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USS Bataan (CVL-29)

USS Bataan (CVL-29/AVT-4), originally planned as USS Buffalo (CL-99) and also classified as CV-29, was an 11,000 ton Independence-class aircraft carrier light aircraft carrier which was commissioned in the United States Navy during World War II on 17 November 1943. Serving in the Pacific Theatre for the entire war, taking part in operations around New Guinea, the Invasion of the Mariana Islands, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Battle of Okinawa, and Attacks on the Japanese home islands. After World War II's end she was converted into an anti-submarine carrier and placed in reserve on 11 February 1947.

She was reactivated on 13 May 1950 at Philadelphia in order to participate in the Korean War. After the war she returned to Pearl Harbor, and reported for a preinactivation overhaul on 26 August 1953. After moving to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, Bataan was decommissioned on 9 April 1954 and assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Francisco. Although she was reclassified an auxiliary aircraft transport and redesignated AVT-4 on 15 May 1959, her name was struck from the Navy List on 1 September 1959. She was sold to Nicolai Joffe Corp., Beverly Hills, California, on 19 June 1961 for scrapping.

Design and construction
The vessel that eventually became the light aircraft carrier Bataan was originally planned as the Cleveland-class light cruiser Buffalo (CL-99). Following the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the need for more carriers became urgent. In response, the Navy ordered the conversion of nine Cleveland-class light cruisers then under construction to completion as light aircraft carriers. These became known as the Independence-class aircraft carriers. Thus, CL-99 was reclassified CV-29 and renamed Bataan on 2 June 1942. She was further reclassified as CVL-29 on 15 July 1943.

Bataan displaced 11000 LT light and 16260 LT at full load. She had an overall length of 622 ft and a waterline length of 600 ft. Her extreme beam was 109 ft and her beam at the waterline was 71 ft. Her draft was 26 ft maximum. For armament she was equipped with 24 Bofors 40 mm gun and 22 Oerlikon 20 mm cannon for anti-aircraft protection. She normally carried 30 aircraft. Her armor consisted of 5 in of belt armor, 2 in on the decks, and 1/2 in on the conning tower. She was powered by four Babcock & Wilcox steam boilers and General Electric geared turbines producing 100000 shp for her four screws. She had a design speed of 31.5 kn and had a range of 12500 nmi at 15 kn. She normally carried a complement of 1569.

The vessel was ordered 16 December 1940 as a light cruiser and reordered as a light aircraft carrier on 2 June 1942. She was laid down on 31 August 1942 and launched on 1 August 1943 at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey, sponsored by Mrs. Corinne DeForest Murray, wife of Rear Admiral George D. Murray. She was commissioned on 17 November 1943.

Bataan was named after Bataan Peninsula and the Battle of Bataan where American and Filipino troops were besieged by Japanese forces from 24 December 1941 until 9 April 1942 when the remaining 78,000 troops surrendered to avoid unnecessary slaughter.

World War II
After fitting out at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Bataan conducted preliminary shakedown training in Chesapeake Bay before sailing to the West Indies on 11 January 1944. Two days later, while en route to Trinidad, she suffered her first loss when a Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter crashed into her number 2 stack and burst into flames, killing three crewmen.

Returning to Philadelphia on 14 February, she underwent post-shakedown repairs and inspections until 2 March when she got underway for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal on 8 March, she arrived in San Diego on the 16th. Two days later, she sailed for Hawaii with her flight and hangar decks full with passengers, aircraft and cargo. Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 22 March, she conducted a week of pilot qualification drills in preparation for "forward area deployment". The warship lost her second aircraft on 31 March when a "Hellcat" crashed the landing barrier and went over the side, although the pilot survived without injury.

Bataan departed Pearl Harbor on 4 April accompanied by her escorting destroyers and steamed to the Marshall Islands. She arrived at Majuro Atoll on 9 April and reported for duty with the fast carriers of Task Force 58 (TF 58) that same day. On 13 April, she sailed with the carriers USS Hornet (CV-12), USS Belleau Wood (CV-24), USS Cowpens (CV-25) and the rest of Task Group (TG) 58.1 for air operations against Hollandia, New Guinea (now known as Jayapura). These raids were intended to support American amphibious operations in the Humboldt Bay-Tanahmerah Bay region of New Guinea.

On 21 April, Bataan launched five fighter sweeps to attack Japanese aircraft and ground installations on New Guinea. The pilots claimed hits on numerous buildings, flak guns, coastal barges and three aircraft on the ground. Meanwhile, the carrier's Combat Air Patrol (CAP) shot down a Mitsubishi G4M1 Betty bomber and a Mitsubishi Ki-21 Sally.

The Task Group then headed north and struck the Japanese base at Truk Lagoon on 29 April. Bataan launched a fighter sweep and three bombing raids, with the Grumman/General Motors TBM Avenger torpedo bombers dropping 13 ST of bombs on the Japanese base. One TBM Avenger was shot down during the attack, but the crew was rescued by submarine USS Tang (SS-306), which was engaged in lifeguard duty - patrolling for such survivors during the battle. On 30 April, Bataan's task group turned toward Ponape (now Pohnpei), Caroline Islands; and, the next day, she flew CAP and Anti-Submarine Patrol (ASP) missions over the battleships bombarding that island. The warships then steamed to the Marshall Islands, arriving at Kwajalein lagoon on 4 May.

Invasion of the Mariana Islands
Bataan moved to Majuro on 14 May for repairs to her forward elevator but local repair crews could not fix the problem. She sailed to Pearl Harbor for repairs and returned to Majuro on 2 June. Once there, Bataan began hurried preparations for Operation Forager, the planned invasion of the Marianas. Tasked with neutralizing Japanese airfields in the Marianas, the 15 fleet carriers of TF 58 planned to attack Saipan, Guam, and nearby island groups. They also prepared for a major fleet battle in case the Japanese carriers attempted to interfere.

Bataan joined Hornet, USS Yorktown (CV-10), and Belleau Wood in TG 58.1 and put to sea on 6 June. Five days later, Bataan launched fighters against the Japanese base on Rota in support of operations against Saipan. One section of four F6F Hellcats flying "rescue submarine cover patrol" near that island shot down three Mitsubishi A6M Zeke carrier fighters without American losses. Another F6F Hellcat, flying CAP over Bataan, shot down a Japanese Army Nakajima Ki-49 Helen bomber. That evening, TG 58.1 sailed south toward Guam.

On 12 June, Bataan flew CAP and ASP over the task group while the three other carriers launched strikes at Orote air field on Guam. Her F6F Hellcats spotted two Japanese Yokosuka D4Y Judy bombers close to the task group and shot both down. Another attack of Rota on 13 June, Bataan aircraft concentrated on bombing Japanese antiaircraft gun positions and Piti Harbor. During recovery operations, a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bomber jumped Bataan's landing barrier and damaged four aircraft. The task group sailed for the Bonin Islands on the evening of 14 June.

The task group was ordered to strike Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima in an effort to catch the airfields full of Japanese aircraft staging to the Marianas, fighter and bomber raids hit the islands on 15 June. Meanwhile, Bataan's aircraft, flying CAP and ASP as usual, bombed and heavily damaged the 1900 LT Tatsutagawa Maru. On 16 June, after a morning fighter sweep over Iwo Jima, the task group received reports of a large Japanese force closing the Marianas from the Philippines. The planned afternoon strikes on Iwo Jima were canceled and Bataan's task group hurried south to rejoin TF 58.

Battle of the Philippine Sea
Bataan and her task group rendezvoused with the other three fast carrier groups about noon on 18 June, approximately 150 mi west of Saipan. On the morning of 19 June, while waiting to hear from dawn search missions, Bataan launched CAP and ASP aircraft to guard TG 58.1. At 0925, a TBM Avenger shot down a Nakajima A6M2-N Rufe seaplane fighter. Less than an hour later, starting at 1014, reports of multiple enemy raids caused the light carrier to launch all her available fighters. Over the next six hours, Bataan's fighters helped break up four major raids, disrupting the Japanese attacks. Only one enemy formation approached TG 58.1 and only one out of the 16 torpedo bombers got close enough to be shot down by antiaircraft fire from the screening ships. The light carrier also sent a TBM Avenger strike against Rota around mid-day to help suppress Japanese land-based aircraft. During the first day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Bataan's aircraft claimed 10 Japanese aircraft out of the approximately 300 enemy aircraft lost in the battle dubbed the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot."

On the morning of 20 June, Bataan launched CAP and ASP as normal and steamed west as the task force prepared for a second day of battle. The enemy carriers, however, had turned toward Japan the previous evening, and American search aircraft could not find them. The only activity for Bataan's aircraft occurred at 1320 when a Hellcat splashed a lone Betty near the task group. Finally, upon hearing a sighting report at 1613, the light carrier launched 10 fighters to accompany a massive 206-aircraft strike. The raid, catching the retreating Japanese at dusk, sank JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Hiyō and damaged another. The American aircraft then returned to their carriers, landing with difficulty in the darkness after the task force turned on its deck and search lights. Eventually, two of Yorktowns aircraft landed on Bataan, the second of which crashed and fouled the deck. Nine of Bataan's own fighters landed on other carriers, and one was lost.

After a futile search for the Japanese carriers on 22 June, the American task force turned back toward the Marianas. On 23 June, Bataan's aircraft bombed Pagan Island, damaging the airfield and shooting down four Zekes and a Betty. That afternoon, TG 58.1 turned northwest toward the Bonin Islands, attempting to complete the attacks canceled on 16 June. Bataan launched 17 fighters for the attack on Iwo Jima at dawn on 24 June but these, and the 34 Hellcats from Yorktown and Hornet, met a Japanese incoming strike about halfway to the target. A second melee developed near the carriers when another Japanese raid met with task force's CAP. Bataan's air group lost three aircraft in these battles but claimed 25 in return. The task group then retired toward the Marshalls, anchoring at Eniwetok on 27 June.

The brief rest ended when the task group sailed back to the Bonins on 30 June. The task force's aircraft struck at Iwo Jima on 3 and 4 July, interdicting Japanese efforts to reinforce Guam. The warship's crew, however, suffered another loss on 4 July when an arresting gear cable snapped and killed one man and injured three others. In preparation for the landings planned for Guam in mid-July, Bataan's aircraft conducted sweeps over Pagan Island on 5 July and then repeatedly bombed Guam from 6 to 11 July. On 12 July, her forward elevator failed permanently and she received orders to head home for repairs. She steamed by way of Eniwetok and Oahu before arriving in San Francisco on 30 July.

Drydock refit and training
Bataan entered the naval dry docks at Hunters Point on 30 July 1944 and, over the next two months, the yard workers repaired her elevator, painted the hull, and installed a second catapult, an air-search radar, deck lighting, rocket stowage, and a second aircraft landing barrier. She got underway for Hawaii on 7 October, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 13 October.

Assigned to TG 19.5, Bataan spent the next four months preparing for operations against the Bonin and Ryukyu Islands which were the targets of invasions planned by the Americans for early 1945. Iwo Jima was needed to provide emergency airfields for B-29s bombing Japan from the Marianas and a base for their fighter escorts, while Okinawa was needed to support any future invasion of the Japanese home islands.

Bataan spent most of November and December conducting pilot training exercises and night-fighter operations in Hawaiian waters. Seven aircraft were lost in accidents, including one Wildcat that crashed into her number 2 stack but only two pilots were injured. In January and February 1945, the focus of training operations shifted to night-fighter direction and ground-attack exercises. Accidents claimed another five aircraft, including a Vought F4U Corsair fighter that burned on the flight deck on 28 January 1945, but again no pilots were lost. The carrier entered the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard on 16 February, undergoing repairs to her flight deck and receiving three new 40-millimeter antiaircraft guns.

Battle of Okinawa
On 3 March 1945, Bataan departed Pearl Harbor for Ulithi, arriving at that atoll on 13 March. There she joined Task Unit (TU) 58.2.1, an ad hoc convoy comprising carriers USS Franklin (CV-13), USS Hancock (CV-19), USS San Jacinto (CVL-30), two battleships, two heavy cruisers and a host of destroyers formed for the short trip back to the Fast Carrier Task Force (TF-58). The task force conducted a series of raids to support the last major amphibious operation of the war, the invasion of Okinawa. Tasked with suppressing Japanese aircraft on Kyushu, one of the Japanese home islands, fighter sweeps and bomber strikes hit airfields on 18 March and struck at Japanese naval bases at Kure and Kobe. Over the next three days, vigorous counter-attacks by Japanese aircraft were mostly broken up by CAP, although a few aircraft got through and severely damaged Franklin. Other attacks targeted Bataan, whose antiaircraft guns claimed kills on two Judys and a Nakajima B6N Jill bomber. Bataan's air group lost four aircraft in these actions while the ship's company suffered one man killed and eleven injured from shell fragments.

Between 23 and 28 March, Bataan's aircraft struck at Kerama Retto and conducted fighter sweeps over Okinawa. She then launched a raid on Kyushu on 29 March where her fighters claimed a Judy before returning to Okinawa operations. After the amphibious landings there on 1 April, the light carrier flew CAP over the amphibious forces and began intensive air strikes in support of Marine Corps operations ashore. Her aircraft also raided southern Kyushu, where Japanese kamikazes tended to congregate before major attacks.

On 7 April, Bataan's aircraft took part in the Battle of the East China Sea, when American search aircraft spotted a Japanese task force built around battleship Yamato. Swarms of carrier aircraft attacked the Japanese force as it steamed south in an effort to disrupt the American invasion of Okinawa. Bataan's pilots claimed four torpedo hits on the giant battleship, as well as hits on a cruiser and two destroyers, that helped sink most of the Japanese task force.

Bataan spent the next 10 days alternating between CAP sweeps over Okinawa and air strikes on southern Kyushu and nearby islands. Every three days or so, she retired eastward to refuel, rearm, and replenish at sea. During four enemy attacks on the task group over this period, one crew member was killed and 24 wounded when the ship was sprayed with shell fragments.

Attack on Japanese home islands
On 18 April, Bataan launched an antisubmarine patrol that assisted in the sinking of JSUB I-56 (1944) at 26.7°N, 130.63333°W. Following this, her aircraft returned to several weeks of air attacks on Okinawa and Kyushu. The heaviest Japanese counter-attack took place on 14 May when eight crewmen were killed and 26 others wounded. During these April and May operations, her gunners and pilots claimed a share in dozens of kills at a cost of nine aircraft and four air crewmen. Finally, on 29 May, she steamed south to the Philippines anchoring in San Pedro Bay on 1 June.

Following a month of minor repairs to the warship and liberty for her crew, Bataan sailed in company with TG 38.3 on 1 July for the Japanese home islands. There her aircraft struck airfields in the Tokyo Bay area on 10 July, hit shore installations in northern Honshu and Hokkaido on 14 and 15 July, and helped to damage JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Nagato in Yokosuka Harbor on 18 July. Then her aircraft struck the naval base at Kure on 24 July, helping to sink JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Hyūga and 15 small craft in the harbor. Bad weather canceled most of her air strikes late in the month, limiting her aircraft to attacks on 28 and 30 July, and, because a typhoon passed through the area, raids did not resume until 9 August. On that day her aircraft struck Misawa Air Base in northern Japan and on 10 August they battered Aomori. She returned to Honshu on 13 August working over the Tokyo area until 0635 on 15 August 1945 when all strikes were canceled following news that the Japanese intended to surrender.

Post-war
After the formal surrender ceremony on 2 September, Bataan's aircraft air-dropped supplies to Allied prisoners of war at Zentzuji Camp in Shikoku. The carrier then steamed into Tokyo Bay on 6 September to pick up crew members ashore before departing for Okinawa that afternoon. After picking up 549 passengers there, she sailed for home on 10 September, steaming via Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal and arriving in New York on 17 October.

Bataan then sailed to the Boston Naval Shipyard on 30 October. Following two weeks of repairs, she was converted to a troop transport in preparation for Operation Magic Carpet, the return of soldiers from overseas. Bataan sailed for Europe on 21 November and moored in Naples harbor on the 29th where she embarked 2,121 Army officers and men. Arriving at Norfolk on 8 December, the troop-carrying warship then transported 890 Italian prisoners of war back to Naples, arriving there on 23 December. The following day, Bataan steamed out of the Bay of Naples with 2,089 Army troops embarked and arrived at Norfolk on 2 January 1946.

On 10 January 1946, Bataan reported for inactivation at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. After conversion to an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) carrier, she was placed out of commission, in reserve, on 11 February 1947.

Korean War
In 1949, heightened international tensions between the United States and NATO on the one hand, and the Soviet Union and communist China on the other, led to increased military spending. As a result, the Navy began to expand in 1950. Bataan was recommissioned on 13 May 1950 at Philadelphia, Captain Edgar T. Neale in command. On 25 June, North Korean forces invaded into South Korea. Two days later, under United Nations (UN) auspices, the United States intervened in the conflict. Suddenly needed to train and deliver pilots and aircraft to the Korean theater, Bataan steamed for the west coast on 15 July and arrived at San Diego via the Panama Canal on 28 July.

Bataan spent the next four months conducting training operations out of San Diego. She embarked naval air squadrons for carrier landing qualifications and antisubmarine warfare exercises. On 16 November, Bataan loaded Air Force cargo and personnel and sailed for Japan. After unloading her cargo there, she sailed on 14 December to report for duty with Task Force (TF) 77 off Korea's northeastern coast.

First deployment
Bataan joined the task force at a critical juncture in the conflict. Since 24 November, when some 30 Chinese divisions had intervened in the Korean war, bitter fighting had forced UN troops to retreat from the Yalu and Taedong Rivers. By mid-December, the American and South Korean troops on the east coast had fallen back to Hungnam. The soldiers, along with their vehicles, supplies, and almost 100,000 Korean refugees, were being shipped south to the Pusan perimeter. On 22 December, Bataan began flying Vought F4U-4 Corsair fighters of Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-212 over Hungnam to help cover the final phase of this evacuation. Her aircraft, along with aircraft from the carriers USS Sicily (CVE-118) and USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116), provided air cover to ground forces and shipping in the port area. Following the end of the evacuation on 24 December, her Corsairs then flew armed reconnaissance and close air support missions over the central mountains along the 38th parallel.

On 31 December, a second communist offensive pushed south toward Seoul and Hanchon. In an attempt to stem the tide, Bataan was reassigned to Task Group (TG) 96.9 on the west coast of Korea. There, her aircraft attacked enemy troop concentrations below Seoul. After a replenishment period at Sasebo between 9 and 15 January 1951, Bataan relieved HMS Theseus (R64) in the Yellow Sea on 16 January.

Wearing the flag of Commander, Task Element (CTE) 95.1.1, Bataan's mission was to blockade the west coast of Korea. While on station, Bataan generally flew 40 sorties a day - eight defensive CAP flights with the remainder divided between close air support (CAS), armed reconnaissance (AR), and interdiction missions. For CAS of ground forces, tactical air controllers usually called in Bataan's Corsairs for bomb, rocket, and napalm attacks on known enemy positions. Daylight AR missions concentrated on halting enemy road traffic and bombing rail yards and bridges. The first patrol revealed the dangerous nature of this work when, between 16 and 26 January, VMF-212 lost three Corsairs, along with two pilots, to enemy small-arms fire.

Over the next two months, Bataan conducted three more Yellow Sea patrols. In February and March, the light carrier supported the UN counterattack toward Inchon and Seoul, concentrating her air attacks on the Chinnampo area. These flights also included air spotting missions when cruisers USS St. Paul (CA-73) and HMS Belfast (C35) fired on targets ahead of advancing UN troops. Of the three Corsairs shot down by communist antiaircraft fire during these missions, two pilots were safely rescued by search and rescue (SAR) helicopters.

On 8 April, after the fast carriers of TF 77 sailed south to Formosa to counter a perceived threat there, Bataan and HMS Theseus replaced them in the Sea of Japan. The two light carriers, screened by a pair of American destroyers and four British Commonwealth escorts, maintained the west coast blockade. Corsairs from Marine Attack Squadron VMF-312 along with British Fairey Firefly and Hawker Sea Fury fighters, bombed and strafed communist supply routes near Wonsan, Hamhung, and Songjin. Five aircraft and one pilot were lost to communist antiaircraft defenses.

After a short visit to Sasebo between 16 and 20 April, Bataan resumed her alternating patrols with HMS Theseus off the west coast of Korea. On 21 April, in an unusual incident, two Corsairs of VMF-312 were attacked by four Russian-made Yakovlev Type 3U Yak fighters near Chinnampo. Marine Corps Capt. Philip C. DeLong shot down two of the Yaks, and heavily damaged a third, while 1st Lt. Harold D. Daigh, USMCR, shot down the fourth. According to Capt. DeLong, the North Korean pilots "were considerably inferior in flying ability to the Japanese of World War II."

The following day, 22 April, communist troops began another heavy attack toward Seoul, and Bataan's aircraft flew 136 close air support sorties against them over the next four days. After a brief period of replenishment and upkeep at Sasebo between 27 and 30 April, Bataan returned to the Yellow Sea on 1 May. In company with the British carrier HMS Glory (R62), she launched 244 offensive sorties against enemy troop concentrations, helping to stall and then reverse the communist offensive by 10 May. Later in the month, Bataan's Corsairs concentrated on the destruction of junks and sampans in the Taedong Gang estuary until bad weather canceled flight operations. During these strikes, one pilot and aircraft was lost after being hit by 40-millimeter ground fire east of Anak.

Relieved on 3 June by a British carrier, Bataan offloaded the aircraft and personnel of VMF-312 and proceeded for home via Japan, eventually mooring in San Diego harbor on 25 June. Following two weeks of rest and recreation for her crew, Bataan steamed to Bremerton, Washington, on 9 July for an extensive overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. When those repairs were complete, Bataan steamed to San Diego on 7 November for underway refresher training. Over the next 10 weeks, she conducted carrier landing qualifications and ASW exercises in preparation for a second deployment to the Far East.

Second deployment
Bataan got underway for Yokosuka on 27 January 1952, arriving in Tokyo Bay on 11 February after weathering a severe winter storm. There she embarked Scouting Squadron 25 (VS-25) and steamed south to Buckner Bay, Okinawa, for ASW exercises. Between 24 February and 12 April, Bataan conducted three "hunter-killer" antisubmarine warfare exercises in the waters around Okinawa. Intended to prepare Allied forces to fight the Soviet submarine fleet in the event of Soviet intervention in Korea, these exercises pitted Bataan's aircraft, including helicopters, against "enemy" submarines USS Blackfin (SS-322), USS Caiman (SS-323), and USS Greenfish (SS-351).

After refueling and replenishing at Yokosuka and Sasebo, the light carrier embarked VMA-312 at Kobe and departed Japan for operations off Korea on 29 April. She relieved HMS Glory as CTE-95.1.1 that same day and began combat sorties the following day. Ever since June 1951, the war in Korea had been bogged down in a military stalemate, with both sides heavily dug in along the 38th parallel. Tasked with interdicting communist supply routes between Hanchon and Yonan, Bataan's aircraft flew 30 offensive sorties a day, bombing supply dumps, railway tracks, bridges, and road traffic.

Her only aircraft loss of this line tour took place on 22 May when a Corsair was shot down by ground fire north of Pyongyang. While two other fighters provided cover, the pilot was rescued by an Air Force helicopter. That same day, another Corsair ejected a hung rocket while landing on Bataan. The rocket bounced forward on the flight deck and exploded, injuring three crewmen. She suffered no other losses that month and on 28 May she was relieved by HMS Ocean (R68). After sailing to Yokosuka for repairs to her flight deck, Bataan conducted three more Yellow Sea line tours in June and July, continuing the task of attacking communist supply lines. On 4 August, the warship turned for home and arrived in San Diego, via Pearl Harbor, on 26 August.

Bataan entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard on 11 September for an overhaul, remaining there for three weeks. She then conducted two weeks of carrier qualification landings with VS-21, VS-23, and VS-871 until she began preparations for her third Far Eastern deployment. The warship steamed for Okinawa on 28 October, via Pearl Harbor, and anchored in Buckner Bay on 15 November.

Third deployment
Although fears of Soviet intervention in Korea had diminished, ASW exercises remained important to the units operating off Korea. Bataan conducted two such operations, one between 23 and 29 November 1952 and another between 17 and 23 December. The first operation included an "opposed" sortie against USS Sea Devil (SS-400) and USS Scabbardfish (SS-397), "hunter-killer" submarine searches, and general ASW patrols. She also practiced jet aircraft tracking with North American F-86 Sabre fighters operating out of Kadena airfield in Japan. The second exercise included electronic counter-measure (ECM) intercept exercises against USS Segundo (SS-398) and long-range ASW training with Lockheed P2V Neptunes.

On 9 February 1953, after two more transit ASW exercises between Buckner Bay and Yokosuka, Bataan embarked VMA-312 for operations off Korea. She relieved HMS Glory as Commander, Task Unit (CTU) 95.1.1 on the 15th and began flying combat missions that same day. In addition to the usual armed reconnaissance patrols along the coast, her Marine Corps Corsairs attacked Chinese troop concentrations south of Chinnampo and on the Ongjin peninsula. These attacks were ordered because friendly partisan reports indicated Chinese troops were massing for attacks on UN-controlled islands close to the mainland.

Bataan conducted four more line tours between 7 March and 5 May. Despite the bad flying weather associated with the spring thaw, VMA-312 continued to attack the enemy troop concentrations and supply dumps reported by friendly partisans. The Corsairs also attacked roads, railways, and especially bridges, as flood waters hampered communist repair efforts.

After liberty at Yokosuka, Bataan sailed for home, via Pearl Harbor, on 10 May, arriving in San Diego on 26 May. She was undergoing repairs there on 27 July when the armistice was signed at Panmunjom in Korea. She then loaded aircraft and equipment destined for Japan and sailed on 31 July for a round-trip voyage to Kobe and Yokosuka.

Decommissioning and scrapping
Returning to Pearl Harbor, she reported for a preinactivation overhaul on 26 August 1953. After moving to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, Bataan was decommissioned on 9 April 1954 and assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Francisco. Although she was reclassified an auxiliary aircraft transport and redesignated AVT-4 on 15 May 1959, her name was struck from the Navy List on 1 September 1959. She was sold to Nicolai Joffe Corp., Beverly Hills, California, on 19 June 1961 for scrapping.

Awards
Bataan received six battle stars for her World War II service and seven for her Korean War service.

title: USS Bataan (CVL-29)


text:
USS San Jacinto (CVL-30)

USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) of the United States Navy was an Independence-class aircraft carrier light aircraft carrier that served during World War II. She was named for the Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution. Future U.S. President George H. W. Bush served aboard the ship during World War II.

Operational history
Originally laid down as the light cruiser Newark (CL-100), on 26 October 1942 by the New York Shipbuilding Co., Camden, New Jersey; redesignated CV-30 and renamed Reprisal on 2 June 1942; renamed San Jacinto on 30 January 1943, converted, while building, to a light aircraft carrier and reclassified as CVL-30; launched on 26 September 1943; sponsored by Mary Gibbs Jones (wife of U.S. Commerce Secretary Jesse H. Jones); and commissioned on 15 November 1943, Capt. Harold M. Martin, in command.

After shakedown in the Caribbean, San Jacinto sailed, via the Panama Canal, San Diego, and Pearl Harbor, for the Pacific war zone. Arriving at Majuro, Marshall Islands, she joined Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's Task Force 58/38, the fast carrier striking force of the Pacific Fleet. There, San Jacinto embarked Air Group 51, whose fighters and torpedo planes would be the ship's chief weapons in battle.

Marianas actions
After providing search patrols to protect other carriers striking at Marcus Island, San Jacinto rejoined the Fast Carrier Task Force, Task Force 58, on 21 May 1944 and was part of effective strikes against a weakened Japanese-held Wake Island on 23 May (there were no US troop landings in this action, Wake remained in Japanese hands until their surrender); Wake Island had previously been attacked by Task Force 14 on 5–6 October 1943. These were San Jacinto's first offensive missions, and no combat casualties were incurred, but one TBF Avenger was lost and its aircrew listed as missing when it failed to return from an anti-submarine patrol.

By 5 June 1944, San Jacinto was ready to participate in the largest fleet action since the Battle of Midway, almost exactly two years before. On that day, Task Force 58 sortied from Majuro and headed toward the Marianas to conduct air strikes preparatory to American seizure of Saipan and to protect the invasion forces from enemy air and naval attack.

This American thrust triggered a strong Japanese reaction; on 19 June, the Japanese Fleet launched more than 400 planes against the invasion fleet and the covering carrier force. In the ensuing air battle, known to American pilots as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," more than 300 enemy planes were shot down. While San Jacinto's planes were achieving their most one-sided victory of the war, her gunners helped to shoot down the few attackers able to get near the American ships. Then, at dusk, Admiral Mitscher dispatched an all-carrier attack after the retreating enemy fleet. The night recovery of the returning planes was accomplished amid considerable confusion. Reportedly, a Japanese carrier plane attempted a landing approach on San Jacinto, only to be waved off by the landing signal officer because its hook was not down.

San Jacinto then participated in strikes against Rota and Guam and furnished combat air patrol (CAP) and antisubmarine patrol (ASP) for her task group. During these raids, a San Jacinto fighter pilot was shot down over Guam and spent 17 days in a life raft trying to attract attention and 16 nights hiding on the island.

After a refueling and replenishment stop at Eniwetok Atoll, San Jacinto joined in carrier strikes against the Palaus on 15 July. On 5 August, her targets were Chichi, Haha and Iwo Jima. A brief stop at Eniwetok preceded dawn-to-dusk CAP and ASP duty while other carriers struck at Yap, Ulithi, Anguar and Babelthuap, pinning down Japanese air forces while the Palaus were being assaulted on 15 September. On 2 September, while piloting a TBF Grumman Avenger #46214 from VT-51, future-President George H. W. Bush was shot down by anti-aircraft fire while attacking Japanese installations on the island of Chichijima. Bush for a time was considered the youngest navy pilot in history, and is known as the youngest pilot in WWII history to join an American torpedo bomber squadron. Bush completed his bombing run, then guided his crippled plane out to sea. The two other crew members were lost, but Lieutenant (J.G.) Bush parachuted into the sea and was rescued by the submarine USS Finback (SS-230) from capture by cannibalistic Japanese Officers stationed on Chichijima. For his actions in the successful attack, 20-year-old Bush received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Following a replenishment stop at Manus, Admiralty Islands, San Jacinto joined in strikes against Okinawa and furnished photographic planes to get information necessary for future invasion plans. After refueling at sea, she once again supplied dawn-to-dusk air protection as other carriers sent strikes against Formosa, northern Luzon, and the Manila Bay area from 12 to 19 October. During operations on 17 October, a fighter plane made a very hard landing and inadvertently fired its machine guns into the ship's island structure, killing two men and wounding 24, including her commanding officer, and causing considerable damage to radar. Despite this accident, San Jacinto remained battle-worthy.

As American troops landed on Leyte in the central Philippines on 20 October, San Jacinto provided close air support. On 24 October, this mission was interrupted by news of the three-pronged approach of the Japanese fleet which precipitated the largest fleet battle in naval history.

Philippines
San Jacinto sent planes against the central force in the Sibuyan Sea, then raced north to launch strikes against the northern force, resulting in heavy damage to the Japanese carriers and surface combatants off Cape Engaño. On 30 October, her fighters furnished air protection over Leyte while her guns shot down two planes attempting suicide attacks on the ship. After a pause at Ulithi, the carrier joined in attacks on the Manila Bay area; then took a side trip to Guam to exchange air groups, receiving Air Group 45. She received slight damage during a typhoon in December 1944.

After completing repairs at Ulithi, San Jacinto and the rest of her fast carrier force entered the South China Sea and launched massive air attacks on the airfields of Formosa and against shipping at Cam Ranh Bay, French Indochina, and at Hong Kong. By refueling and replenishing at sea, Task Force 38 was able to continue its pressure on the enemy and strategic support for the American invasion of Luzon by strikes against the Ryukyu Islands.

Attacks over Japan
Next, San Jacinto joined in the first carrier strikes against the home islands of Japan. During the raids on 16 and 17 February 1945, carrier-based aircraft shot down many enemy planes during fierce dogfights over airfields in the Tokyo area. These operations were designed to cover the imminent invasion of Iwo Jima. Next came air support for the landing Marines, followed by further strikes against Tokyo and Okinawa before San Jacinto returned to Ulithi.

While conducting operations off Kyūshū, Japan, she witnessed the conflagration on the carrier USS Franklin (CV-13); and, on 19 March 1945, escaped destruction when a kamikaze narrowly missed her. More massive enemy attacks came with Operation "Iceberg" as the carrier force furnished air support for the invasion of Okinawa. On 5 April, more than 500 planes, primarily kamikazes, attacked. Fighter planes and anti-aircraft guns shot down about 300, but many got through. San Jacinto's gunners shot the wing off a would-be suicide plane, deflecting its dive; it splashed down only 50 feet off her port bow. Her mission of covering the Okinawa invasion entailed heavy air activity and kept the ship almost constantly at general quarters while supporting ground forces and repelling frequent attacks by suicide planes.

On 7 April, San Jacinto's's bombers torpedoed the Japanese destroyers JAPANESE DESTROYER Hamakaze and JAPANESE DESTROYER Asashimo, part of a naval suicide attack in which the super battleship JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Yamato was also sunk. San Jacinto then returned to the dangerous job of defending against the suicide plane attacks, striking at the kamikaze airfields on Kyūshū, and providing close air support for ground forces fighting on Okinawa.

On 5 June, she successfully rode out another typhoon, and after replenishing at Leyte sortied for her final raids as part of Task Force 58. Her aircraft struck at Hokkaidō and Honshū, Japan, on 9 July and continued to operate off the coast of Japan until the end of hostilities on 15 August 1945.

After the ceasefire preceding Japan's formal surrender, her air missions over Japan became mercy flights over Allied prisoner-of war camps, dropping food and medicine until the men could be rescued. She was present at Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945. Her wartime mission completed, San Jacinto returned home and tied up at NAS Alameda, California, on 14 September 1945.

Fate
The Spanish Navy considered acquiring San Jacinto but instead chose the Independence-class aircraft carrier carrier USS Cabot (CVL-28), which was renamed Dédalo.

San Jacinto was decommissioned on 1 March 1947 and joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet berthed at San Diego. She was reclassified as an auxiliary aircraft transport (AVT-5) on 15 May 1959, and struck from the Navy list on 1 June 1970; her hull was sold for scrapping in December 1971.

Awards

 * Presidential Unit Citation
 * Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with five battle stars
 * World War II Victory Medal
 * Navy Occupation Medal with "ASIA" clasp

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: USS San Jacinto (CVL-30)


text:
USS Midway (CV-41)

USS Midway (CVB/CVA/CV-41) is an aircraft carrier, formerly of the United States Navy, the lead ship of her class. Commissioned 8 days after the end of World War II, Midway was the largest warship in the world until 1955, as well as the first U.S. aircraft carrier too big to transit the Panama Canal. She operated for 47 years, during which time she saw action in the Vietnam War and served as the Persian Gulf flagship in 1991's Operation Desert Storm. Decommissioned in 1992, she is now a museum ship at the USS Midway Museum, in San Diego, California, and is the only remaining inactive U.S. aircraft carrier that is not an Essex-class aircraft carrier.

Early operations and deployment with the 6th Fleet
Midway was laid down 27 October 1943 in Shipway 11 at Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Virginia; launched 20 March 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Bradford William Ripley, Jr.; and commissioned on 10 September 1945 (eight days after the Surrender of Japan) with Captain Joseph F. Bolger in command.

After shakedown in the Caribbean, Midway joined the U.S. Atlantic Fleet training schedule, with Norfolk as her homeport. From 20 February 1946, she was the flagship for Carrier Division 1. In March, she participated in Operation Frostbite testing the Ryan FR Fireball and helicopter rescue techniques for cold-weather operations in the Labrador Sea. In September 1947, a captured German V-2 rocket was test-fired from the flight deck in Operation Sandy, the first large-rocket launch from a moving platform, and the only moving-platform launch for a V-2. While the rocket lifted off, it then tilted and broke up at 15000 ft.

On 29 October 1947, Midway sailed for the first of her annual deployments with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. Between deployments, Midway trained and received alterations to accommodate heavier aircraft as they were developed.

In June 1951, Midway operated in the Atlantic off the Virginia Capes during carrier suitability tests of the F9F-5 Panther. On 23 June, as Cdr. George Chamberlain Duncan attempted a landing in BuNo 125228, a downdraft just aft of the stern caused Duncan to crash. His plane's forward fuselage broke away and rolled down the deck, and he suffered burns. Footage of the crash has been used in several films, including Men of the Fighting Lady, Midway, and The Hunt for Red October.

In 1952, the ship participated in Operation Mainbrace, North Sea maneuvers with NATO forces. Midway had an angled runway painted on the flight deck in May for touch-and-go landings following early trials of the technique aboard HMS Triumph (R16). Successful demonstration of the possibilities caused widespread adoption of the angled flight deck in future aircraft carrier construction and modifications of existing carriers. On 1 October, the ship was redesignated CVA-41.

Midway left Norfolk 27 December 1954 for a world cruise, sailing via the Cape of Good Hope for Taiwan, where she became the first large carrier in the 7th Fleet for operations in the Western Pacific until 28 June 1955. During these operations, Midway pilots flew cover for the evacuation from the Tachen Islands during the Quemoy-Matsu crisis of 15,000 Chinese nationalist troops and 20,000 Chinese civilians, along with their livestock.

1950s apartheid incident
Controversy arose during the cruise when Midway around January 1955 docked in Cape Town, South Africa. Democratic senator Herbert Lehman sent a telegram to Secretary of the Navy Charles Thomas when he learned of a supposed United States Navy plan to segregate 400 non-white members of the crew of Midway while it was in Cape Town. Fellow Democratic senator Hubert Humphrey soon joined Lehman, additionally sending a letter to the Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, asking that "immediate steps be taken to see that equal treatment is given to American service personnel allowed shore leave in South Africa, or eliminate Cape Town as a port of call", and saying that "To me this is a shocking act of discrimination that should not be tolerated by our Government. Every American soldier or sailor is an American regardless of race, colour or creed, and is entitled to be respected and treated as such anywhere in the world."

An anonymous Navy official stated that the Department of the Navy did not know of the arrangements that were to be made between the officers of Midway and South African authorities, and that African-American members of the crew would not be segregated while still aboard Midway.

Clarence Mitchell Jr. also urged Thomas not to allow Midway to dock at Cape Town. James H. Smith Jr., Acting Secretary of the Navy at the time, replied that the stop at Cape Town was merely to "satisfy an operational logistic requirement" and that it was customary to observe local laws and regulations while visiting foreign ports.

Captain Reynold Delos Hogle of Midway stated that while in port, Midway would be United States territory and federal United States laws would apply. In the end, the crew of Midway were not made to abide by apartheid, Captain Hogle stating that "At Hartleyvale (Stadium) this afternoon and at the concert to-night, European and non-European members of the crew have been asked to attend. There will be no segregation whatsoever".

Modernizations
On 28 June 1955, the ship sailed for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where Midway underwent an extensive modernization program (SCB-110, similar to SCB-125 for the Essex-class carriers). Midway received an enclosed hurricane bow, an aft deck-edge elevator, an angled flight deck, and steam catapults, before finally returning to service on 30 September 1957.

Home ported at Alameda, California, Midway began annual deployments bringing McDonnell F3H Demons, North American FJ-4 Furys, Vought F-8 Crusaders, Douglas A-1 Skyraiders, and Douglas A-3 Skywarriors to the 7th Fleet in 1958, and into the South China Sea during the Laotian Crisis of spring 1961. During the 1962 deployment, Midway recorded her 100,000th arrested landing as the ship's aircraft tested the air defense systems of Japan, Korea, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Midway again sailed for the Far East 6 March 1965, and from mid-April flew strikes against military and logistics installations in North and South Vietnam, including the first combat use of AGM-12 Bullpup air-to-surface missiles. On 17 June 1965 two VF-21 McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom IIs flying from Midway were credited with the first confirmed MiG kills of the Vietnam conflict, using AIM-7 Sparrow missiles to down two MiG-17Fs. Three days later, four of Midway's A-1 Skyraiders used the World War II vintage Thach Weave tactic to down an attacking MiG-17F.

Midway lost an F-4 Phantom and two A-4 Skyhawks to North Vietnamese S-75 Dvina surface-to-air missiles before returning to Alameda on 23 November to enter San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard on 11 February 1966 for a massive modernization (SCB-101.66), which proved expensive and controversial. The flight deck was enlarged from 2.8 to 4 acre, and the angle of the flight deck landing area was increased to 13.5 degrees. The elevators were enlarged, moved, and given almost double the weight capacity. Midway also received new steam catapults, arresting gear, and a centralized air conditioning plant. Cost overruns raised the price of this program from $88 million to US$202 million, and precluded a similar modernization planned for USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42). After Midway was finally recommissioned on 31 January 1970, it was found that the modifications had worsened the ship's seakeeping capabilities and ability to conduct air operations in rough seas, which made further modifications necessary to correct the problem.

Return to Vietnam
Midway returned to Vietnam and on 18 May 1971, after relieving USS Hancock (CV-19) at Yankee Station, began single carrier operations. Midway departed Yankee Station on 5 June, completing the vessel's final line period on 31 October 1971, and returned to the ship's homeport on 6 November 1971.

Midway, with embarked Carrier Air Wing 5 (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), began laying naval mines off North Vietnamese ports, including Thanh Hóa, Đồng Hới, Vinh, Hon Gai, Quang Khe, and Cam Pha, as well as other approaches to Haiphong. Ships that were in port in Haiphong had been warned that the mining would take place and that the mines would be armed 72 hours later.

Midway continued Vietnam operations during Operation Linebacker 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 from USS Saratoga (CV-60), searched for the pilot of an A-7 Corsair II aircraft from Saratoga who had been downed the previous day by a surface-to-air missile about 20 mi inland, northwest of Vinh. Flying over mountains, the HC-7 helicopter spotted the downed aviator with her searchlight and, under heavy ground fire, retrieved him before returning to an LPD off the coast. This was the deepest penetration by a rescue helicopter into North Vietnam since 1968. By the end of 1972, HC-7 Det 110 had rescued a total of 48 pilots, 35 in 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, the result of an accord arrived at on 31 August 1972 between the U.S. and Japan. The move allowed sailors to live with their families when in port; more strategically, it allowed three carriers to stay in East Asia even as the economic situation demanded the reduction of carriers in the fleet. CVW 5 became based at the nearby Naval Air Facility Atsugi.

For service in Vietnam from 30 April 1972, to 9 February 1973, Midway and CVW 5 received the Presidential Unit Citation from Richard Nixon. It read:

"For extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of duty in action against enemy forces in Southeast Asia from 30 April 1972 to 9 February 1973. During this crucial period of the Vietnam conflict, USS MIDWAY and embarked Attack Carrier Air Wing FIVE carried out devastating aerial attacks against enemy installations, transportation, and lines of communications in the face of extremely heavy opposition including multi-calibre antiaircraft artillery fire and surface-to-air missiles. Displaying superb airmanship and unwavering courage, MIDWAY/CVW-5 pilots played a significant role in lifting the prolonged sieges at An Lộc, Kon Tum, and Quảng Trị and in carrying out the concentrated aerial strikes against the enemy's industrial heartland which eventually resulted in a cease-fire. By their excellent teamwork, dedication, and sustained superior performance, the officers and men of MIDWAY and Attack Carrier Air Wing FIVE reflected great credit upon themselves and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.'"

Aircraft from Midway made both the first MIG kills in the Vietnam War, and the last air-to-air victory of the war. On 17 June 1965, aviators of Midway's Attack Carrier Wing 2, VF-21, had downed the first two MiGs credited to US forces in Southeast Asia. On 12 January 1973 a combat aircraft from Midway made the last air-to-air victory of the Vietnam War.

Operation Frequent Wind
On 19 April 1975, after North Vietnam had overrun two-thirds of South Vietnam, Midway, along with Coral Sea, Hancock, USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and USS Okinawa (LPH-3), were sent to the waters off South Vietnam. Ten days later, U.S. 7th Fleet forces carried out Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Saigon. For this, Midway, which had offloaded half of the ship's regular combat air wing at NS Subic Bay, Philippines, steamed to Thailand and took aboard eight U.S. Air Force CH-53 from 21st Special Operations Squadron and two HH-53 helicopters from 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron. As Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces, these helicopters transported hundreds of U.S. personnel and Vietnamese people to Midway and other U.S. ships in the South China Sea.

On 29 April 1975, Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) Major Lý Bửng (also spelled Buang-Ly or Buang Lee) loaded his wife and five children into a two-seat Cessna O-1 Bird Dog and took off from Con Son Island. After evading enemy ground fire, Buang headed out to the South China Sea, found Midway, and began to circle overhead with his landing lights turned on. Midway's crew unsuccessfully attempted to contact the aircraft on emergency frequencies. When a spotter reported that there were at least four people in the two-seater aircraft, all thoughts of forcing the pilot to ditch alongside were abandoned. After three tries, Major Buang managed to drop a note from a low pass over the deck: "Can you move the helicopter to the other side, I can land on your runway, I can fly for one hour more, we have enough time to move. Please rescue me! Major Buang, wife and 5 child." Captain Larry Chambers, the ship's commanding officer, ordered that the arresting wires be removed and that any helicopters that could not be safely and quickly moved should be pushed over the side. He called for volunteers, and soon every available seaman was on deck to help. An estimated US$10 million worth of UH-1 Huey helicopters were pushed overboard. With a 500 ft ceiling, 5 mi visibility, light rain, and 15 kn of surface wind, Chambers ordered the ship to sail at 25 kn into the wind. Warnings about the dangerous downdrafts created behind a steaming carrier were transmitted blind in both Vietnamese and English. To make matters worse, five more UH-1s landed and cluttered up the deck. Without hesitation, Chambers ordered them jettisoned as well. Captain Chambers recalled that

"[Buang's] aircraft cleared the ramp and touched down on center line at the normal touchdown point. Had he been equipped with a tailhook he could have bagged a number 3 wire. He bounced once and came to a stop abeam of the island, amid a wildly cheering, arms-waving flight deck crew."

Buang was escorted to the bridge where Chambers congratulated him on his outstanding airmanship, and his bravery in risking everything on a gamble beyond the point of no return without knowing for certain a carrier would be where he needed it. The crew of Midway was so impressed that they established a fund to help him and his family get settled in the United States. The O-1 that Major Buang landed is now on display at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. Major Buang became the first Vietnamese pilot ever to land a fixed-wing aircraft on an aircraft carrier deck.

Upon completion of ferrying people to other ships, Midway returned to Thailand and disembarked the Air Force helicopters at U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield. The CH-53s then airlifted over 50 RVNAF aircraft to the ship. With almost 100 helicopters and aircraft of the former RVNAF aboard, the ship steamed to Guam where the aircraft and helicopters were offloaded in twenty-four hours. While transiting back to the Philippines to pick up the ship's air wing, Midway was rerouted to act as a floating airfield in support of special operation forces rescuing the SS Mayagüez. Midway picked up the ship's regular air wing again a month later when the aircraft carrier returned NAS Cubi Point, Philippines.

On 30 June 1975, Midway was redesignated from "CVA-41" to "CV-41".

After Vietnam
On 21 August 1976, a Navy task force headed by Midway made a show of force off the coast of Korea in reaction to an attack on two U.S. Army officers who were killed by North Korean soldiers on 18 August when they attempted to cut down a tree. The U.S. response to this incident was given the name Operation Paul Bunyan. Midway's participation was part of a U.S. demonstration of military concern vis-à-vis North Korea.

Midway relieved Constellation as the Indian Ocean contingency carrier on 16 April 1979. This unscheduled deployment was due to USS Ranger (CV-61) colliding with the tanker Liberian Fortune near the Straits of Malacca, with Midway taking over Ranger's mission while she went in for repairs. Midway and her escorts continued a significant American naval presence in the oil-producing region of the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. On 18 November, the aircraft carrier steamed to the North 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 US citizens hostage. On 21 November Kitty Hawk arrived, 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 Coral Sea on 5 February.

Missions in the 1980s
Following a period in Yokosuka, Midway relieved Coral Sea 30 May 1980 on standby south of Jeju-Do Island in the Sea of Japan following the potential of civil unrest in the Republic of Korea.

While transiting the passage between Palawan Island of the Philippines and the coast of Northern Borneo on 29 July, the Panamanian merchant ship Cactus collided with Midway. Cactus was 450 nmi southwest of Subic Bay and heading to Singapore when she struck near the carrier's liquid oxygen plant; two sailors working in the plant were killed and three were injured. Midway sustained light damage and three F-4 Phantom aircraft parked on the flight deck also were damaged.

On 17 August, Midway relieved 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 consecutive days in the Indian Ocean during 1980.

On 16 March 1981, an A-6E 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 retrieved from the water and lifted to Midway's flight deck.

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. ABF2 Paul F. Morehead, Jr., fueled aircraft number 111 for the last time. The Phantoms were replaced by the new F/A-18A Hornets.

Midway continued serving in the western Pacific throughout the 1980s. In order to alleviate persistent seakeeping issues, Midway received hull blisters in 1986. During her 1986 refit (named "Extended Incremental Selected Repair Availability"), blisters were added to improve the ship's stability. The modification proved counterproductive, as it actually increased the ship's instability in rough seas. She took water over the flight deck during excessive rolls in moderate seas, thereby hampering flight operations. Before another $138 million refit was approved to rectify the stability problems, it was even proposed to decommission Midway. Nevertheless, she had earned herself the nickname "Rock'n Roll carrier." During a typhoon while in the Sea of Japan during the Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, on 8 October 1988, Midway, which was not supposed to be able to sustain more than 24 degrees of roll, survived a 26-degree roll.

On 30 October 1989, an F/A-18A Hornet aircraft from Midway mistakenly dropped a 500 lb general-purpose bomb on the deck of USS Reeves (CG-24) during training exercises in the Indian Ocean, creating a 5 ft hole in the bow, sparking small fires, and injuring five sailors. Reeves was 32 mi south of Diego Garcia at the time of the incident.

Tragedy struck Midway on 20 June 1990. While conducting routine flight operations approximately 125 nmi northeast of Japan, the ship was badly damaged by two onboard explosions. These explosions led to a fire that raged more than ten hours. In addition to damage to the ship's hull, two crew members were killed and 9 others were wounded; one of the injured later died of his injuries. All 11 crewmen belonged to the at sea fire-fighting team known as the Flying Squad. When Midway entered Yokosuka Harbor the next day, 12 Japanese media helicopters flew in circles and hovered about 150 ft above the flight deck. Three bus loads of reporters were waiting on the pier. About 30 minutes after Midway cast her first line, more than 100 international print and electronic journalists charged over the brow to cover the event. The news media made a major issue out of the incident, as it had happened amid several other military accidents. It was thought that the accident would lead to the ship's immediate retirement due to her age, but Midway was retained to fight in one last major conflict.

Operation Desert Storm

On 2 August 1990, Iraq invaded neighboring 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 as the carrier of Battle Force Zulu (which included warships from the U.S., Australia, and other countries), relieving USS Independence (CV-62). On 15 November, the carrier 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.

Operation Desert Storm began the next day. On January 17, 1991 at 2:00AM, Midway launched aircraft from CVW-5 for the first carrier strikes of the Gulf War. An A-6E TRAM Intruder from VA-185 Nighthawks from the Midway was the first carrier aircraft over the coast. Around 17 other aircraft from the Midway provided support during the strikes.

At around 4:05AM, four A-6E TRAM Intruders from VA-185 and VA-115 Eagles attacked Shaibah Air Base at around 350 ft, encountering heavy AAA fire, with two of the four aircraft not dropping their bombs. At around the same time, three A-6E TRAM Intruders from VA-115, each loaded with six Mk.83 bombs; attacked Ahmad Al-Jaber Air Base in occupied Kuwait. The AAA fire at Shaibah led to the Midway 's pilots avoiding low-level attacks for the rest of the war. No Midway aircraft were lost on the strikes. The Navy launched 228 sorties that day from Midway and Ranger in the Persian Gulf, and from USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) and Saratoga in the Red Sea. The Navy also launched more than 100 Tomahawk missiles from nine ships in the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf.

Midway later launched an F/A-18 Hornet that used the first AGM-62 Walleye television-guided glide bomb in combat. The Hornet from VFA-195 destroyed a T-shaped building at Umm Qasr Naval Base with a Walleye II. The pilot, LCDR Jeffery Ashby, led a mission on 13 February 1991 that successfully destroyed an Iraqi Super Frelon helicopter armed with Exocet missiles (which had posed a threat to the US Carriers) with a Walleye I. The removal of the threat allowed Midway and the other carriers Ranger and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) to move closer to Kuwait. NF-104 was painted with a kill marking for the helicopter and was displayed when Midway returned to Japan. Some of Midway's F/A-18As also unsuccessfully attempted to intercept Iraqi Mirage F1s during the Attack on Ras Tanura on January 24, with an RSAF F-15C later shooting down both of the Mirages.

Desert Storm officially ended 28 February, and Midway departed the Persian Gulf on 11 March 1991 and returned to Yokosuka.

Rest of 1991
In June 1991, Midway left for her final deployment, this time to the Philippines to take part in Operation Fiery Vigil, which was the evacuation of 20,000 military members and their families from Clark Air Base, on the island of Luzon, after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. Midway, along with twenty other U.S. naval ships, ferried the evacuees to the island of Cebu, where they were taken off the ship by helicopter. After taking part in the evacuation, the aircraft carrier once again returned to Yokosuka.

Final cruise
In August 1991, Midway departed Yokosuka for the last time and returned to Pearl Harbor. There, she turned over with Independence, which replaced Midway as the forward-deployed carrier in Yokosuka. Rear Admiral Joseph Prueher and the staff of Carrier Group ONE moved to Independence. Prueher was the last admiral to lower his flag on Midway. She then sailed to Seattle for a port visit. There the ship disembarked "tigers" (guests of crew members) before making her final voyage to San Diego.

As museum ship
Midway was decommissioned at Naval Air Station North Island on 11 April 1992 in a ceremony in which the main speaker was Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. During decommissioning, Midway, her sailors, and their families were filmed for the movie At Sea, a documentary on carrier life shown only at the Navy Museum in Washington, D.C. The ship was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 17 March 1997.

On 30 September 2003, ex-Midway began her journey from the Navy Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, Washington, to San Diego, California, in preparation for use as a museum and memorial. The aircraft carrier was docked in early October at the Charles P. Howard Terminal in Oakland, California, while work proceeded on the Broadway Pier in downtown San Diego. On 10 January 2004, the ship was moored at her final location, where she was opened to the public on 7 June 2004 as a museum. In the first year of operation, the museum had 879,281 visitors, double the expected attendance.

On 11 November 2012, a college basketball game between the Syracuse Orange and the San Diego State Aztecs was played on the flight deck. The Orange won, 62–49.

On 15 July 2015, museum personnel were evacuated from ex-Midway due to smoke caused by an apparent fire. The San Diego fire department responded quickly, but no fire was found, and the museum was able to open for the day on schedule.

title: USS Midway (CV-41)


text:
USS Coral Sea (CV-43)

USS Coral Sea (CV/CVB/CVA-43), a Midway-class aircraft carrier, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the Battle of the Coral Sea. She earned the affectionate nickname "Ageless Warrior" through her long career. Initially classified as an aircraft carrier with hull classification symbol CV-43, the contract to build the ship was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding of Newport News, Virginia, on 14 June 1943. She was reclassified as a "Large Aircraft Carrier" with hull classification symbol CVB-43 on 15 July 1943. Her keel was laid down on 10 July 1944 in Shipway 10. She was launched on 2 April 1946 sponsored by Mrs. Thomas C. Kinkaid and commissioned on 1 October 1947 with Captain A.P. Storrs III in command.

Before 8 May 1945, the aircraft carrier CVB-42 had been known as USS Coral Sea; after that date, CVB-42 was renamed in honor of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the late President, and CVB-43 was named the Coral Sea.

Coral Sea was one of the last U.S Navy carriers to be completed with a straight flight deck, with an angled flight deck added on during later modernizations. All subsequent newly built U.S Navy carriers have had the angled deck included as part of the ship's construction.

Early milestones
The ship promptly began a series of career milestones when, on 27 April 1948, two P2V-2 Neptunes, piloted by Commander Thomas D. Davies and Lieutenant Commander John P. Wheatley, made jet assisted takeoffs (JATO) from the carrier as she steamed off Norfolk, Virginia. This was the first carrier launchings of planes of this size and weight. The Coral Sea sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, on 7 June 1948 for a midshipmen cruise to the Mediterranean and Caribbean, and returned to Norfolk, Virginia 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 Captain John T. Hayward of VC-5, was launched from the carrier with a 10,000-lb 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, Maryland. The mission proved the concept of carrier-based atomic bomb attacks. Following training in the Caribbean, Coral Sea sailed 3 May 1949 for her first tour of duty in the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet, returning 28 September.

Operations in the 1950s
On 21 April 1950, the first carrier takeoff of an AJ-1 Savage heavy attack bomber was made from Coral Sea by Captain 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 atomic-attack bomber to carrier operations. At this time, she returned to the Mediterranean for duty with the Sixth Fleet from 9 September 1950 to 1 February 1951. 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 NATO Exercise, Beehive I. She returned to Norfolk, Virginia 6 October for local and Caribbean operations, next sailing for the Mediterranean on 19 April 1952. While on service with the Sixth Fleet, she visited Yugoslavia in September and carried Marshal Josip Broz Tito on a one-day cruise to observe carrier operations. The ship was reclassified as an "Attack Aircraft Carrier" with hull classification symbol CVA-43 on 1 October 1952 while still at sea and returned to Norfolk, Virginia, for overhaul 12 October.

Coral Sea trained pilots in carrier operations off of the Virginia Capes and Naval Station Mayport, and in April 1953 the ship embarked the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives for a three-day cruise. On 26 April, she 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, Virginia, on 21 October, she carried out tests for the Bureau of Aeronautics and trained members of the Naval Reserve at Mayport, and Guantánamo Bay.

Coral Sea returned to the Mediterranean from 7 July to 20 December 1954, and during this tour was visited by Spanish Generalissimo Francisco Franco as she lay off of Valencia. 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, Virginia 23 July 1956 for Mayport, Florida, to embark Carrier Air Group 10, Coral Sea continued on to the Mediterranean on her next tour. She participated in NATO exercises and received King Paul of Greece, and his consort, Friederike Luise Thyra of Hanover on board as visitors in October. During the Suez Crisis, Coral Sea evacuated American citizens from the troubled area and stood by off of Egypt until November.

Coral Sea returned to Norfolk, Virginia 11 February 1957. She cleared that port on 26 February and visited Santos, Brazil; Valparaíso, Chile; and Balboa, Canal Zone, before arriving at Bremerton, Washington, on 15 April.

Coral Sea was decommissioned at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on 24 May 1957 to receive a major conversion (SCB 110A), which included a longer angled deck canted 3 degrees more than the previous overhauls of her sister ships. As the centerline elevators were relocated to the starboard deck edge forward and aft of the island, Coral Sea became the first carrier to mount an elevator on the port quarter resembling the more efficient deck layout of the Kitty Hawk-class then under construction. Other improvements included new steam catapults, an enclosed hurricane bow, hull blisters, and removal of the armor belt and several anti-aircraft guns. Upon completion, she was recommissioned on 25 January 1960 and rejoined 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 Seventh Fleet in the Far East on her first WestPac (Western Pacific cruise). She recorded her 100,000th arrested landing in October 1961.

Vietnam and operations in the 1960s to early 1970s
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 Seventh Fleet. On 7 February 1965, her aircraft, along with those from USS Ranger (CV-61) and USS Hancock (CVA-19), conducted Operation Flaming Dart against the military barracks and staging areas near Đồng Hới 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 Vinh. On 3 April Vietnam People's Air Force MiG-17s attacked aircraft from Coral Sea and Hancock in the first United States aerial combat of the Vietnam conflict. A Coral Sea RF-8 took the first photographs of a North Vietnamese surface-to-air missile site on 5 April. Coral Sea remained on deployment until returning home on 1 November 1965.

Coral Sea made another Westpac/Vietnam deployment from 29 July 1966 to 23 February 1967.

In the summer of 1967, the city of San Francisco adopted the ship as "San Francisco's Own," and the city and ship enjoyed a formal, official relationship. However, there were probably many times the crew did not enjoy the attitudes of Bay Area residents at all. The feeling was mutual. In July 1968, prior to a deployment to Vietnam, Coral Sea participated in the carrier trials of the US Navy's proposed new interceptor, the General Dynamics–Grumman F-111B.

The ship continued to make WestPac/Vietnam deployments until 1975: 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 the United States Navy and the United States 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 Easter Offensive began. They were joined in early April by USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) and USS Constellation (CV-64). On 16 April 1972, their aircraft flew 57 sorties in the Haiphong area in support of U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress strikes on the Haiphong petroleum products storage area in an operation known as Freedom Porch.

After refitting, from 1970 through to 1971, and during refresher training (REFTRA) down to San Diego, Coral Sea on her return trip to Alameda caught fire in the communications department. The fire spread so fast that Captain William H. Harris commanded that the carrier be placed just offshore between San Mateo and Santa Barbara in order to abandon ship if the fire could not be put under control. Several communications personnel were trapped, and RM-2 Robert Bilbo and RM-3 Billy Larremore pulled many shipmates out of the burning and smoke-filled compartments. They received the Navy & Marine Corp Medal. L/Cpl Thomas P Howard Jr. of ships Mar/Det received a "Meritorious Mast" from Captain Harris as a result of his location and rescue of shipmates overcome by toxic smoke in security weapon space. An OBA was L/Cpl Howard's only breathing protection at the time.

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 Air Base to provide support for the mining operation. A short time later, Kitty Hawk launched 17 ordnance-delivering sorties against the Nam Định railroad siding as a diversionary air tactic. Poor weather, however, forced the planes to divert to secondary targets at Thanh and Phu Qui. Coral Sea launched three A-6A Intruders and six A-7E Corsair II aircraft loaded with naval mines and one EKA-3B Skywarrior in support of the mining operation directed against the outer approaches to Haiphong Harbor. The mining aircraft departed the vicinity of Coral Sea timed to execute the mining at precisely 09:00 local time to coincide with President Richard M. Nixon's public announcement in Washington that naval mines had been seeded. The Intruder flight led by the CAG, Commander Roger E. Sheets, was composed of Marine Corps aircraft from VMA-224 and headed for the inner channel. The Corsairs, led by Commander 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 MK52-2 mines. Captain William R. Carr, USMC, the bombardier/navigator in the lead plane, established the critical attack azimuth and timed the naval mine releases. The first mine was dropped at 08:59 and the last of the field of 36 mines at 09:01. Twelve mines were placed in the inner harbor and the remaining 24 in the outer. All 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 MK36 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.

1971: Crewmen petition against the Vietnam War
In 1971, widespread dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War led to an unusual action by at least 1000 crew members who formed the on-ship organization named Stop Our Ship (SOS) and signed a petition against the war. The petition stated that the signers "do not believe in the Vietnam War" and that Coral Sea "should not go to Vietnam".

On 6 November 1971, over 300 men from Coral Sea marched in an anti-war demonstration in San Francisco and on 12 November 1971 around 600-1200 protestors demonstrated outside of Naval Air Station Alameda to encourage sailors to not sail with the ship. Thirty-five men missed her departure after the Berkeley City Council and 10 churches offered sanctuary. While this number is not unusual for a ship this size, at least one military service member sought sanctuary.

The petition and demonstrations by the sailors of Coral Sea were part of a larger movement of anti-war protests by military service members. Earlier in 1971, about 400 servicemen in Saigon signed a petition against the war, and nine sailors in Hawaii took sanctuary in a church and missed the sailing of the USS Constellation (CV-64). (In contrast, the Coral Sea crewmen did not want their protest "to be a thing like the Constellation" and therefore likely were not looking for sanctuary.) "These 'flattop revolts' expanded the next year, as sailors signed petitions or disrupted operations on Kitty Hawk, USS Oriskany (CV-34), USS Ticonderoga (CV-14), USS America (CV-66), and USS Enterprise (CVN-65). Sabotage on USS Ranger (CV-61) and USS Forrestal (CV-59) prevented their scheduled port departures while aviators became increasingly concerned about their role in the bombing campaign and questioned the war openly."

Paris Peace Accords, Fall of Saigon, Mayaguez incident
The Paris Peace Accords, ending hostilities in Vietnam, were signed on 23 January 1973, ending four years of talks. North Vietnam released nearly 600 American prisoners by 1 April 1973, and the last U.S. combat troops departed Vietnam on 27 January 1973. 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 (CVN-65), and USS Okinawa (LPH-3) responded on 19 April 1975 to the waters off South Vietnam when North Vietnam overran two-thirds of South Vietnam. On 29–30 April 1975, Operation Frequent Wind was carried out by Seventh Fleet forces. Hundreds of U.S. personnel and Vietnamese were evacuated from Saigon to the ships of the Seventh Fleet lying off Vũng Tàu. South Vietnam surrendered to the North on 30 April 1975.

On 12 to 14 May 1975, Coral Sea participated with other Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps forces in the Mayaguez incident, the recovery of the U.S. merchant ship SS Mayaguez and her 39 crew, illegally seized on 12 May in international waters by Khmer Rouge gunboats. 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 U Tapao, Thailand, and landed at Koh Tang Island to rescue the Mayaguez's crew and secure the ship. Eighteen Marines, Airmen, and Navy corpsmen were lost in the action. For her action, Coral Sea was presented the Meritorious Unit Commendation on 6 July 1976. Meanwhile, she had been reclassified as a "Multi-Purpose Aircraft Carrier", returning to hull classification symbol CV-43, on 30 June 1975.

Iran hostage crisis, final Western Pacific cruise
On 4 November 1979, militant followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini (who had come to power following the overthrow of the Shah of Iran) seized the US Embassy in Tehran and held 63 Americans hostage. Thus began the Iran hostage crisis.

Coral Sea relieved Midway in the northern part of the Arabian Sea, off the coast of Iran, on 5 February 1980. This operating area was nicknamed Gonzo Station by the men on the ships operating there, apparently because of its vicinity to Iran and the assumption that war with Iran was likely.

Later, along with USS Nimitz and other ships in company, Coral Sea participated in Operation Evening Light, the unsuccessful and aborted rescue attempt of 24 April 1980. (Their aircraft played a supporting role.) The crew of Coral Sea and other ships in the company received the Navy Expeditionary Medal for their efforts. By the time the ship pulled into Subic Bay, the Philippines for a port call on 9 May 1980 the crew had spent 102 consecutive days at sea – mostly off the coast of Iran. (The Iran hostage crisis ended on 20 January 1981 when Ronald Reagan succeeded Jimmy Carter as President of the United States and Iran released the Americans.)

At this time (1979–1981) the ship was commanded by Captain (later Admiral) Richard Dunleavy, who was to play a role in the Tailhook scandal, which forced him into retirement. However, while commanding Coral Sea he was considered an excellent commanding officer by his crew, who respected him greatly, even though they worked long, difficult hours under him and he could be a strict disciplinarian.

On 10 June 1980, Coral Sea returned to her homeport of Alameda. Shortly after her return, the San Francisco Bay Area press reported the theft of a set of golden bear statues from the ship. These statues had been presented by the city of San Francisco after the city had adopted the ship as "San Francisco's Own". Two sailors from Coral Sea were caught with the statues after attempting to sell them, and the sailors were subsequently court-martialed and sentenced to prison. All of the statues were recovered in good shape.

The ship embarked on her final Western Pacific deployment on 20 August 1981. After making port calls at Pearl Harbor and Subic Bay, the Philippines, she operated in the South China Sea. After a port call at Singapore, Coral Sea headed to the Indian Ocean where she relieved USS America (CV-66) at Gonzo Station and operated with Royal Navy units in GonzoEx 2-81 (17–23 November).

The Coral Sea battle group, under Rear Admiral Tom Brown, was involved in exercises with the Royal Navy under Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward – who operated with HMS Glamorgan (D19) as his flagship. During one exercise, Woodward was able to manoeuver Glamorgan into a position where he could have "sunk" Coral Sea with Exocet missiles. The result of this exercise played a part in the belief of Admiral Woodward that the British should sink the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano because of the fear of a similar situation arising between that ship and the British aircraft carriers HMS Hermes (R12) and HMS Invincible (R05) during the Falklands War.

Later, Coral Sea participated in Exercise Bright Star 82, an exercise involving the defense of Egypt and the Suez Canal (4–9 December). Relieved on 17 December 1981 by USS Constellation (CV-64), she departed Gonzo Station and called at Pattaya, Thailand after 98 consecutive days at sea. After departing Pattaya the ship called at Subic Bay and Hong Kong. Coral Sea then operated in the Sea of Japan before making a port call at Sasebo, Japan. After departing Japan Coral Sea made another port call at Subic Bay, then again at Pearl Harbor before steaming to California. The ship arrived at her home port of Alameda on 23 March 1982. Coral Sea then began upkeep, training, and operations off of California. In late July 1982, she served as a movie prop in the filming of portions of the motion picture The Right Stuff.

World cruise, deployments to the Mediterranean, final years
On 25 March 1983, Coral Sea, having been reassigned to the Atlantic Fleet, left Alameda for her new homeport of Norfolk. The Navy sent the ship on a six-month around-the-world cruise, with ports of call in five countries. Coral Sea was replaced on the west coast by USS Carl Vinson.

On 1 March 1984, Carrier Air Wing 13 was established. The wing would make three deployments aboard Coral Sea from 1 October 1985 to 30 September 1989.

On 11 April 1985, while on refresher training with her air wing in the Guantánamo Bay area, Coral Sea collided with the Ecuadorian tanker ship Napo and subsequently underwent two months of repairs at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia. This resulted in the skipper along with 4 other officers being relieved of duty.

On 13 October 1985, Coral Sea returned to the Mediterranean for her first Sixth Fleet deployment since 1957. Commanded by Captain 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, VFA-132, VMFA-314 and VMFA-323 on Coral Sea.

On 2 January 1986, EA-6B Prowlers from VAQ-135 reported aboard. The Squadron was called on a "No Notice Deployment" by The Joint Chiefs of Staff to augment CVW-13 with Electronic Countermeasures/Jamming Support.

On 24 March 1986, Libyan Armed Forces units fired missiles at Sixth Fleet forces operating in the Gulf of Sidra after declaring international waters as their own. A missile (originating from an SA-5 missile site at Sirte) attack on CV-43's aircraft (Prowler/Hornet package) conducting a "Blue Darter" fell short and dropped into the Mediterranean. VFA-131 F/A-18's from Coral Sea and USS America (CV-66) flew combat air patrols, protecting the carrier groups from Libyan aircraft. The Hornets were frequently called upon to intercept and challenge numerous MiG-23s, MiG-25s, Su-22s, and Mirages sent out by Libya to harass the fleet.

On 5 April 1986, in response to the US show of force, the La Belle Discothèque in West Berlin, the Federal Republic of Germany was bombed, resulting in the death of one U.S. serviceman and many injured.

On 15 April 1986, aircraft from Coral Sea and America, as well as USAF F-111Fs from RAF Lakenheath in the UK, struck targets in Libya as part of "Operation El Dorado Canyon". The Hornets went into action for the first time, flying several ship-to-shore air strikes against Libyan shore installations that were harassing the fleet. During this action, the Hornets from Coral Sea attacked and destroyed the SA-5 missile site at Sirte which had been "painting" US aircraft on its radars. This was the combat debut for the Hornet, and incidentally marked the first combat use of the AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missile. The Hornets attacked the SAM sites in bad weather and at wave top heights. All of them returned without mishap.

Coral Sea continued deployments to the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean area throughout the remainder of the 1980s. In 1987, she developed the "Coral Sea configuration" in which two attack squadrons on board used a shared maintenance program, helping to streamline aircraft maintenance. On 19 April 1989, while operating in the Caribbean, the ship responded to a call for assistance from the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61), due to an explosion in her 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 (406 mm) guns. Coral Sea also dispatched a surgical team and medical supplies. Medevac and logistical support to Iowa were provided by Coral Sea's deployed helicopter squadron HS-17 (Neptune's Raiders) flying the Sikorsky SH-3H, along with VC-8 flying the Sikorsky SH-3G aircraft from Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. She returned to Norfolk for the final time on 30 September 1989.

Decommissioning and scrapping
After nearly 43 years of service, the Coral Sea was decommissioned on 26 April 1990. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register two days later. She left Naval Station Norfolk on 2 November 1990 under tow from USNS Apache. Coral Sea was moored at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard to await her fate. On 7 May 1993, she was sold for scrap, minus her electronics, weapons, and other usable equipment, by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) to Seawitch Salvage of Baltimore. Scrapping was delayed by numerous financial, legal, and environmental issues. A series of articles by the Baltimore Sun about the problems involved with the scrapping of the Coral Sea and other navy vessels earned it the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting. At nearly 70,000 tons, Coral Sea was the largest vessel ever scrapped up to that date. The company attempted to sell the hull to China for scrapping, but the Navy blocked the sale in court. The scrapping continued off and on for several years until finally completed on 8 September 2000.

One of her anchors is now on display in the Battle of Coral Sea Memorial, Townsville, Australia. It was presented to the memorial on 8 May 1992, by the Commander of the 7th Fleet and former commanding officer of Coral Sea, Vice Admiral Stanley R. Arthur. The other anchor is at the Citadel in Charleston SC.

title: USS Coral Sea (CV-43)


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title: User:Westside~enwiki