Bennington (CVA 20) - Naval Cruise Book

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ment. In common with most of her sisters, CV- 20 was decommissioned and put in reserve. Her commission pennant was hauled down on 8 February I946 at Norfolk, Virginia. There she was assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. une I95O: North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel and invaded the young Republic of Korea. Less than twenty-four hours later the United Nations .Security Council condemned the ,North Korean invasion as a breach of world peace and forthwith ordered military sanctions. To the United States fell the direction of military operations. The drastic defense cutbacks of the late forties had decimated the powerful Ameican forces of World War ll. To fulfill our new obligation the nation was forced into an extensive crash program of rearmament. As a part of this new military build-up, BENNINGTON was taken out of reserve and was sent to the New York Naval Shipyard for modernization. Here in the ship- yard of her birth, she was to be brought up to date so that she could handle the aircraft that had been developed since the end of the war. This extensive conversion took two years to complete and it was not until November I3, 1952 that she was recommissioned. ' When she had entered the yard BENNINGTON was listed as a 27,000-ton member of the ESSEX class. Upon her recommissioning she was listed as a 40,500-ton member of the ORISKANY class. Forty-three feet had been added to her overall length and eight feet to her maximum beam. Her topside silhouette had been altered by the removal of the twin five-inch gun mounts located iust fore and aft of the island structure. Finally, her designation had been changed from Aircraft Carrier to the new classification Attack Aircraft Carrier. Henceforth her short name was CVA-20. By August I953 the new BENNINGTON with Air Group Seven embarked was ready for her first extended cruise. Hostilities had ceased in Korea but the country, now awake to problems of national existence, was determined to maintain a strong military posture. So Big Benn , as she come to be known, sailed out into the Atlantic to participate in OPERATION MARINER, one of the largest peacetime operations in naval history. Ships from the United States, Great:Britain, Canada, and six other members of the North American Treaty Organization took part in these maneuvers that extended from North America to Europe and from Greenland to Gibraltar. After this exercise BENNINGTON sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar and ioined the United States SIXTH FLEET. She remained there in the Mediterranean until February of I954 when she turned west and set course for home, arriving in the United States in early March. After a leave and reorganization period she was ready for her next overseas cruise, listed to start in May with Air Task Group 181 aboard. ir Task Group I8I had been formed in November l953. At that time four squadrons were detached from existing air groups under the operational control of ATG-l8l's first commander, CDR M. J. Hanley. The group was combat-ready by May and on the 22nd it loaded aboard BENNINGTON at Norfolk. The next day the ship steamed out of Hampton Roads and started north to Quonset Point, there to load more air- craft. The aviators were anxious to get their sea legs so refresher air operations were flown during the voyage up the coast. On 26 May at 0600 the day's first launch was completed. Eleven minutes later a series of ex- plosions rocked the forward section of the ship. Fires started, acrid fumes swept through the ship. Damage Control parties investigated and report- ed that the ship had suffered grave damage and that there were many casualties. Rescue facilities throughout New York and New England stood by to help. The Naval Air Station at Quonset Point sent out helicopters to fly the most serious cases ashore. All Rhode Island hospitals were notified to be ready for many casualties. When BENNINGTON moored at Quonset Point at noon, ambulances rushed more casualties to local hospitals. The final count showed that one hundred and three officers and men had been killed-over two hundred men were wounded. Throughout the emergency Big Benn's crew proved themselves well-trained and dis- ciplined. Many officers and men were later decorated for heroic action, every man aboard had done a good iob in those hours of distress. It was impossible to deploy either the air group or the ship. The squadrons returned to their home bases for replacements and further training. BENNINGTON entered the New York Naval Shipyard on I2 June I954 for repairs and ex- tensive modernization. Continual improvements were required if our ships were to keep pace with the great advancements in naval aircraft. ATG-I8l went to sea the following December, outbound for a six month tour aboard USS RANDOLPH, another Atlantic Fleet carrier. She ioined the SIXTH FLEET in the Med and together with her air group, participated in wide- spread NATO maneuvers. During her stay in the Mediterranean squadron members visited several ports of call: Marseilles, Valencia, Athens, and Istanbul were a few. In June the ship returned to the East Coast and ATG-l8l went ashore to the Naval Air Station, Oceana, Virginia. Soon

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history targets, BENNlNGTON's airmen sunk 20 surface craft and damaged 22 more during this same period. BENNINGTON and Air Group 82 swiftly became the terror of the Japanese Supreme War Council. Easter Sunday 1945 was D-Day at Gkinawa. BENNINGTON was there. Her air group flew air support missions during the troop landings and continued to strike at the retreating lmperial Army troops through the next seventy days. Then, on 4 June, the ever-present forces of nature lashed out at our ships. Ninety knot winds and crashing waves, fifty feet high, did more damage to our ship than the Japanese ever scored. A 35-foot section of the flight deck was ripped asunder, both catapults damaged. Yet three days later, the ship was able to launch a strike against an important target in southern Kyushu. At last came a period of rest. BENNINGTON retired to Leyte Gulf on 11 June to repair storm damage and to prepare for a series of attacks against the Japanese home islands. Air Group 82 disembarked and headed home. During four and a half months of intensive combat, its squadrons had shot down 167 enemy planes, destroyed 220 on the ground, and had damaged 200 more. lt was a proud but costly score: forty pilots and thirteen aircrewmen, 25X of the Air Group complement, were lost in action. On July lst with Air Group One aboard the ship returned to Japanese waters. On the 1Oth of July BENNlNGTON's planes blasted Tokyo. She continued with strikes in and around northern Honshu and Hokkaido. The strikes went on. On the very day Japan capitulated, 15 August 1945, BENNINGTON had a strike over Tokyo. lt was recalled before it reached its target. The war was over. Victory was complete. BENNINGTON sailed home to peace and retire-

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history afterwards CDR Ralph L. Werner, the present Air Group Commander, relieved CDR Hanley as Commander of Air Task Group 181. eanwhile BENNINGTON left the shipyard. She was one of the most modern aircraft carriers afloat. One striking addition was the new hurricane bow , a closed, streamlined bow that was designed to reduce the chance of damage to the bow and flight deck from heavy seas. Fur- ther, an angled deck and a starboard deckedge elevator were added. These modifications were completed by March of 1955 and by 19 March, BENNINGTON concluded her sea trials. The fighting was over in Korea but the Pacific Fleet needed this most modern carrier for duty in the Western Pacific. Her sailing orders arrived and on 8 September 1955 BENNINGTCN started her 14,000 mile voyage from Jackson- ville to San Diego. Too large to pass through the Panama Canal, Big Benn sailed down the east ccast of South America and rounded Cape Horn. Steaming north the ship went from winter weather to spring weather, then to the warm tropics and finally into the balmy latitudes of Southern California. She arrived at San Diego on 20 October and ioined the Pacific Fleet. Shortly thereafter, with the Jacksonville-based Air Task Group 201 embarked, CVA-20 departed the United States enroute to ioin the U. S. SEVENTH FLEET in Asiatic waters. A highly successful peacetime cruise of six months followed. BENNINGTON returned to her new home port, San Diego, in April 1956. Another cruise to WESTPAC was in the offing, scheduled to leave