RIPPLE SALVO… #282… VIETNAM WAR AIRCRAFT CARRIERS: the Mayport Decks… but first…
Good morning: Day TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY TWO of a return to and review of Operation Rolling Thunder…
9 DECEMBER 1966: HEAD LINES AT HOME from the New York Times on a partly cloudy Friday in New York…
Page 1: “Treaty To Bar Space War by Exclusion of Weapons Agreed Upon at U.N. “… “Historic measure led by U.S. and Soviet Union that is on way to approval by General Assembly. President greets accord as a major step to peace and says he will ask for quick Senate action so U.S. will be among the first to ratify the new treaty. LBJ: ‘This openness taken with other provisions with other provisions of the treaty, should prevent warlike preparations on the moon and other celestial bodies. This treaty has historical significance for the new age of space exploration.”… Page 1: “British Bids U.N. Order Sanctions Against Rhodesia” …”Foreign Minister George Brown asks for mandatory curb on selected exports and an armed embargo.”… Page 1: “Syria Impounds Pipeline Assets That Are Property of Iranians until Syria’s back claim to royalties and demand for higher pipeline transit fees are met.”… Page 1: “De Gualle Hosts Aleksie Kosygin and Andrei Gromyko guests of President De Gualle in a Presidential Hunt and the party bagged 263 pheasants, 23 rabbits, a woodcock and a blackbird. The hunt was staged at Royal Hunting Grounds in Rambouilwt, 28 miles southwest of Paris.”…
Page 1: “Churchmen Weigh Stand On Vietnam.” … “The General Assembly of the National Council of Churches began debate this afternoon on a resolution calling for ‘more candor’ by those who determine American policy in Vietnam issues on the U.N. agenda. The proposal also calls for the United States to give ‘the most serious consideration to a halt in the bombing of North Vietnam even though there may be no advance assurance of reciprocal action by the North Vietnamese government.’ The assembly also called for a resolution for a positive response to appeals for a Christmas cease fire.” … Page 4: “Senate Team Finds U.S. Making Little Progress In Vietnam”… “Senator John Stennis gave a summaryized version of preliminary report of a Senate investigation committee conclusion that ‘the United States is not significantly closer to bringing the war to conclusion.’ Rates of infiltration of enemy troops is 7,000 troops per month and in one recent month 13,000 North Vietnamese warfighters entered South Vietnam… The total of American dead rose to 7,672 of which 6,236 are combat deaths, as of November 26.”…
9 DECEMBER 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT… Page 1: “U.S. Raids Called Hard Blow At Foe”…”Air Force Secretary Harold Brown asserted today that incessant bombing of Vietnam infiltration routes had severely disrupted the enemy supply capability and reduced his ability to launch a major attack…A year ago he said the enemy was able to mount as many as seven battalion size assaults in a single month. This has dropped to an average of fewer than two per month. Secretary Brown conceded that while air strikes in North Vietnam had succeeded in impeding the flow of combat necessities and in raising the cost of war to Hanoi, they had ovbviously failed thus far to persuade the North Vietnamese regime to move to the conference table…the talk was cleared by the White House.”… NYT posted no new news on the air war in North Vietnam… “Vietnam: Air Losses”(Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft losses in Southeast Asia on 9 December 1966…
RIPPLE SALVO… #282… NATIONAL AIRCRAFT CARRIER MONTH of November will continue through December here at Ripple Salvo until all the Navy’s Vietnam participation carriers and their respective air wings have been recognized (which is all of them except USS John F. Kennedy)…In this post the three carriers home ported at Mayport, Florida– USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, USS Saratoga and USS Shangri-la– are recognized for their respective cruises (one each) in support of Operation Rolling Thunder. Atlantic Fleet carriers were deployed to West Pac during the Vietnam War to reduce the tempo of operations the long war imposed on the Pacific attack carrier force…
THE VIETNAM WAR CRUISE OF USS FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (CVA-42) with Carrier Air Wing ONE embarked departed Mayport 21 June 1966 returning 21 February 1967 (8 months)
Days on the line: 95
Combat Losses: 7
(1) 21 Aug 66: A-4E of VA-72… LT ALLAN RUSSELL CARPENTER… (recovered)…
(2) 22 Aug: A-4E of VA-72… LT K. G. CRAIG… (recovered)
(3) 20 Oct: A-4C of VA-172… LT FREDERICK RAYMOND PURRINGTON… (POW)
(4) 1 Nov: A-4E of VA-72… LT ALLAN RUSSELL CARPENTER… (POW)…see (1) above…
(5) 2 Dec: A-4C of VA-172… CDR BRUCE AUGUST NYSTROM, COMMANDING VA-172… (KIA)…
(6) 2 Dec: A-4C of VA-172… ENSIGN PAUL LAURANCE WORRELL… (KIA)…
(7) 14 Dec: A-4E of VA-72… LT CLAUDE DAVID WILSON… (KIA)…
Operational Losses: 8 (3 A-4s, two pilots killed; 2 F-4s; 1 E-1B, three killed; 1 EA-1F; and 1 RF-8 pilot killed)
THE VIETNAM COMBAT CRUISE OF USS SARATOGA (CVA-60) and Carrier Air Wing THREE embarked departed Mayport 11 April 1972 and returned on 13 February 1973 (10 months)
Days on the line: 173
Combat Losses: 13
(1) 7 Jun 1972: RA-5C of RVAH-1…LCDR C.H. SMITH and LT L.G. KUNZ… (both recovered)…
(2) 13 Jun: A-7A of VA-37… LCDR FRANCIS JOHN DAVIS… (KIA)…
(3) 17 Jun: A-7A of VA-105… LT LARRY RONALD KILPATRICK… (KIA)…
(4) 10 Jul: F-4J of VF-103… LT ROBERT IRVING RANDALL and LT FREDERICK J. MASTERSON… (both POWs)…
(5) 6 Aug: A-7A of VA-105… LT J.R. LLOYD… (recovered)…
(6) 17 Aug: A-7A of VA-37… LCDR DALE VIRGIL RAEBEL… (POW)…
(7) 6 Sept: A-6A of VA-75… LCDR DONALD FREDERICK LINDLAND… (KIA) and LT ROGER GENE LERSETH… (POW)…
(8) 8 Sept: F-4J of VF-103… COMMANDER DEKE BORDONE, COMMANDING CVW-3 and LT J.H. FINDLEY… (both survived)…
(9) 12 Sept: A-7a of VA-37… LT L.H. AVERETT… (recovered)…
(10) 10 Nov: A-7A of VA-37… LCDR FREDERICK WILLISTON WRIGHT … (KIA)…
(11) 20 Nov: F-4J of VF-103… LCDR V.E. LESH and LTJG D. L. CORDES… (both recovered)…
(12) 21 Dec: A-6A of VA-75… LCDR ROBERT STEWART GRAUSTEIN and LCDR BARTON SCOTT WADE… both (KIA)…
(13) 23 Dec: Sh-3A of HS-7… downed by small arms fire North Vietnam–all crew recovered…
Operational Losses: 4 (2 a-7s, one pilot killed; 1 A-6A, one of crew killed; and 1 SH-3)
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CRUISE: Two MIG-21 Kills…
(1) COMMANDER SAM FLYNN, JR. and LT WILLIAM H. JOHNS of VF-31 bagged a MIG-21 on 21 June 1972.
(2) LCDR GENE TUCKER, JR. and LTJG STANLEY B. EDENS of VF-103 bagged a MIG-21 on 10 August 1972.
THE VIETNAM WAR CRUISE OF USS SHANGRI-LA (CVA-38) with Carrier Air Wing EIGHT embarked departed Mayport 5 March 1970 and returned 17 December 1970 (9 1/2 months)…
Days on the line: 120
Combat Losses: 1
(1) 22 April 1970: A-4C of VA-172… LT JOHN BRYAN GOLZ … (KIA)…
Operational Losses: 8 (5 A-4s, 1 pilot killed; and 3 F-8s)
CARRIERS FOREVER… The extended deployments of Atlantic Fleet carriers to join and fight alongside the carriers of the Pacific Fleet is testament to the versatility, mobility and employability of one of our nation’s greatest warfighting assets… Aircraft carriers, especially the big decks with expanded air wings are the quick and sure way to add a runway and a fighting force to a distant theater of operations. Carriers are “ready on arrival,” as was the case with the combat criuises of Rosey, Sara and Shang…
Lest we forget…. Bear -30-