USS Oriskany (CV-34)
_underway_at_sea_on_6_December_1950_(NH_97408).jpg)
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| period of service |
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|---|---|
| Order: | August 7, 1942 |
| Keel laying: | May 1, 1944 |
| Launch: | October 13, 1945 |
| Commissioning: | September 25, 1950 |
| off-duty: | January 2, 1957 to March 7, 1959 |
| Decommissioning: | May 15, 1976 |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk as an artificial reef off Florida on May 17, 2006 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Displacement: | 30,800 t |
| Length: | 275.5 m |
| Width: | 39.3 m |
| Draft: | 9.3 m |
| Drive: | 8 steam boilers 4 Westinghouse steam turbines via gears on 4 screws |
| Speed: | 33 knots (61 km / h) |
| Range: | 20,000 nm at 15 kn |
| Crew: | 2600 |
| Airplanes: | 90-100 |
| Armament: (1954) |
8 × 12.7 cm L / 38 in single mounts 16 × 7.6 cm L / 50 in double mounts |
| Armor: | |
The USS Oriskany (CV-34) , nicknamed Mighty O , was a United States Navy aircraft carrier and was part of the Essex class . It was named after the Battle of Oriskany in the American War of Independence .
construction
The USS Oriskany was laid down on May 1, 1944 at the New York Naval Shipyard , after a little more than two years of construction, the construction was completely redefined. As part of a modernization program, the landing deck was massively reinforced in order to be able to withstand the higher weight of modern aircraft types. The ship received more powerful elevators and hydraulic catapults. The anti-aircraft arms were partially removed. In contrast to her sister ships, which were still completed according to the original plans, the Oriskany did not receive any wooden planking on the flight deck. Instead, panels made of an aluminum alloy were laid on top, which was only carried out on the sister ships as part of the modernization program.
Use in Korea
The USS Oriskany completed its qualification maneuvers around the turn of the year 1950/1951. Then it was rebuilt again. The ship joined Fast Carrier Task Force 77 in 1952 to take part in the fighting in the Korean War. There, the carrier's aircraft carried out bombing and low-level attacks on enemy supply lines and targets on the coast. On November 18, the pilots managed to shoot down two MiG-15s and damage another machine of the type.
Reconstruction and deployment off Vietnam
Between 1957 and 1959 the Oriskany was temporarily decommissioned and modernized in the San Francisco Naval Shipyard. New steam catapults were installed. After several test drives, the ship was several times in the Far East. In connection with the landing of US forces in South Vietnam , the carrier's aircraft carried out more than 12,000 air strikes in April 1965. In 1966, an accident involving a heat-generating decoy used to deflect infrared-guided missiles led to a serious fire on board, in which 44 members of the crew were killed. Hardly repaired, it provided support to the USS Forrestal , which suffered a similar fate when it caught fire in the Gulf of Tonkin ( see also: Forrestal disaster ). After that, operations over Vietnam continued to be flown from the Oriskany . In one of these, John McCain was shot down on October 26, 1967 and spent the next six years in North Vietnamese captivity .
Off-duty
After more than 25 years of service, the ship was mothballed in 1975 at the Bremerton naval base . In 1993 and 1995 attempts were unsuccessful to sell the Oriskany to scrapping yards. Then it was decided to sink the ship into the sea as an artificial reef . After months of planning and preparation, on May 17, 2006 the second largest man-made project sinking took place off the Florida coast (the larger USS America had already been sunk by a SINKEX on May 14, 2005). The wreck now forms the Oriskany Reef (or Great Carrier Reef) 41 km south of Pensacola and is located at a depth between 42 m (137 ft ) and 65 m (212 ft).
Others
- The USS Oriskany received two Battle Stars for use in Korea and another five for the one in Vietnam.
- Parts of the film "Men of the Fighting Lady" (dt. Daring Landing ) were shot on it in 1954.
- The Oriskany is (dt. In many places of the film "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" The Bridges at Toko-Ri ) with Grace Kelly in 1955 to see.
- In 1998, the ship was used to portray the underworld in the Robin Williams film Beyond the Horizon .
Web links
- Pictures of the Oriskany at navsource.org (engl.)
- Pictures of the sinking at Irisihmansoftware.com (engl.)
- Sinking of the USS Oriskany - aircraft carrier becomes artificial reef - Diving the Oriskany wonder world knowledge - Pro Sieben, Tivione100, youtube.com, upload 6 February 2010. - Video (10:41)
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 30 ° 2 ′ 33 ″ N , 87 ° 0 ′ 22 ″ W.