USS Independence (CV-62)
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The USS Independence (CVA-62) was the fourth and final aircraft carrier of the Forrestal class of the United States Navy . She was the fifth ship to be named Independence .
history
construction
The Independence was ordered on July 2, 1954, and the keel was laid on July 7, 1955. The ship was christened on June 6, 1958 at the New York Navy Shipyard by Mrs. Thomas S. Gates , the wife of the then Minister of the Navy . It was commissioned on January 10, 1959 under Captain RY McElroy.
period of service
1959-1964
The Independence made her maiden voyage in the Caribbean and reached her home port of Norfolk (Virginia) on June 30, 1959. On August 25th, one of Lt.-Cdr. Ed Decker flew the A3D Skywarrior with a total weight of 38,000 kg, making it the heaviest aircraft that took off from a carrier up to that point.
The Independence spent a year training maneuvers off the Virginia Capes and set out on its first voyage to the Mediterranean on August 4, 1960 . There she joined the 6th US fleet. On March 3, 1961, she returned to Norfolk. For the remainder of the year, training and on-call duty off the Atlantic coast were on the agenda.
On April 19, 1962, the Independence rejoined the 6th Fleet to confirm President Kennedy's position on the Berlin issue and to show its presence. She returned to Norfolk on August 27th and set out for the Caribbean on October 11th. During the Cuban Missile Crisis , the carriers Independence and USS Enterprise supported the naval blockade against Cuba ordered by Kennedy. After the withdrawal of the Soviet medium-range missiles from Cuba, the Independence returned to Norfolk on November 25, carried out exercises off the east coast and was overtaken at the Norfolk naval shipyard. This was followed by refresher training in front of Guantánamo Bay .
The Independence ran out of Norfolk on August 6, 1963 to take part in a joint maneuver by US, French and British air and naval forces in the Bay of Biscay and then headed for the Mediterranean. Further combined NATO maneuvers were trained here, including close air support for Turkish paratroopers, reconnaissance, communication and attacks on enemy convoys. The Cypriot President Makarios visited the aircraft carrier on October 7, 1963. Then she took part in two joint exercises with Italian torpedo boats and the French cruiser Colbert . On March 4, 1964, she was back in Norfolk.
Further exercises took her to New York in the north and Mayport (Florida) in the south. In September, NATO teamwork maneuvers in Norway, France and Gibraltar were on the program. The ship returned to Norfolk on November 5, 1964 and was overhauled at the shipyard.
1965-1967
On May 10, 1965, the Independence began a mission lasting more than seven months, including 100 days in the South China Sea. She was the first carrier of the Atlantic Fleet to support the fighting in Vietnam . Your Air Wing participated in the first wave of coordinated air strikes against supply lines north of Hanoi and Haiphong . The pilots were confronted for the first time with a new type of threat, the surface-to-air guided missile. Independence aircraft carried out the world's first successful air strike against an enemy anti- aircraft missile site. In total, more than 7,000 sorties were flown between June 5 and November 21, 1965. This earned the ship and crew the Navy Unit Commendation Order.
The Independence reached its home port again on December 13, 1965. In the first half of 1966 she operated off Norfolk and trained pilots. From July to September she was involved in NATO maneuvers. Their use lasted until 1967
1970-1979
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On September 25, 1970, it was announced that Gamal Abdel Nasser , President of the United Arab Republic , had died. There was a possibility that this would slide the entire Middle East into crisis. The aircraft carriers Independence , USS John F. Kennedy and USS Saratoga and seven other ships were placed on heightened alert to evacuate US citizens if necessary and to keep the Soviet Mediterranean fleet in check.
Starting on August 3, 1971, pilots of the Marine Corps with A-4 Skyhawks were trained for carrier landings for the first time .
In May 1973, President Nixon delivered his annual Armed Forces Day address from the deck of Independence . The ship completed missions in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. Between October 8 and 13, the carrier groups Independence , USS Franklin D. Roosevelt and the amphibious group around the USS Guadalcanal were placed on heightened alert to be available for possible evacuation missions during the Yom Kippur Arab-Israeli war . The Independence was off Crete at this time .
On June 20, 1979 Lt. Donna L. Spruill became the first female Navy pilot to earn Carrier Qualification in a fixed wing aircraft . She flew a C-1 Trader . However, another 15 years passed before women were fully integrated into the combat squadrons of the Navy.
1982-1988
In 1982 Independence supported the multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon . On June 25 of the same year, the largest concentration of Navy air combat forces to date occurred in the Mediterranean, when the carriers Independence and USS Forrestal joined the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy . After driving together for several days, the Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy made their way home.
On October 25, 1983, aircraft from the Independence missions flew as part of Operation Urgent Fury , the US-led invasion of the island state of Grenada . In the same year the Independence returned to Lebanon, where its carrier squadron attacked Syrian positions.
On February 17, 1985, the Independence reached the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard , where a modernization program extended her intended service period by 15 years. The flight deck has been improved in order to be able to land high-performance aircraft even at slower ship speeds. The Sea Sparrow starters have also been modernized. Other measures aimed to reduce fuel consumption. In June 1988 the Independence was able to leave the shipyard again. On August 15, she set course from Norfolk for the South Atlantic. After circumnavigating South America, she reached her new home port of San Diego on October 8, 1988 .
1990-1995
In August 1990, Independence was sent to contain Iraqi aggression as part of Operation Desert Shield . Since 1974 the Independence was the first aircraft carrier to enter the Persian Gulf. It stayed there for more than 90 days and established a permanent presence of the US Navy in the Gulf region to this day. On December 20, 1990, the ship reached San Diego again.
In September 1991 Independence changed home port again, this time to Yokosuka in Japan . It replaced the USS Midway on the post of the only aircraft carrier permanently based outside the United States.
From August 23, 1992, the Independence was back in the Persian Gulf to monitor the Iraqi no-fly zone to be set up south of the 32nd parallel. On August 26, US President George HW Bush informed the Iraqi government that in 24 hours Allied planes would begin air patrol missions in southern Iraq and kill any Iraqi aircraft south of the 32nd parallel. The no-fly zone was decided by the UN Security Council after Iraq violated UN resolution 688, according to which it had to refrain from suppressing the Shiite population in southern Iraq. The Operation Southern Watch began as scheduled on 27 August. 20 aircraft from the Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) of Independence were there from the first minutes.
With the decommissioning of the USS Mauna Kea on June 30, 1995 , the Independence became the oldest active ship in the US Navy. Until her own decommissioning, she was now allowed to lead the First Navy Jack on the bow.
In November 1995 the Independence ended its third mission as part of Operation Southern Watch and returned to Japan.
1996-1998
In March 1996, the Independence was ordered to sea east of Taiwan and positioned there as an observer. The People's Republic of China had greatly exacerbated tensions between China and Taiwan through missile tests and military maneuvers in the strait. At the height of the crisis, the USS Nimitz carrier group was also relocated from the Persian Gulf to the Taiwan Strait when China continued to hit missiles into Taiwan's territorial waters and carried out a simulated amphibious assault.
In 1997 the Independence completed a four-month mission during which it took part in several large-scale exercises and visited seven ports, including Guam and Port Klang in Malaysia . At the end of the mission, she ran in May 1997 as the last US Navy ship before the transfer of the Crown Colony to China Hong Kong .
In January 1998 the Independence began her last mission in the Persian Gulf and took part again in Operation Southern Watch.
After 39 years, 9 months and 20 days of service, the Independence was delivered on September 30, 1998 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington ( 47 ° 33 ′ 7.2 ″ N , 122 ° 39 ′ 25.2 ″ W ) retired. The First Navy Jack was handed over to the next oldest active ship in the Navy, the USS Kitty Hawk , which also took over the post in Yokosuka.
In 2004 the ship was finally removed from the reserve fleet . The scrapping took place in Brownsville, Texas , in early 2017 .
Web links
- nvr.navy.mil: USS Independence
- navsource.org: USS Independence
- united-states-navy.com: USS Independence
This article incorporates text from the public domain sources "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships" and "United States Naval Aviation, 1910–1995"