed the defending South Koreans back into a tenuous defense perimeter around Pusan. On 18 September 1950, the American landing at Inchon outflanked the Communist forces while United Nations forces broke out of the perimeter to the south.


During this period of bitter struggle, Valley Forge's Air Group 5 made numerous daily strikes against North Korean targets. Troop concentrations, defensive positions, and supply and communications lines were repeatedly "fair game" for the bombs of the Skyraiders and the rocket and cannon fire from the Panthers and Corsairs. Over 5,000 combat sorties delivered 2,000 tons of bombs and rockets between 3 July and 19 November 1950.

Returning to San Diego for overhaul, Valley Forge arrived on the west coast on 1 December 1950, only to have sailing orders urgently direct her back to Korea. In the interim, between the carrier's leaving station and her projected west coast overhaul, the Communist Chinese had entered the fray, launching a powerful offensive which sent United Nations' troops reeling back to the southward. Accordingly, Valley Forge hurriedly embarked a new air group, replenished, and sailed on 6 December for the Far East.


Rendezvousing with Task Force 77 three days before Christmas of 1950, Valley Forge recommenced air strikes on the 23rd, the first of three months of concentrated air operations against the advancing Communist juggernaut. During her second deployment, the ship launched some 2,580 sorties in which her planes delivered some 1,500 tons of bombs.


On 11 December 1951, Valley Forge launched her first air strikes in railway interdiction. Rockets, cannon fire, and bombs from the ship's embarked air group, and those of her sister ships also on station, hammered at North Korean railway targets, lines, junctions, marshaling yards, and rolling stock. Anything that could possibly permit the enemy to move his forces rapidly by rail came under attack. By June, Valley Forge's train-busting Skyraiders, Corsairs, and Panthers had severed Communist rail lines in at least 5,346 places.


Valley Forge returned to the United States in the summer of 1952 but was again deployed to the Far East late in the year. In October 1952, she was reclassified an attack carrier and redesignated CVA-45. On 2 January 1953, she began the new year with strikes against Communist supply dumps and troop billeting areas behind the stalemated front lines. While the propeller-driven Skyraiders and Corsairs delivered tons of bombs on their targets, the jet Panthers conducted flak-suppression missions using a combination of cannon fire and rockets to knock out troublesome enemy gun sites. This close teamwork between old and new style planes made possible regular strikes against Korea's eastern coastlines and close-support missions to aid embattled Marine Corps or Army forces on the often bitterly contested battle lines.


Valley Forge air groups dropped some 3,700 tons of bombs on the enemy before the ship left the Korean coast and returned to San Diego on 25 June 1953.

After a west-coast overhaul, Valley Forge was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet and reclassified, this time to an antisubmarine warfare support carrier, and redesignated CVS-45. She was refitted for her new duties at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and then rejoined the Fleet in January 1954. The face-lifted carrier soon got underway to conduct exercises to develop and perfect the techniques and capabilities needed to carry out her new duties.


Conducting local operations and antisubmarine warfare exercises, Valley Forge operated off the east coast through late 1956, varied by a visit to England and the eastern Atlantic for exercises late in 1954. Her operations during this period also included midshipman and reservists' training cruises and occasional visits to the Caribbean.


Carrying out training operations out of Guantanamo Bay in 1957, Valley Forge accomplished a naval "first" in October, when she embarked a Marine detachment and twin-engined HR2S-1 Mojave helicopters. Experimenting with the new concept of "vertical envelopment," Valley Forge's helicopters air-lifted the marines to the beachhead and then returned them to the ship in history's first ship-based air assault exercise. On 1 April 1958, Rear Admiral John S. Thach — the pilot who early in World War II, devised the famous "Thach Weave" fighter tactic which was used so successfully by American Navy pilots against the Japanese Zero fighter planes — hoisted his two-star flag to the carrier's main as the ship became flagship of Task Group (TG) Alpha. This group, built around Valley Forge, included eight destroyers, two submarines, and one squadron each of antisubmarine helicopters, planes, and a land based Lockheed P2V Neptune. A significant development in naval tactics, TG Alpha concentrated solely on developing and perfecting new devices and techniques for countering the potential menace of enemy submarines in an age of nuclear propulsion and deep-diving submersibles.

Valley Forge remained engaged in operations with TG Alpha through the early fall of 1959, when she then entered the New York Naval Shipyard for repairs. The ship returned to sea on 21 January 1960, bound for maneuvers in the Caribbean. During her ensuing operations, the carrier served as the launching platform for Operation Skyhook. This widely publicized scientific experiment involved the launching of three of the largest balloons ever fabricated, carrying devices to measure and record primary cosmic ray emissions at an altitude of between 18 and 22 miles above the earth's surface.


Following a deployment in the eastern Mediterranean — during which she called at ports in Spain, Italy, and France — Valley Forge returned to Norfolk to resume local operations on 30 August, continuing antisubmarine exercises as flagship of TG Alpha through the fall of 1961. The carrier participated in a Project Mercury operation, and her helicopters retrieved the space capsule launched by a rocket from Cape Canaveral on 19 December. Two days later off Cape Hatteras, in response to an SOS, Valley Forge sped to tanker SS Pine Ridge, which had broken in two during a storm. While the survivors of the stricken ship clung tenaciously to the after half of the tanker, the carrier's helicopters shuttled back and forth to pick up the men in distress. Soon, all 28 survivors were safe on board Valley Forge.


Entering the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 6 March 1961 for overhaul and modification to an amphibious assault ship, Valley Forge was reclassified as LPH-8 on 1 July 1961 and, soon thereafter, began refresher training in the Caribbean. She returned to Hampton Roads in September and trained in the Virginia capes area with newly embarked, troop-carrying helicopters. In October, the ship, as a part of the Atlantic Fleet's ready amphibious force, proceeded south to waters off Hispaniola and stood by from 21 to 25 October and from 18 to 29 November to be ready to evacuate any American nationals from the Dominican Republic should that measure become necessary during the struggle for power which afflicted that nation in the months following the assassination of the long established dictator, Generalissimo Rafael Trujillo.

After returning home late in the year, Valley Forge sailed from Norfolk on 6 January 1962, bound for San Diego and duty with the Pacific Fleet. At the end of three months of training off the west coast, the amphibious assault ship steamed westward for duty in the Far East with the 7th Fleet. With the flag of the Commander, Ready Amphibious Task Group, 7th Fleet at her main, Valley Forge closed the coast of Indochina under orders to put ashore her embarked Marines. In Laos, Communist Pathet Lao forces had renewed their assault on the Royal Laotian Government; and the latter requested President Kennedy to land troops to avert a feared, full-scale Communist invasion of the country. The amphibious assault ship airlifted her Marines into the country on 17 May; and, when the crisis had abated a few weeks later, carried them out again in July. For the remainder of 1962, the ship operated in the Far East before returning to the west coast of the United States to spend the first half of 1963 in amphibious exercises off the coast of California and in the Hawaiian Islands.


Valley Forge entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard on 1 July 1963 for a Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization overhaul, including the installation of improved electronics and facilities for transporting and handling troops and troop helicopters. Putting to sea again on 27 January 1964, the newly modernized assault ship rejoined the fleet and, following local operations and training, departed Long Beach once more for another WestPac deployment.


She stopped at Pearl Harbor and Okinawa, en route to Hong Kong, and then steamed to Taiwan. In June, she joined ships of other SEATO navies in amphibious exercises and then visited the Philippines, where in July she was awarded the Battle Efficiency "E."


On 2 August 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked destroyer USS Maddox (DD-731) in the Gulf of Tonkin. Valley Forge then spent 57 days at sea off the Vietnamese coast in readiness to land her Marines should the occasion demand.


Returning, via Subic Bay, Okinawa, and Midway, to Long Beach on 5 November, Valley Forge made two round-trip voyages to Okinawa carrying Marines and aircraft before commencing a WestPac deployment in the South China Sea in the fall of 1965. With a Marine landing force embarked and flying the flag of Commander, Amphibious Squadron 3, Valley Forge conducted intensive training exercises in the Philippines while preparing for service in Vietnam.


In mid-November, the amphibious assault ship stood by in reserve during Operation Blue Marlin and then airlifted her Marines ashore for Operations Dagger Thrust and Harvest Moon before spending the Christmas season "in the crisp freshness of an Okinawan winter." After embarking a fresh Marine battalion landing force and a medium transport helicopter squadron, she sailed for Vietnam on 3 January 1966. Following pauses at Subic Bay and Chu Lai, Valley Forge arrived off the Vietnamese coast on the 27th and, two days later, launched her landing forces to take part in Operation Double Eagle.


Remaining on station off the coast, the ship provided logistic and medical support with inbound helicopters supplying the men ashore and outbound "choppers" evacuating casualties for medical treatment back on the ship. Reembarking her landing team on 17 February 1966, Valley Forge proceeded northward, while her Marines took a breather. The second phase of Double Eagle commenced two days later, and the ship's Marines again went ashore via helicopter to attack enemy concentrations.


By February 26th, the operation had drawn to a close; and Valley Forge reembarked her Marines and sailed for Subic Bay. Following a round trip to Danang, the carrier steamed back to the west coast for an overhaul and local training along the California coast before again deploying to WestPac. Upon her return to Vietnamese waters, the ship took part in operations off Danang before she again returned to the United States at the end of the year 1966.


After undergoing a major overhaul and conducting training off the west coast, Valley Forge returned to the Far East again in November 1967 and took part in Operation Fortress Ridge, launched on 21 December. Air-landing her troops at a point just south of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), the ship provided continual supply and medical evacuation (MedEvac) services for this "search and destroy" operation aimed at eliminating North Vietnamese and Viet Cong units which threatened American and South Vietnamese troops. The completion of this operation on the day before Christmas 1967 did not mark the end of Valley Forge's operations for this year, however, as she was again in action during Operation Beaver Tooth, near Quang Tri in northern South Vietnam.


Upkeep at Danang preceded her deployment to her new station off Dong Hoi, where she provided her necessary resupply and MedEvac support for Allied troops operating against communist forces. Operation Badger Catch, commencing on 23 January 1968 and ext ending through 18 February, took off for the Cua Viet River, south of the DMZ, before the ship set her course for Subic Bay and much-needed maintenance.

Subsequently returning to the fray in Vietnam, Valley Forge operated as "Hero Haven" for Marine helicopter units whose shore bases had come under attack by Communist ground and artillery fire. During Operation Badger Catch II, from 6 March to 14 April 1968, Marine "choppers" landed on board the carrier while their land bases were being cleared of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops. Following a routine refit at Subic Bay, the ship took part in Operation Badger Catch III from 28 April to 3 June 1968. She then moved to Danang and prepared for Operation Swift Saber which took place from 7 to 14 June. Landing Exercise Hilltop XX occupied the ship early in July. Then Valley Forge transferred her Marines and helicopters to USS Tripoli (LPH- 10) and headed home via Hong Kong, Okinawa, and Pearl Harbor. She reached Long Beach on 3 August.


Following five months on the west coast which included local operations and an overhaul, the amphibious assault ship returned to the Far East for the last time departing Long Beach on 30 January 1969.


At San Diego, she embarked a cargo of Marine CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters for delivery to transport squadrons in Vietnam. The ship stopped at Pearl Harbor and paused near Guam while one of her helicopters carried a stricken crewman ashore for urgent surgery. She loaded special landing-force equipment at Subic Bay and embarked the Commander, Special Landing Forces Bravo and a squadron of Marine CH-46 transport helicopters. On 10 March 1969, the carrier began operating in support of Operation Defiant Measure, steaming off Danang as her helicopters flew missions "on the beach." This was completed by the 18th, and Valley Forge debarked her helicopters before steaming to Subic Bay for upkeep.


After her return to Danang on 3 May 1969, the amphibious assault ship reembarked her helicopters as well as part of a battalion landing team of Marines who had been taking part in fighting ashore. The carrier continued to operate in the Danang area during the weeks that followed, her helicopters flying frequent support missions, and her Marines preparing for further combat landings.


During late May and early June, Valley Forge received visits from Secretary of the Navy John Chafee and Vice Admiral William F. Bringle, Commander 7th Fleet. She offloaded her Marines at Danang on 10 June 1969 and embarked a battalion landing team for transportation to Okinawa, where she arrived on the 16th. The landing team conducted amphibious exercises with Valley Forge for 11 days and boarded the ship for a voyage to Subic Bay where they continued the training process. Valley Forge returned to the Danang area on 8 July and resumed flying helicopter support for Marine ground forces in the northern I Corps area. The ship took evasive action to avoid an approaching typhoon and then began preparations for an amphibious operation.


Operation Brave Armada began on 24 July 1969 with a helicopter-borne assault on suspected Viet Cong and North Vietnamese positions in Quang Ngai Province. Valley Forge remained in the Quang Ngai-Chu Lai area to support this attack until its completion on 7 August. She then steamed to Danang to debark her Marines. General Leonard F. Chapman, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, visited Valley Forge that same day. The ship sailed for Okinawa on the 13th arriving four days later and debarking her helicopter squadron before getting underway again to evade another typhoon. She proceeded to Hong Kong, dropping anchor there on 22 August 1969, the day on which she received a message announcing her forthcoming inactivation. She returned to Danang on 3 September to load material for shipment to the United States and sailed that evening for Yokosuka for three days of upkeep before leaving the Far East.


Valley Forge got underway from Yokosuka on 11 September 1969 and anchored at Long Beach on the 22nd. After leave and upkeep, she offloaded ammunition and equipment at Seal Beach and San Diego. The ship returned to Long Beach on 31 October to prepare for decommissioning. This process continued through the new year; and, on 16 January 1970, Valley Forge was placed out of commission. She was turned over to the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at San Diego. Her name was struck from the Navy list on the same day. After the failure of attempts to raise funds for using the ship as a museum, she was sold on 29 October 1971 to the Nicolai Joffre Corp., of Beverly Hills, Calif., for scrap.

---

KIT Over n Out

 

[Super Falcon]

thanx for info sir thanx alot

 

[courageneverdies]

USS Philippine Sea (CV 47) ​

11 May 1946 / 28 Dec 1958

Stricken from the Navy List 1 Dec 1969.

displacement: 27,100 tons
length: 855 feet 10 inches
beam: 93 feet
draft: 39 feet
speed: 30 knots
complement: 3,310 crew
armament: 12 5-inch guns, 44 40mm guns
class: Essex

Philippine Sea (CV-47) was laid down by the Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Mass. 19 August 1944, launched 5 September 1945 sponsored by Mrs. Albert B. Chandler; and commissioned 11 May 1946, Capt. D.S. Cornwell in command. In June, the ship went to Quonset Point, R.I., for initial training of the crew. By September 1946, she began her shakedown cruise in the Caribbean area with Air Group 20 embarked.


Upon returning from shakedown exercises, Philippine Sea was ordered back to Boston to prepare for the Navy's Antarctic Expedition, Operation Highjump. On 29 January 1947, from a position 660 miles off the Antarctic continent, Philippine Sea launched the first of six R4D transport aircraft which she had ferried from Norfolk, Va., as part of Operation Highjump. The first plane off, which was also the first carrier takeoff for an R4D, was piloted by Cmdr. William M. Hawkes and carried Rear Adm. Richard E. Byrd and his party from the ship to begin their polar explorations from Little America.

During the remainder of 1947, Philippine Sea operated in the Atlantic and Caribbean. In the spring of 1948, the ship was deployed to the Mediterranean to join Vice Adm. Forrest Sherman's 6th Fleet. With Air Group 9 on board, Philippine Sea showed the American ensign in France, Greece, Tunisia and Sicily. In June 1948, the huge carrier returned to the United States.


During the summer, Philippine Sea was engaged in developing doctrine for carrier control approach landings, the sea going equivalent of ground control approach. November 1948 found her exploring the lower rim of the Arctic Circle in a cold weather operation designed to test planes, ships, and equipment.


In January 1949 the ship was again ordered to the Mediterranean, with Air Group 7 embarked. Returning at the end of May, the ship went immediately into overhaul at the Boston Naval Shipyard. Early autumn found the ship once more in the Caribbean, "shaking down," this time with Air Group 1. Operational development projects with jet fighters and task force exercises in the North Atlantic kept the ship and her air group busy until the end of the year.


Operating again from her base at Quonset Point, Philippine Sea was employed during the winter of 1950 in qualifying carrier pilots and, for part of February and most of March, took part in extensive fleet exercises in the Atlantic and Caribbean. April and May were taken up with demonstration cruises for guests of the Secretary of the Navy, the Armed Forces Industrial College, Air War College, and the Armed Forces Staff College.


On 24 May 1950, Philippine Sea sailed from Norfolk, Va., passed through the Panama Canal, and arrived at her new homeport of San Diego, Calif., to become a welcome addition to the Pacific Fleet.

With the outbreak of war in Korea, Philippine Sea was ordered to Pearl Harbor. She sailed for Hawaiian waters on 5 July 1950 with Air Group 11 embarked. The ship departed for the forward area 24 July. Leaving Pearl Harbor, Philippine Sea sailed at full speed for the western Pacific, reaching Okinawa, 1 August. Responding to an urgent request by Lt. Gen. Walton H. Walker, commanding general of the U.S. Eighth Army, the carriers of Task Force 77 began the unaccustomed task of providing tactical air support for Army forces holding the hard-pressed Pusan perimeter. Philippine Sea, which joined the combat operations on 5 August, along with the escort carrier USS Badoeng Strait (CVE 116) were the first carrier reinforcements to arrive in the Far East and the beginning of carrier deployments to the combat area that, by the conflict's end, totaled 11 attack, one light, and five escort carriers being sent into action — some for two or three tours.


Philippine Sea sailed into action off Korea as flagship of Task Force 77 on 5 August 1950. She launched air strikes to rain thousands of tons of bombs, rockets, and napalm down on strategic targets. As many as 140 sorties a day were launched from the carrier. Except for time out to re-arm, refuel, or repair for brief periods, Philippine Sea was in action continuously for almost three years.


Operating with other carriers of Task Force 77, she hit North Korean rail and communication centers from Seoul to Wonsan in September. In the Yellow Sea she put on a major performance softening up the Inchon invasion coast. D-Day, 15 September 1950, found Philippine Sea planes ranging far inland to destroy any attempts by the enemy to bring up reinforcements. Following the initial assault, she continued to provide close and deep support for the thrust inland to Seoul.


On 9 November 1950, Lt. Cmdr. W.T. Amen, flying an F-9F2 Panther from Philippine Sea, downed a MiG-15 to become the first Navy pilot to destroy an enemy jet fighter.

Eight Chinese Communist regular troops, part of approximately 300,000 Chinese which entered North Korea largely undetected by U.N. forces, attack 1st Marine Division positions to the west and south of the Chosin Reservoir on 27 November. The Marines hold their ground but the Chinese cut the road between the Marines' main body at Yudam-Ni, division headquarters 14 miles to the south at Hagaru-Ri, and from there south. Two days later, the X Corps commander, Army Maj. Gen. Edward Almond, orders the 1st Marine Division to fall back to Hamhung. Philippine Sea planes dived through snow and sleet to hold back the Chinese. Throughout the long retreat from the Yalu, the ships' Panther jets, Skyraider attack bombers and Corsair fighter bombers blasted the path for the trapped Marines. Hill after hill was cleared all the way to Hungnam where Philippine Sea and other carriers of Task Force 77 sent up a virtual aerial umbrella. From 10 through 24 December, hundreds of carrier planes swarmed over the tiny evacuation perimeter around the port of Hungnam from which 150,000 troops and civilians came to the sea.


Putting into Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, 26 March 1951 for rest and repair, Philippine Sea exchanged Air Group 11 for Air Group 2 (CVG 2) from USS Valley Forge (CV-45). The same date as the transfer, 28 March 1951, Philippine Sea became flagship of Vice Adm. H. M. Martin, Commander 7th Fleet and the ship immediately departed with CVG 2 for another tour in Korea.


From the Sea of Japan in April 1951, Philippine Sea led Task Force 77 and other elements of the 7th Fleet down through the Strait of Formosa to the South China Sea. From the Formosa Strait, planes paraded over the island of Formosa in an attempt to bolster Nationalist morale. After this demonstration of strength, the force steamed back to Korea three days later, in time to lend close air support to the embattled ground forces. Every Chinese offensive of the spring of 1951 suffered staggering losses in personnel as planes of Philippine Sea peppered the Reds with deadly fragmentation bombs.

Philippine Sea returned from her operations in Korean waters and the western Pacific to arrive at San Francisco, 9 June 1951. Yard availability and operations along the West Coast continued until the ship departed from San Diego, 31 December. On 19 December 1951, Philippine Sea was the site of a test of emergency assembly capabilities for nuclear weapons. This marked the initial and successful introduction of special weapons into the Pacific fleet. Arriving at Pearl Harbor 8 January 1952, Philippine Sea continued on to Yokosuka, Japan, arriving 20 January.


Again on the line for her third tour in Korea, Philippine Sea remained in action until relieved in late July 1952. On 23 June, 35 AD Skyraiders and 35 F-9F2 Panther jets from USS Boxer (CV 21), USS Princeton (CV 37) and Philippine Sea joined Air Force Thunderjets in an attack on the heavily defended hydroelectric power plant at Suiho, North Korea, the fourth largest such facility in the world. The plant was completely knocked out. The raid was part of a two-day aerial offensive against North Korea's 13 major power plants.


Philippine Sea returned to San Diego 8 August 1952. Her designation was changed to CVA in October. With Carrier Air Group 9 embarked, she got underway once more for the Far East on 15 December 1952. Air strikes from the carrier cut Communist supply and transportation arteries. The North Korean offensive, begun at the same time the first truce overtures were extended, marked the beginning of a series of "round the clock" air sorties in support of frontline UN troops.


The ship returned to Alameda Naval Air Station 14 August 1953 to off-load Air Group 9, then entered drydock at Hunter's Point for overhaul. On 9 January 1954, Philippine Sea once more began training off the coast of San Diego. She then headed west, 12 March, for her fourth tour in the Far East. She operated out of Manila.


The most significant event of the cruise occurred 26 July 1954. Communist planes had shot down a Cathay-Pacific Airways passenger liner somewhere near Hainan Island off the Chinese coast 23 July. Philippine Sea was ordered into the area as part of a search mission with the hope that the remaining survivors might be found. While engaged in the search mission, two of the ship's AD Skyraider aircraft were attacked by two Communist fighter aircraft. Under orders to fire only if actually attacked, the Skyraiders returned the fire and shot down the Communist planes. Later this came to be known unofficially as the "Hainan Incident."

The ship returned to San Diego, Calif., in November 1954. Remaining in the area for four months, Philippine Sea conducted extensive training operations off the California coast. She began her fifth cruise of the Far East 1 April 1955 en route Yokosuka. She operated in waters of Japan, Okinawa, and Taiwan. On 15 November, she was redesignated as a CVS. She returned to San Diego, 23 November 1955.


Leave, upkeep, and operations off the southern California coast and in Hawaiian waters followed and in March 1957 she got underway for another WestPac tour. There for only a little over two months, she returned to San Diego and resumed local operations off the west coast in mid-summer. In January 1958, she steamed west on her last 7th Fleet deployment.


Remaining six months, Philippine Sea returned to San Diego 15 July 1958 and commenced inactivation. Decommissioned 28 December 1958 and berthed with the Reserve Fleet at Long Beach, she was redesignated AVT-11, 15 May 1959. Philippine Sea was struck from the Navy List 1 December 1969 and sold for scrapping in March 1971.

---

KIT Over n Out

 

[courageneverdies]

USS Saipan (CVL 48)​

14 Jul 1946 / 14 Jan 1970

Name changed to Arlington 8 Apr 1965 and served as an communications relay ship until decomm. Disposed of, sold by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping 6 Jun 1976.

displacement: 14,500 tons
length: 684 feet
beam: 76 feet 9 inches; extreme width: 115 feet
draft: 28 feet
speed: 33 knots
complement: 1,721 crew
armament: 40 40mm guns
class: Saipan

The first Saipan (CVL-48) was laid down on 10 July 1944 by the New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.; launched on 8 July 1945, sponsored by Mrs. John W. McCormack; and commissioned on 14 July 1946, Capt. John G. Crommelin in command.


Commissioned eleven months after the close of World War II, Saipan trained student pilots out of Pensacola from September 1946 to April 1947 when, reassigned to Norfolk as homeport, she departed the Gulf of Mexico; participated in exercises in the Caribbean; then proceeded to Philadelphia for overhaul. In November, she returned to Pensacola; but, in late December, after training midshipmen, steamed back to the east coast to serve with the Operational Development Force.


In February 1948, however, her work in jet operational techniques, carrier support tactics, and electronic instrument evaluation was interrupted briefly. From 7 to 24 February, she was engaged in transporting the United States delegation to the Venezuelan Presidential inauguration and back. On her return, she conducted local operations off the Virginia Capes, and in April, after a visit to Portsmouth, N.H., she resumed work for the Operational Development Force. On the 18th, she also relieved USS Mindoro (CVE-120) as flagship of Carrier Division 17 (CarDiv 17).


On 19 April 1948, she departed Norfolk for Quonset Point, R.I., where, on 3 May, she embarked Fighter Squadron 17A. Three days later, all squadron pilots had qualified in FH-1 Phantom jets. The squadron became the first carrier-based jet squadron.


Back at Norfolk by the end of the month, Saipan was relieved of flagship duties. In June, she returned to New England waters; and, in July, she commenced overhaul at Norfolk. In December, she resumed local operations. On the 24th, she was ordered to embark two of the Navy's latest type helicopter, the XHJS-1, and three Marine Corps HRP-1 helicopters and proceeded north to Greenland to assist in the rescue of eleven airmen downed on the ice cap. Departing Norfolk on Christmas day, the CVL arrived off Cape Farewell on 28 December 1948 and prepared to launch the helicopters as soon as weather allowed. On the 29th however a C-47, equipped with jet assist takeoff and skis, landed on the ice, took on the marooned airmen and made it out again.


Saipan then returned to Norfolk, arrived on the 31st, and sailed again on 28 January 1949. Steaming south, she conducted exercises out of Guantanamo Bay into March and returned to Hampton Roads on the 10th. From the 11th to the 19th, she conducted operations for the development force; then made a reserve training cruise to Canada. At the end of May, she again commenced work for the Operational Development Force. Three months later, she conducted her second reservist cruise of the year, then qualified Royal Canadian Navy pilots in carrier landings.


From November 1949 to March 1951, Saipan remained on the east coast, operating from the Virginia Capes south. On 6 March 1951, she got underway as flagship, CarDiv 14, and sailed for duty with the 6th Fleet. Deployed for three months, she plied the waters of the western Mediterranean until the end of May, then headed for home. On 8 June, she was back at Norfolk, whence she resumed operations in the western Atlantic from Greenland to the Caribbean.


For over two years, Saipan continued Second Fleet operations, interrupting them for midshipman cruises during the summers of 1952 and 1953 and for an overhaul. In October 1953, she departed the east coast and steamed for the Panama Canal and the Pacific. On 30 October, she arrived at San Diego. She then continued on to Pearl Harbor, Yokosuka, and duty off the coast of Korea in support of the uneasy truce agreement.


Assigned to TF 95, she was primarily engaged in surveillance and reconnaissance missions along the coast and in inspection patrols of the islands just south of the 38th Parallel. In January 1954, she interrupted her patrols to provide air support for Japanese manned LSTs ferrying former Chinese POWs from Inchon to new homes on Formosa. In early February, she participated in amphibious exercises in the Ryukyus, then returned to Inchon to stand by in the event she was needed for an evacuation of Indian troops from Panmunjom.


In March 1954, amphibious exercises took her to the Bonins. She then returned to Japan, but instead of resuming truce patrols, she took on 25 AU-type aircraft and five H19A helicopters at Yokosuka and steamed south. On 18 April, VMA-32 4 pilots flew the AUs off her flight deck and landed them at Tourane (later Danang) Air Base, French Indo-China. There the aircraft were turned over to French forces. Later in the day, Saipan entered the harbor, offloaded spare parts and maintenance personnel, and departed for Manila.


On 20 April 1954, she delivered the helicopters to Air Force personnel in the Philippines; and, at the end of the month, she resumed operations off the coast of Korea. On 8 May, she put into Sasebo, and, through the 24th, remained in Japanese waters. On the 25th, she got underway to return to Norfolk via the Suez Canal. On 20 July, she completed her round the world cruise.


In October 1954, Saipan again sailed south to the Caribbean. Arriving as hurricane "Hazel" hit the Greater Antilles, razing areas of Hispaniola, the carrier was immediately assigned to relief work. From the 13th to the 20th, she delivered food and medical supplies and personnel to isolated areas of Haiti; then, after being honored by the Haitian government, she returned to Norfolk. On 1 November, she entered the shipyard there for overhaul, and, in April 1955, resumed operations with a cruise to the Caribbean.


In June 1955, she was again attached to the aviation training center at Pensacola; and, through the summer, conducted qualification exercises. At the end of September, she was ordered to Mexico to again assist in hurricane relief work. From 1 to 9 October, her helicopters evacuated 5,439 persons marooned on rooftops, trees and other retreats; flew in rescue personnel, and distributed 183,017 pounds of food, water and medical supplies, primarily in the flooded Tampico area. On 12 October, she returned to Pensacola, where she remained until April 1957. On the first of that month, she sailed for Bayonne, N.J., where she began inactivation and was decommissioned on 30 September 1957.


Reclassified AVT-6 on 15 May 1959, Saipan remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until March 1963. She then entered the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co. yard at Mobile to begin conversion to a command ship. Briefly designated CC-3, she was reclassified a Communications Major Relay ship (AGMR-2) on 1 September 1964 while still undergoing conversion. On 8 April 1965, she was renamed Arlington, in honor of Arlington County, Va., the site of one of the Navy's first wireless test stations; and, on 12 August 1966, she completed her conversion. As Arlington (AGMR-2), she sailed for Norfolk where she was recommissioned on 27 August 1966.


Fitting out occupied the remainder of the year. In January 1967, she conducted shakedown exercises in the Caribbean, and, in February, she sailed for the Bay of Biscay and exercises off northern Europe. At the end of March, she returned to Norfolk. In April, she again steamed to the Caribbean. On her return to the Hampton Roads area, she prepared for deployment to the western Pacific.


Departing Norfolk on 7 July 1967, the communications ship transited the Panama Canal and proceeded on to Pearl Harbor, Yokosuka, and Subic Bay, and then, with USS Annapolis (AGMR-1), she rotated on station off Vietnam. During her first patrol in Tonkin Gulf from 21 August to 18 September, she provided reliable message handling facilities for ships of the Seventh Fleet in support of combat operations; and, in addition, assisted ships in repairing and better utilizing their electronic equipment. On returning to the Philippines after her first patrol, Arlington received a new satellite communications terminal; and, on 2 October, she departed Subic for Taiwan.


There for only three days, she continued on to Tonkin Gulf, where she resumed her communications relay duties. At the end of the month, she shifted south to provide communications support to ships in the "Market Time" area off South Vietnam. After 34 days on station, she spent five days in Hong Kong, then returned to Subic Bay, whence she steamed to Tonkin Gulf in early December for her third "Yankee Station" communications patrol. On 27 December 1967, she departed the area and headed north. On 4 January 1968, she arrived at Yokosuka, and, on the 19th, she got underway to return to Vietnam.


Arriving back on "Yankee Station" on the 24th, she departed again on the 26th, participated in exercises in the Sea of Japan; then returned to "Yankee Station."


On station from 13 February to 10 March 1968, she returned to Yokosuka on 14 March, remained until 3 April, and resumed operations in Tonkin Gulf on 10 April. A visit to Sydney followed completion of her April patrol; but, by mid-June, she was back on station. From 20 to 22 July, she again visited Hong Kong, then sailed for Yokosuka.


Between the end of August and mid-November, she completed two more tours on "Yankee Station," and in early December, she got underway for Pearl Harbor. There. at mid-month, she conducted communications tests; and, on the 18th, she departed Hawaii in TF 130, the Manned Spacecraft Recovery Force, Pacific. Acting as primary landing area communications relay ship, she participated in the recovery of Apollo 8 and returned to Pearl Harbor on the 29th. Two days later, she sailed for the Philippines, and, on 17 January 1969, she resumed direct communications support for naval units in Tonkin Gulf. On 6 February, she departed "Yankee Station," and, after upkeep at Yokosuka, conducted operations off southern Japan and in the Ryukyus. Toward the end of March, she sailed for Hong Kong, whence she returned to Vietnam.


Remaining on station from 6 to 14 April 1969, she tested her Apollo communications equipment, and, on the 15th, headed back to Pearl Harbor. On 2 May, she arrived in Hawaii and once again joined TF 130. Again assigned as primary landing area communications relay ship, she departed Pearl Harbor on 11 May and steamed for the Apollo 10 recovery area, some 2,400 miles south of Hawaii. On the 26th, the capsule was recovered and the assigned ships returned to Hawaii. From there, Arlington proceeded to Midway where she provided communications support for the Nixon-Thieu conference on 8 June, and, on the 9th, she sailed west.


On 27 June 1969, the communications ship returned to the Vietnamese coast. On 7 July, however, she was ordered east for her third Apollo recovery mission. Arriving in the recovery area on the 21st, she tested her equipment; and, on the 22nd, moved to Johnston Island. On 23 June 1969, she embarked President Richard M.Nixon for an overnight visit; and, on the 24th, supported the recovery of Apollo 11. Crew and capsule successfully recovered, Arlington headed for Hawaii, and then from there, she steamed to the west coast.


On 21 August 1969, Arlington arrived, for the first time, at her homeport of Long Beach, and four days later shifted to San Diego to begin inactivation. She was decommissioned on 14 January 1970 and berthed with the Inactive Fleet at San Diego. The ship was stricken from the Navy List on 15 August 1975, and was sold by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping on 1 June 1976.


Arlington (AGMR-2) earned seven campaign stars for service off Vietnam.

---

KIT Over n Out

 

[courageneverdies]

USS Wright (CVL 49) ​

9 Feb 1947 /15 Mar 1956

Converted to and commissioned 11 May 1963 as a command ship. Decommissioned 27 May 1970 and disposed of, sold by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping 1 Aug 1980.

displacement: 14,500 tons
length: 684 feet
beam: 76 feet 9 inches; extreme width: 115 feet
draft: 28 feet
speed: 33 knots
complement: 1,787 crew
armament: 40 40mm guns
aircraft: 50+
class: Saipan

The second Wright (CVL-49) was laid down on 21 August 1944 at Camden, N.J., by the New York Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 1 September 1945 (the day before the formal Japanese surrender ceremony on board the battleship USS Missouri (BB- 63) in Tokyo Bay); sponsored by Mrs. Harold S. Miller, a niece of the Wright brothers, and commissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 9 February 1947, Capt. Frank T. Ward in command.


Wright departed Philadelphia on 18 March 1947 and stopped briefly at Norfolk, Va., en route to the Naval Air Training Base at Pensacola, Fla. After her arrival there on 31 March, Wright soon commenced a rigorous schedule of air defense drills and gunnery practice while acting as a qualification carrier for hundreds of student pilots at the Naval Air Training Base, conducting 40 operational cruises — each of between one and four days' duration off the Florida coast. In addition, the carrier embarked a total of 1,081 naval reservists and trained them in a series of three two-week duty tours.


On 3 September 1947, Wright embarked 48 midshipmen for temporary training duty and later welcomed 62 Army officers when she stood out to sea on 15 October in company with USS Forrest Royal (DD-872) to let her guests observe flight operations in the Pensacola area. The exercises included the catapulting of a Grumman F6F type aircraft for rocket-firing operations.


That exercise was her last prior to her departure from Pensacola on 24 October 1947 to return north. She arrived at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard soon thereafter and, from 1 November to 17 December, underwent post-shakedown repairs and alterations before she returned to Pensacola two days before Christmas. She then resumed her regular schedule of pilot qualification training under the operational control of the Chief of Naval Air Training, Commander Air Atlantic. Wright spent the year 1948 engaged in those pilot carrier qualification operations, before she put into the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 26 January 1949 to commence a four-month overhaul.


Following refresher training in Cuban waters, Wright returned to Norfolk on 1 August 1949 and, four days later, shifted to Newport, R.I., for two weeks of antisubmarine warfare (ASW) training in the Narragansett Bay area with submarines and destroyers. She also visited New York City before taking up a steady schedule of carrier qualifications, air defense tactics and exercises out of Quonset Point, R.I.; Key West and Pensacola, Fla. But for 10 days of maneuvers with the Second Task Fleet from 21 to 31 October 1949, she continued that duty until 7 January 1951, when she embarked the last increment of personnel from Fighter Squadron (VF) 14 for temporary duty.


Wright then sailed from Norfolk on 11 January 1951 with a fast carrier task group and reached Gibraltar on the 21st for her first tour of duty with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Wright's first Mediterranean deployment took her from Gibraltar to Oran, Algeria. She then proceeded to Augusta Bay, Sicily; Souda Bay, Crete; Beirut, Lebanon; and Golfe Juan, France, her replenishment and liberty ports during the never-ending cycle of fleet training and readiness exercises with the Sixth Fleet.


Departing Golfe Juan on 19 March 1951, Wright made port at Newport on the 31st. The carrier later entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and underwent an overhaul there before she took part in Atlantic Fleet maneuvers out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; engaged in ASW tactics and carrier operations in Narragansett Bay, received further repairs at the Boston Naval Shipyard, and participated in a convoy exercise that ran from 25 February to 21 March 1952; and ranged from Newport to waters of the Panama Canal Zone and Trinidad in the British West Indies.


As flagship for Carrier Division (CarDiv) 14, Wright sailed on 9 June 1952 in company with four destroyers forming Task Group (TG) 81.4 for ASW operations along the Atlantic seaboard until the 27th, when the ships arrived at New York City. Returning to Quonset Point on 1 July 1952, Wright trained units of the organized naval reserves concurrently with hunter-killer tactics and pilot training in operations out of Narragansett Bay until 26 August. On that day, she set course from Quonset Point and later rendezvoused with Vice Admiral Felix B. Stump's Second Task Fleet en route to northern Europe for combined defense exercises and maneuvers with naval units of other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) navies.


En route, Wright, escorted by Forrest Royal, was detached to ferry men and gear of Marine Night Fighter Squadron (VMF(N)) 114 to Port Lyautey, French Morocco, an operation she completed on 4 September. Two days later, Wright and her escort rejoined the task force; and they reached the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, on 10 September.


Three days later, Wright put to sea with two British destroyers acting as her plane guard for NATO Operation Mainbrace. She conducted air defense maneuvers and tactics evolutions with the British carriers HMS Illustrious (R-87) and HMS Eagle (R-05) en route to Rotterdam, Holland, where the force arrived on 25 September. On 29 September, Wright departed Rotterdam, bound for the United States, and arrived at Newport on 9 October 1952.


That day, she embarked Rear Admiral W. L. Erdman, Commander, Carrier Division 4, and spent the next few months engaged in carrier qualification duties in waters ranging from Newport to the Virginia capes, before she began her second deployment to the Mediterranean. She reached Golfe Juan on 21 February 1953 and operated with the Sixth Fleet until 31 March, when she sailed for home, via the Azores.


Wright returned to Newport and, after a rigorous schedule of training in Narragansett Bay, sailed on 5 May 1953 for the Gulf of Mexico. During that training cruise, she visited Houston, Tex., where she hosted some 14,000 visitors on 16 and 17 May. Returning to Quonset Point on 28 May, Wright operated locally for another month before shifting south for a stint of operations out of Mayport, Fla.


Wright was overhauled at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard from 31 July to 21 November 1953 and then conducted refresher training in Cuban waters from 4 January to 16 February 1954. Next, after departing Davisville, R.I., on 5 April, Wright sailed for the Far East — via the Panama Canal, San Diego, Calif., and Pearl Harbor — and reached Yokosuka, Japan, on 28 May. The carrier, with Marine Attack Squadron 211 embarked, operated with the Seventh Fleet off both coasts of Korea and also off Okinawa before she visited Hong Kong from 24 to 30 September. Departing Yokosuka on 15 October 1954, Wright arrived at San Diego on the last day of October and entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard where she remained until 23 February 1955.


At that point, Wright was attached to CarDiv 17, Pacific Fleet, and operated locally out of San Diego until 3 May 1955, when she put to sea as part of TG 7.3, formed around the flagship USS Mount McKinley (AGC-27), for the atomic test, Operation Wigwam, carried out in Pacific waters. Returning to the west coast on 20 May, Wright subsequently cruised to Pearl Harbor briefly before she entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 14 July 1955 to commence preparation for inactivation. After shifting to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., on 17 October, for the final phase of preservation for inactivation, Wright was decommissioned at Puget Sound on 15 March 1956 and assigned to the Bremerton group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet.


During her time in reserve, Wright was reclassified on 15 May 1959, an auxiliary aircraft transport, AVT-7. However, she never served in that role, but remained inactive until 15 March 1962, when she was taken to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for conversion to a command ship and reclassified as CC-2. The conversion, which lasted a year, included extensive alterations to enable the ship to function as a fully equipped mobile command post afloat for top echelon commands and staff for strategic direction of area or world-wide military operations. Facilities were built into the ship for world-wide communications and rapid, automatic exchange, processing, storage, and display of command data. A portion of the former hangar deck space was utilized for special command spaces and the extensive electronics equipment required, while a major portion of the flight deck was utilized for specially designed communications antenna arrays. In addition, facilities were provided to enable the ship to operate three helicopters.

Recommissioned at Puget Sound on 11 May 1963, Capt. John L. Arrington, II, in command, Wright (CC-2) operated locally on trials and training evolutions in the waters off the Pacific Northwest until 3 September, when she departed Seattle and proceeded to San Diego which she reached three days later. For the next three weeks, the ship trained in nearby waters before she returned to Puget Sound on 30 September to commence her post shakedown availability.


Following those repairs and alterations — which took up all of the month of October and most of November — Wright prepared to shift to her new home port of Norfolk, Va. She departed Seattle on 26 November 1963, stopped briefly at San Diego three days later to embark civilian engineers and personnel who were to conduct surveys of communications and air conditioning equipment, and was steaming south off the coast of northern Mexico when she picked up a distress message from the Israeli merchantman, SS Velos, on 1 December. Wright altered course and rendezvoused with Velos later that same day. The command ship's medical officer was flown across to the Israeli ship and treated a seaman suffering from kidney stones. Upon completion of that mission of mercy, Wright resumed her voyage to Balboa.


Transiting the Panama Canal on 7 and 8 December 1963, Wright steamed via St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and moored at the Hampton Roads Army Terminal on 18 December. After a subsequent brief operational period off the Virginia capes, Wright entered port on 21 December and remained there through Christmas and New Year's.


For the next six years, Wright operated out of Norfolk, training to perform her assigned mission as an emergency command post afloat. Regular overhauls performed at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard saw the ship receiving the repairs and alterations that continually improved her capabilities to carry out her task. She operated primarily off the Virginia capes, but ranged as far north as Bar Harbor, Maine, and as far south as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Punta del Este, Uruguay. Her other ports of call included Newport, Fort Lauderdale and Port Everglades, Fla., Boston, New York City, Annapolis, Philadelphia, Norfolk, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On occasion, she alternated on "alert" status with USS Northampton (CC-1).


There were highlights and breaks from the cycle of periods in port and at sea. From 11 to 14 April 1967, Wright lay at anchor off the coast of Uruguay, providing a world-wide communications capability in support of President Lyndon B. Johnson as he attended the Latin American summit conference at Punta del Este. On 8 May 1968, Wright went to the aid of USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7) after that amphibious assault ship had suffered a machinery failure and had gone dead in the water, 180 miles south of Norfolk. She towed the helpless assault ship 84 miles before other ships arrived on the scene to help out. Later that same year, Wright received the coveted Ney award in the large mess afloat category. That award is given annually to the ship that maintains the highest food standards. During the USS Pueblo (AGER-2) crisis in February 1969, Wright — while en route to Port Everglades, Fla. — was hurriedly recalled to Norfolk and, upon her arrival there, stood by, on alert.


Ultimately decommissioned on 27 May 1970, Wright was placed in reserve at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The ship was stricken from the Navy List on 1 December 1977, and sold by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping on 1 August 1980.

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KIT Over n Out

 

[courageneverdies]

USS Forrestal (CVA 59) ​

1 Oct 1955 /30 Sep 1993

Stricken from the Navy List 11 Sep 1993; At the Naval Education and Training Center, Newport, R.I., 14 Sept. 1998 on hold as museum donation.

displacement: 59,900 tons
length: 1,046 feet
beam: 129 feet 4 inches; extreme width: 252 feet
draft: 28 feet
speed: 33 knots
complement: 4,000+ crew
armament: 8 5-inch guns
class: Forrestal


The first of the "supercarriers," Forrestal (CVA-59) was launched 11 December 1954 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. Newport News, Va.; sponsored by Mrs. James V. Forrestal, widow of Secretary of Defense Forrestal; and commissioned 1 October 1955, Capt. Roy L. Johnson in command.


Forrestal represented more than one step in the evolutionary chain of modern carrier aviation. Besides her sheer size and weight, she was the first built with an angled flight deck, which allows simultaneous takeoffs and landings. She also featured four catapults and four deck edge elevators to move aircraft from the hangar bays to the flight deck.


From her homeport, Norfolk, Va., Forrestal spent the first year of her commissioned service in intensive training operations off the Virginia Capes and in the Caribbean. Cmdr. Ralph L. Werner made the first arrested landing on January 3, 1956. An important assignment was training aviators in the use of her advanced facilities, a duty on which she often operated out of Mayport, Fla. On 7 November 1956, she put to sea from Mayport to operate in the eastern Atlantic during the Suez Crisis ready to enter the Mediterranean should her great strength be necessary. She returned to Norfolk 12 December to prepare for her first deployment with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, for which she sailed 15 January 1957.


On this, as on her succeeding tours of duty in the Mediterranean, Forrestal visited many ports to allow dignitaries and the general public to come aboard and view the tremendous power for peace she represented. For military observers, she staged underway demonstrations to illustrate her capacity to bring air power to and from the sea in military operations on any scale. She returned to Norfolk 22 July 1957 for exercises off the North Carolina coast in preparation for her first NATO operation, Operation Strikeback, in the North Sea. This deployment, between 3 September and 22 October, found her visiting Southampton England, as well as drilling in the highly important task of coordinating United States naval power with that of other NATO nations.


The next year found Forrestal participating in a series of major fleet exercises, as well as taking part in experimental flight operations. During the Lebanon Crisis of summer 1958, the great carrier was again called upon to operate in the eastern Atlantic to back up naval operations in the Mediterranean. She sailed from Norfolk 11 July to embark an air group at Mayport two days later, then patrolled the Atlantic until returning to Norfolk 17 July 1958.


On her second tour of duty in the Mediterranean, from 2 September 1958 to 12 March 1959, Forrestal again combined a program of training, patrol, and participation in major exercises with ceremonial, hospitality and public visiting. Her guest list during this cruise was headed by Secretary of Defense N. H. McElroy. Returning to Norfolk, she continued the never ending task of training new aviators, constantly maintaining her readiness for instant reaction to any demand for her services brought on by international events. Visitors during the year included King Hussein of Jordan.

From 1958 through 1966, Forrestal alternated between the Second Fleet in the Atlantic and Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. She again brought her imposing presence to the 6th Fleet between 28 January 1960 and 31 August, visiting the ports usual to a Mediterranean deployment as well as Split, Yugoslavia. Again she was open for visitors at many ports, as well as taking part in the patrol and training schedule of the Sixth Fleet. Upon her return to the United States, she resumed her schedule of east coast and Caribbean operations for the remainder of 1960.


Forrestal made history in November 1963 when on the 8th, 21st and 22nd, Lt. James H. Flatley III and his crew members, Lt. Cmdr. "Smokey" Stovall and Aviation Machinist's Mate (Jets) 1st Class Ed Brennan, made 21 full-stop landings and takeoffs in a C-130F Hercules aboard the ship. The tests were conducted 500 miles out in the North Atlantic off the coast of Massachusetts. In so doing, Forrestal and the C-130 set a record for the largest and heaviest airplane landing on a Navy aircraft carrier. The Navy was trying to determine if the big Hercules could serve as a "Super-COD" — a "Carrier On-board Delivery" aircraft. The problem was there was no aircraft which could provide resupply to a carrier in mid ocean. The Hercules was stable, reliable, and had a long cruising range and high payload.

The tests were more than successful. At 85,000 pounds, the C-130F came to a complete stop within 267 feet, and at the maximum load, the plane used only 745 feet for take-off. The Navy concluded that with the C-130 Hercules, it would be possible to lift 25,000 pounds of cargo 2,500 miles and land it on a carrier. However, the idea was considered a bit too risky for routine COD operations. The C-2A Greyhound program was developed and the first of these planes became operational in 1965. For his effort, the Navy awarded Lt. Flatley the Distinguished Flying Cross.

In June 1967, Forrestal departed Norfolk for duty in waters off Vietnam. As the huge ship cut a wake through the calm waters of the Gulf of Tonkin on 29 July 1967, the hot, tropical sun beat down from a clear sky. Forrestal had been launching aircraft from her flight deck on strikes against an enemy whose coastline was only a few miles over the horizon. For four days, the planes of Attack Carrier Air Wing 17 had been launched on, and recovered from, about 150 missions against targets in North Vietnam. On the ship's four-acre flight deck, her crewmen went about the business at hand, the business of accomplishing the second launch of the fifth day in combat.

It was just about 10:50 a.m. (local time). The launch that was scheduled for a short time later was never made. Lt. Cmdr. John S. McCain III, later a prisoner of war in Vietnam and still later U.S. Senator from Arizona, said later he heard a "whooshy" sound then a "low-order explosion" in front of him. Suddenly, two A-4s ahead of his plane were engulfed in flaming jet fuel — JP-5 — spewed from them. A bomb dropped to the deck and rolled about six feet and came to rest in a pool of burning fuel.


The awful conflagration, which was to leave 132 Forrestal crewmen dead, 62 more injured and two missing and presumed dead, had begun. The entire nation felt the tragedy, and Life magazine reported that "in five minutes, everyone became a man." The ship returned to Norfolk for extensive repairs.


Forrestal deployed to Mediterranean waters four time between 1968 and 1973, she sped to Tunisia for rescue operations in the flooded Medjerda River Valley near Tunis.


The ship logged three more Mediterranean deployments between 1973 and 1975. On 22 July 1974, as a result of a conflict between Turkish and Greek Cypriot forces on Cyprus, the U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus Roger Davies requested the evacuation of U.S. citizens from that island nation. In a joint Navy-Marine Corps effort, HMM-162 from the Sixth Fleet amphibious assault ship USS Inchon (LPH 12) evacuated 466 people, 384 of them U.S. citizens, in only five hours. Forrestal provided air cover for that operation.


In 1975, Forrestal was selected to be host ship for the International Naval Review in New York City on the nation's Bicentennial. On July 4, 1976, on Forrestal's flight deck, President Gerald Ford rang in the Bicentennial and reviewed over 40 "Tall Ships" from countries around the world.


Shortly after the review, Forrestal participated in a special shock test. It involved the detonation of high explosives near the hull to determine if a capital ship could withstand the strain of close quarter combat and still remain operational.


In September 1977, following a nine month overhaul, Forrestal departed Norfolk and shifted homeport to Mayport, Fla. The carrier left Mayport on 13 January 1978 for a three-week at-sea period in the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Range of the Roosevelt Roads Operating Area to complete the third phase of Type Commander's Training (TYT-3), and to undergo the Operational Readiness Evaluation (ORE). Tragedy struck Forrestal on the evening of 15 January as an A-7E Corsair II from VA-81 crashed on the flight deck, killing two deck crewmen and injuring 10 others. The pilot ejected safely and was recovered, suffering only minor injuries. The plane crashed as the pilot attempted to land while the aft portion of the flight deck was crowded with aircraft. The Corsair struck a parked A-7 and an EA-6B before careening across the deck in a ball of flames. A small fire on the aft portion of the deck, caused by fuel spilled during the crash, was extinguished within seconds. At the time of the accident Forrestal was operating about 49 miles off St. Augustine, Fla. A memorial service for the dead was held on board on 19 January. The ship returned to Mayport 3 February.


Forrestal left Mayport for the Mediterranean on 4 April 1978. At 2200 on 8 April, just minutes after the ship had finished a general quarters drill, the crew was called to G.Q. again, but this time it was not a drill; a fire had broken out in the Number Three Main Machinery Room. Freshly painted lagging in Three Main engine room had been set smoldering by hot steam lines. Watch-standers within the space activated an extinguishing system and had the fire out within seconds.


Three days later the crew again was called to respond to another emergency G.Q. At midnight on 11 April, fire was discovered in a catapult steam trunk in the forward part of the ship at about the 01 level, and another fire was found in an adjoining storeroom minutes later. The at-sea fire brigade, working with area repair lockers, had the fires out within the hour.


Forrestal recorded her 227,000th arrested landing on 22 April 1978 while in the Mediterranean. Pilot Lt. j.g. Erick Hitchcock and Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) Lt. j.g. Al Barnet of VF-74 were the crew of the F-4 Phantom that marked the milestone trap.


On 10 May 1978, flooding which began in a pump room in the aft portion of the ship rose to a height of 20 feet before it was controlled and spread into food storage rooms, destroying most of the ship's stocks of fresh milk and produce. Divers from the ship's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team dropped into the pump room to plug the leak. Total damage from the flooding was estimated at $30,000.


From 19 to 29 May 1978, Forrestal participated in Dawn Patrol, the first of three NATO exercises the ship would be involved in during the deployment. Dawn Patrol involved air and ground forces and over 80 ships from six NATO countries. Forrestal's role during the exercise included protecting a Turkish amphibious task group and working with USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and the French carrier Foch to defend against simulated "enemy" ships and aircraft.


During this sea period two separate air crashes on successive days left one pilot dead and another injured. On 24 June 1978, Lt. Cmdr. T. P. Anderson, Operations Officer for Carrier Air Wing Seventeen, was killed when his A-7E Corsair II crashed into the sea during a practice bombing mission. On 25 June a pilot from VA-83, also flying an A-7E, ejected shortly after takeoff, suffering minor injuries. A rescue crew aboard an SH-3D Sea King helicopter from HS-3 recovered the pilot and returned to the ship within eight minutes after the crash. Both accidents occurred as the ship was operating in the Ionian Sea, east of Sicily.


From 4 to 19 September 1978, Forrestal participated in the massive NATO exercise Northern Wedding, which included over 40,000 men, 22 submarines, and 800 rotary and fixed-wing aircraft from nine NATO countries. Northern Wedding, which takes place every four years, practices NATO's ability to reinforce and resupply Europe in times of tension or war. During the exercise Forrestal and the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal headed separate task groups, steaming in a two-carrier formation to gain sea control and deploying their aircraft in support of mock amphibious landings in the Shetland Islands and Jutland, Denmark.


From 28 September to 10 October, Forrestal participated in Display Determination, the third and final NATO exercise of the deployment. The operation, involving ships, aircraft, and personnel from eight NATO countries, was designed to practice rapid reinforcement and resupply of the southern European region in times of tension or war. Forrestal arrived in Rota on 11 October for the last overseas port stop of the deployment.


On 13 October 1978, the ship put to sea to conduct a one-day exercise with a task group of deploying U.S. ships headed by the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-60). Air Wing Seventeen's planes conducted mock attacks on the task group to allow the ships to practice anti-air warfare. Forrestal returned to Rota late in the evening on the 13th.


Before dawn on 15 October, Forrestal departed Rota and out-chopped from the Sixth Fleet, having been relieved by Saratoga. On the homeward transit, Forrestal took an extreme northerly course as part of a special operation code-named Windbreak. Commander Second Fleet, Vice Adm. Wesley L. McDonald, embarked in Forrestal for the exercise. Windbreak was designed to introduce U.S. sailors and equipment to relatively unfamiliar waters and conditions, and to gauge Soviet interest in U.S. ships in transit to and from the Mediterranean. During the exercise, Forrestal traveled as far north as 62 degrees latitude, 150 miles south of Iceland, encountering seas to 34 feet, winds in excess of 70 knots, and a wind chill factor that drove the temperature as far down as 0 degrees. Also participating in Windbreak were the guided missile cruiser USS Harry E. Yarnell (CG-l7) and the destroyer USS Arthur W. Radford (DD-968).


Forrestal returned to Mayport on 26 October 1978. On 13 November Forrestal commenced a four-month period of upkeep and repair known as an Extended Selected Restricted Availability (ESRA), to be conducted as the ship was moored alongside the carrier pier in Mayport. Forrestal ended 1978 as she had started it, moored to the carrier pier in Mayport.


After completing two more Mediterranean cruises, she celebrated her silver anniversary in October 1980.


On 2 March 1981, Forrestal began her 16th Mediterranean deployment and second quarter century of naval service. During the Syria/Israel missile crisis, Forrestal maintained a high state of readiness for 53 consecutive days at sea. In a Gulf of Sidra exercise, two Libyan aircraft were shot down after firing upon F-14s from USS Nimitz (CVN 68) over international waters. Forrestal aircraft made more than 60% of all the intercepts of Libyan planes. After departing the Mediterranean she operated above the Arctic Circle as part of NATO Ocean Venture '81.


After a repair period, Forrestal deployed for her 17th Mediterranean cruise on 8 June 1982, and operated in the eastern Mediterranean in support of the Lebanon Contingency Force of 800 U.S. Marines in Beirut. On 12 September 1982, after transiting the Suez Canal for the first-time in her 28-year history, she entered the Indian Ocean. This marked the first time that Forrestal had operated with Seventh Fleet since the 1967 Vietnam cruise.


Forrestal completed the five and one-half month deployment with a nighttime arrival at Mayport on November 16 and immediately began preparing for the Service Life Extension Program (SLEP). The ship shifted homeport to Philadelphia, Penn., on 18 January 1983, and embarked on the 28-month, $550 million SLEP, designed to extend the life of U.S. aircraft carriers another 15 to 20 years.


During Forrestal's SLEP the ship was completely emptied and most major equipment was removed for rework or replacement. Forrestal's successful SLEP period was completed on time when the ship left Philadelphia on 20 May 1985. After completing a four-day transit to her homeport of Mayport, Fla., Forrestal immediately began a workup cycle in preparation for her first deployment in over four years.


Forrestal departed Mayport on 2 June 1986, on her 18th deployment. During this cruise, Forrestal aircraft frequently operated in the international airspace of the Tripoli Flight region, the international air traffic control sector of Libya. Forrestal also participated in Operation Sea Wind, a joint U.S.-Egyptian training exercise and Display Determination, which featured low-level coordinated strikes and air combat maneuvering training over Turkey.


In 1987, Forrestal went through yet another period of pre-deployment workups. This included refresher training, carrier qualifications, and a six-week deployment to the North Atlantic to participate in Ocean Safari '87. In this exercise, Forrestal operated with NATO forces in the fjords of Norway.


Forrestal departed on her 19th major deployment on 25 April 1988. She steamed directly to the North Arabian Sea via the Suez Canal in support of America's Earnest Will operations in the region. She spent 108 consecutive days at sea before her first liberty port. During the five and one-half month deployment, Forrestal operated in three ocean areas and spent only 15 days in-port. She returned on 7 October 1988, and received the Meritorious Unit Citation for her superior operational performance during the deployment.

After a brief stand down period followed by local operations, Forrestal participated in New York City's Fleet Week in May 1989, and then commenced preparations for her next deployment.


Forrestal's departure for her 20th major deployment was delayed when a fire caused major damage to a primary command and control trunk space. Through the efforts of the ship's crew and civilian contractors, Forrestal was able to depart for her deployment on 6 November 1989, completing the necessary repairs well ahead of projections.


The final two months of 1989 proved exciting. Beyond the "routine" exercises and training initiatives, Forrestal's crew became part of history, as they provided support to President of the United States George Bush during his Malta Summit. The support included a three-hour Presidential visit to the ship.


Forrestal participated in numerous exercises during this deployment including; Harmonie Sud, Tunisian Amphibious and National Week. She returned to Mayport on 12 April 1990, ending a deployment which had included eight port visits in five different countries.


The year 1991 was a year of anticipation and change for Forrestal and its crew, as she spent the first five months maintaining combat readiness as the east coast ready carrier. Maintaining a hectic and challenging period of at-sea operations, Forrestal's anticipated deployment in support of Operation Desert Storm was not to be, and orders to deploy were canceled twice during the conflict.


The call to deploy finally came and Forrestal commenced its 21st and final operational deployment on 30 May 1991.


No less challenging than the months of maintaining readiness for combat, Forrestal's deployment was repeatedly referred to as "transitional." During the ensuing seven months, Forrestal was called upon to provide air power presence and airborne intelligence support for Operation Provide Comfort, and to initiate, test and evaluate a wide range of innovative COMSIXTHFLT battle group tactics and new carrier roles.


The year ended with Forrestal making advanced preparations for its change of homeport to Pensacola, Fla., and the transition into a new role as the Navy's training carrier, replacing USS Lexington (AVT 16). Forrestal arrived in Philadelphia 14 September 1992 to begin a 14-month, $157 million complex overhaul prior to assuming the duties as training carrier. In early 1993, however, the Navy decided to decommission Forrestal and leave the Navy without a dedicated training carrier.


Forrestal was decommissioned 11 September 1993 at Pier 6E in Philadelphia, and was stricken from the Navy List the same day. Currently, she is on donation hold as a museum and memorial at the Naval Station, Newport, R.I.

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KIT Over n Out

 

[courageneverdies]

USS Saratoga (CVA 60) ​

14 Apr 1956 / 20 Aug 1994

Stricken from the Navy List 30 Sep 1994; berthed at the Naval Education and Training Center, Newport, R.I., 7 Aug. 1998.

displacement: 56,000 tons
length: 1,063 feet
beam: 130 feet 4 inches; extreme width: 252 feet
draft: 37 feet
speed: 33 knots
complement: 3,826 crew
armament: 4 5-inch guns
aircraft: 70 to 90
class: Forrestal

The fifth Saratoga (CV-60) was laid down on 16 December 1952 by the New York Naval Shipyard, New York City, N.Y.; launched on 8 October 1955; sponsored by Mrs. Charles S. Thomas; and commissioned on 14 April 1956, Capt. R. J. Stroh in command.


For the next several months, Saratoga conducted various engineering, flight, steering, structural, and gunnery tests. On 18 August 1956, she sailed for Guantanamo and her shakedown cruise. On 19 December, she reentered the New York Naval Shipyard and remained there until 28 February 1957. Upon completion of yard work, she got underway on a refresher training cruise to the Caribbean before entering her home port, Mayport, Fla.


On 6 June, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and members of his cabinet boarded Saratoga to observe operations on board the giant carrier. For two days, she and eighteen other ships demonstrated air operations, antisubmarine warfare, guided missile operations, and the Navy's latest bombing and strafing techniques. Highlighting the President's visit was the nonstop flight of two F8U Crusaders, spanning the nation in three hours and twenty-eight minutes, from USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31) on the west coast to the flight deck of the Saratoga in the Atlantic.


The carrier departed Mayport on 3 September 1957 for her maiden transatlantic voyage. Saratoga sailed into the Norwegian Sea and participated in Operation Strikeback, joint naval maneuvers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries. She returned briefly to Mayport before entering the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for repairs.


On 1 February 1958, Saratoga departed Mayport for the Mediterranean and her first deployment with the Sixth Fleet. On 15 July 1958, while aircraft from Saratoga and USS Essex (CV 9) flew cover from long range, amphibious units landed 1,800 Marines on the beach near Beirut, Lebanon, to support the Lebanese government and to protect the lives of U.S. citizens. The situation was stabilized within a few days, without untoward incident.


During her August 1959 deployment to the Mediterranean, Attack Squadron 34, flying A-4D Skyhawks and part of Saratoga's air wing, was the first squadron deployed to the Sixth Fleet equipped with Bullpup missiles.


While deployed with the Sixth Fleet on 23 January 1961, a serious fire broke out in Saratoga's number two machinery space which took seven lives. The fire, believed caused by a ruptured fuel oil line, was brought under control by the crew, and the ship proceeded to Athens where a survey of the damage could be made.


On 2 January 1968, Saratoga sailed for Philadelphia and an overhaul and modernization program which was to last 11 months. On 31 January, she departed Philadelphia for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, via Hampton Roads and Mayport, for extensive refresher training of the crew and air wing.


On 17 May 1968, Armed Forces Day, she was the host ship for President Richard M. Nixon during the firepower demonstration conducted by Carrier Air Wing Three in the Virginia Capes area. On 9 July, she departed Mayport for her ninth Mediterranean deployment. Underway, a Soviet surface force and a "November"-class submarine passed in close proximity, en route to Cuba.


Off the Azores on 17 July 1968, Saratoga was shadowed by Kipelovo-based Soviet aircraft. They were intercepted, photographed, and escorted while in the vicinity of the carrier. She operated with Task Group 60.2 of the Sixth Fleet in the eastern Mediterranean during September in a "show of force" in response to the large build-up of Soviet surface units there, the hijacking of a Trans World Airlines plane to Syria and the political coup in Libya. Numerous surveillance and reconnaissance flights were conducted by Carrier Wing Three aircraft against Soviet surface units, including the carrier Moskva, operating southeast of Crete. Saratoga operated in this area again in October because of the crisis in Lebanon. She returned to Mayport and the Florida coast on 22 January 1969.


On 24 June 1969, the first operational "hands off" arrested landing using the AN/SPN-42, Automatic Carrier Landing System (ACLS), on a carrier was performed by Lt. Dean Smith and Lt.j.g. James Sherlock of Fighter Squadron 103 when their F-4 Phantom landed aboard Saratoga.


On 11 June 1970 Saratoga sailed again for duty with the Sixth Fleet.


On 28 September 1970, President Richard M. Nixon and his party arrived on board. That night, word was received that Gamal Abdul Nasser, President of the United Arab Republic had died; an event that might plunge the entire Middle East into a crisis. The intelligence and communications personnel of Saratoga were required to supply the President, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Secretaries of State and Defense with the essential intelligence information to keep them abreast of the deteriorating situation. The Presidential party departed the ship the next evening, and Saratoga continued on patrol in the eastern Mediterranean until she sailed for the United States on 2 November.


From her arrival at Mayport until 10 March 1971, she was in a "cold iron" status. She then operated off the Florida coast until 7 June when she departed for her eleventh deployment with the Sixth Fleet, via Scotland and the North Sea where she participated in Exercise Magic Sword II. She returned to Mayport on 31 October for a period of restricted availability and local operations.

On 11 April 1972, Saratoga sailed from Mayport en route to Subic Bay, P.I., and her first deployment to the western Pacific. She arrived in Subic Bay on 8 May and departed for Vietnam the following week, arriving at "Yankee Station" on 18 May for her first period on the line. Before year's end, she was on station in the Tonkin Gulf a total of seven times: 18 May to 21 June; 1 to 16 July; 28 July to 22 August; 2 to 19 September, 29 September to 21 October; 5 November to 8 December; and 18 to 31 December.


During the first period, Saratoga lost four aircraft and three pilots. On the plus side, on 21 June 1972, two of her F-4 Phantoms from VF-31 attacked three MiG 21s over North Vietnam. Dodging four surface to air missiles, one of the F-4s, piloted by Cmdr. Samuel C. Flynn Jr., with radar intercept officer Lt. William H. John, shot down one of the MiG aircraft. This Phantom, Bureau number 157307, was later transferred to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. The aircraft was transferred upon its arrival at Dulles International Airport on 29 November 1988.


Saratoga's planes attacked targets ranging from enemy troop concentrations in the lower panhandle to petroleum storage areas northeast of Hanoi. On her second line period, she lost an F-4 to enemy fire northeast of Hanoi with the pilot and radar intercept officer missing in action. During this period, her aircraft flew 708 missions against the enemy.


On 6 August 1972, Lt. Jim Lloyd, flying an A-7 on a bombing mission near Vinh, had his plane shot out from under him by a SAM. He ejected into enemy territory at night. In a daring rescue by helicopters supported by CVW-3 aircraft the following day, he was lifted from the midst of enemy soldiers and returned to Saratoga. It was the deepest penetration by U.S. helicopters into enemy territory since 1968. On 10 August 1972, one of the ship's CAP jet fighters splashed a MiG at night using Sparrow missiles.


During the period 2 to 19 September, Saratoga aircraft flew over 800 combat strike missions against targets in North Vietnam. On 20 October, her aircraft flew 83 close air support sorties in six hours in support of a force of 250 Territorials beleaguered by the North Vietnamese 48th Regiment. Air support saved the small force, enabled ARVN troops to advance, and killed 102 North Vietnamese soldiers. During her last period on station, Saratoga's aircraft battered targets in the heart of North Vietnam for over a week.


Saratoga departed "Yankee Station" for Subic Bay on 7 January 1973. From there she sailed for the United States, via Singapore and arrived at Mayport on 13 February 1973.


On 21 January 1975, Saratoga, on a Mediterranean deployment, was released from a response alert for possible evacuation of U.S. citizens from Cyprus during a period of strife on that island.


In March of 1980, Saratoga and embarked airwing CVW-17 departed on their 16th Mediterranean deployment. Highlights of the deployment included major exercises with the USS Forrestal (CV 59) battle group, and visits by the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Thomas B. Hayward, and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Thomas C. Crow. Then-commanding officer, Capt. James H. Flatley III, made naval aviation history on 21 June 1980 when he completed his 1,500th carrier arrested landing. To make the event special, Midshipman James H. Flatley IV, the Captain's son, rode in the back seat.


On 28 September 1980, only one month after her return from deployment, Saratoga departed Mayport and headed north to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard where she underwent the most extensive industrial overhaul ever performed on any Navy ship. Saratoga was the first ship to go through the Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) overhaul that would last 28 months. She conducted sea trials on 16 October 1982, and left Philadelphia with much fanfare on 2 February 1983 with her new nickname — "Super Sara."


Saratoga departed the Mayport Basin yet again for her 17th Mediterranean deployment on 2 April 1984.


Saratoga's 18th deployment was anything but ordinary. After departing Mayport in August 1985, Saratoga steamed toward the Mediterranean for what was scheduled to be a routine deployment. But on 10 October, Saratoga was called into action.


Arab terrorists had found and struck an Italian luxury liner, Achille Lauro. The ship had just departed Alexandria, Egypt, on a pleasure cruise of the Mediterranean. A few hours later, terrorists from the Palestinian Liberation Front hijacked the ship. After tense negotiations and the killing of an American tourist, the hijackers traveled in a battered tugboat to the city of Port Said, Egypt, after Achille Lauro anchored just off the coast. Egyptian authorities made hasty arrangements for the terrorists to depart the country. They boarded an Egypt Air 737 jumbo jet at the Al Maza Air Base, northeast of Cairo.


On orders from President Ronald Reagan, seven F-14 Tomcats from the VF-74 "Bedevilers" and VF-103 "Sluggers" were launched from Saratoga. Supporting the Tomcats continuously were VA-85 KA-6D air tankers and VAW-125 E-2C Hawkeye aircraft. Off the coast of Crete, the F-14s, without the use of running lights, eased up beside and behind the airliner. On command, the Tomcats turned on their lights and dipped their wings — an international signal for a forced landing. The E-2C Hawkeye radioed the airliner to follow the F-14s. Realizing they were in a "no-win" situation, the hijackers allowed the pilot to follow the Tomcats to Naval Air Station, Sigonella, Italy.


One hour and 15 minutes later, the jumbo jet landed and the hijackers were taken into custody. Seven hours after the fighter jets were scrambled, all Saratoga aircraft returned home without a shot fired.


On 23 March 1986, while operating off coast of Libya, aircraft from the Saratoga, USS Coral Sea (CV 43) and USS America (CV 66) crossed what Libyan strongman Mohammar Khadafi had called the "Line of Death." The very next day at noon, three U.S. Navy warships crossed the same 32° 30' navigational line.


Two hours later, Libyan forces fired SA-5 surface-to-air missiles from the coastal town of Surt. The missiles missed their F-14 Tomcat targets and fell harmlessly into the water. Later that afternoon, U.S. aircraft turned back two Libyan MiG-25 fighter planes over the disputed Gulf of Sidra. Soon after, aircraft from the three super carriers fought back in defense.


A heavily-armed A-6E Intruder fired Rockeye cluster bombs and a Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile at a Libyan missile patrol boat operating on the "Line of Death." Later that night, two A-7E Corsair II jets attacked a key radar installation at Surt. At the conclusion, three Libyan patrol boats and a radar site were destroyed by Navy aircraft.


Following Saratoga's 19th Mediterranean deployment in June 1987, she was overhauled once again at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard at a cost of $280 million.


Saratoga departed Mayport for her 20th deployment on 7 August 1990, just days after Iraqi tanks invaded Kuwait. Saratoga and Carrier Air Wing 17 rapidly crossed the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and transited the Suez Canal on 22 August to take up station in the Red Sea.


In the early morning hours of 17 January 1991, Operation Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm. Aircraft from Saratoga flew against Iraq in the first step to knock out the Arab nation's military power and drive it from conquered Kuwait. CVW-17 aircraft dropped more than four million pounds of ordnance on enemy targets.


However, on 17 January, Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher, flying an F/A-18C Hornet of VFA-81 aboard Saratoga, was shot down by an Iraqi surface-to-air missile, the first U.S. casualty of the Gulf War. He was placed in an MIA status the next day. On May 22, 1991, following a Secretary of the Navy status review board that found "no credible evidence" to suggest he had survived the shootdown, his status was changed to Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered (KIA/BNR). On 11 January 2001, Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig changed the status of Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher from KIA/BNR to Missing in Action (MIA), based on new information.


On 21 January 1991, an F-14 Tomcat of VF-103 aboard Saratoga, was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. Pilot Lt. Devon Jones and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Lawrence Slade were reported missing. Lt. Jones was recovered the following day, but Lt. Slade was captured as a prisoner of war.


Flying on 30 January, all 18 F/A-18s aboard Saratoga delivered 100,000 pounds of MK-83 1,000-lb. bombs on Iraqi position in occupied Kuwait. This was the largest amount of bomb tonnage carried on a single mission.


Saratoga departed the Gulf 11 March 1991. After seven months and 21 days, 11,700 arrested landings, 12,700 sorties flown, 36,382 miles traveled and a record six Suez Canal transits, Saratoga returned home 28 March to a hero's welcome.


Saratoga's 21st Mediterranean deployment, which began 6 May 1992, was much more than normal operations in the Med. Her six month deployment found her in the Adriatic Sea, providing close-air support for humanitarian relief flights flying into the war-torn former Yugoslavia. Thousands of support missions were flown, but more importantly, not one single piece of ordnance was dropped — proving that U.S. military presence is a powerful deterrent. On 27 August, aircraft from Saratoga and USS Independence (CV 62), both in the Arabian Gulf, began enforcing the no-fly zone south of the 32nd parallel in Iraq under Operation Southern Watch. Any Iraqi warplanes violating that airspace would be shot down. This was to prevent the Iraqis from attacking Shiite Muslim ethnic groups in the marshes of southern Iraq. From the Gulf, Saratoga returned to the Mediterranean and was there relieved on 7 October by USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67).


"Super Sara," along with Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17), began her final deployment 12 January 1994, entering the Mediterranean Sea January 26 after a choppy Atlantic Ocean crossing. Ship and air wing spent that day, east of Gibraltar, receiving "turnover briefs" from Saratoga's predecessor in the Mediterranean, USS America (CV 66). As America ended her deployment, setting sail for home, Saratoga headed east for the area the crew would come to call "Groundhog Station" in the Adriatic Sea.


Entering the Adriatic February 1, Saratoga and CVW-17 launched the first of thousands of sorties in support of U.N. and NATO operations Deny Flight and Provide Promise over Bosnia-Herzegovina. Actress Halle Berry, star of films Boomerang, Jungle Fever and The Last Boy Scout, spent an afternoon with Sailors on station in the Adriatic Sea aboard Saratoga 3 February. Then, after 44 consecutive days at sea, Saratoga visited the northern Italian city of Trieste for some eagerly awaited liberty.


The ship departed Trieste 28 February 1994, taking up station in the southern Adriatic once again, in response to the U.S. Air Force downing of four Bosnian Serb Super Galeb attack aircraft The four jets had been flying in defiance of the U.N.-NATO "No Fly Zone" over the former war-torn Yugoslavia.


Saratoga remained on station until 10 March. Departing for the eastern Mediterranean, ship and air wing participated in exercises over land and sea with U.S. allies in that part of the world. Finishing up on 18 March, Saratoga returned to Trieste for another well-deserved period of recreation, then to the Greek island of Crete for bombing exercises at the Avgo-Nisi bombing range.


Completing the exercises, the Saratoga/CVW17 team returned to the Adriatic for five more days of flying in support of Deny Flight and Provide Promise. Departing "Groundhog Station" 7 April , Saratoga transited the Straits of Messina between Sicily and the toe of the "boot" of southern Italy, for a port call at Naples, Italy, before returning to the Adriatic for the fourth time on 17 April.


Saratoga anchored off the resort city of Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 3 May 1994, for one week of the most eagerly-awaited port calls of the deployment. After a week of liberty on the sun-drenched Spanish island, it was back to business as Saratoga participated in the Mediterranean exercise Dynamic Impact. This exercise featured joint maneuvers with several NATO-member navies, as well as the U.S. Air Force.


Finishing six days of liberty in Valencia, Spain, Saratoga participated in Iles D'Or, or "Islands of Gold," -- an exercise with the French Navy, lasting until 9 June. Saratoga, the Navy's oldest active duty carrier, then headed for the rendezvous point with her relief, the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN-73), the Navy's newest carrier at the time.


Saratoga arrived pier side at Naval Station, Mayport, Fla., early in the morning of 24 June 1994. With the end of the 164-day deployment — the last in the carrier's 38-year career — Saratoga's crew prepared to deactivate the ship, offloading material and closing out each of the ship's more than 3,500 spaces.


Saratoga was decommissioned at the Naval Station, Mayport, Fla., 20 August 1994, and was stricken from the Navy List the same day. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Boorda was the keynote speaker at the decommissioning.


Saratoga was towed out of the Naval Station Mayport basin on 22 May 1995 and taken to Philadelphia to become part of the Navy's inactive fleet. In 1998, upon the deactivation of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, she was towed to Newport, R.I., departing 3 August and arriving at the Naval Education and Training Center on 7 August 1998. She was first placed on donation hold, then her status was changed to disposal as an experimental ship. Saratoga was returned to donation hold on 1 January 2000. She remains at the Naval Station, Newport, R.I., in this status.


Saratoga received one battle star for service in the Vietnamese conflict.

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KIT Over n Out

 

[UchihaCG]

US Navy is just beautiful.