Constellation (CV 64) - Naval Cruise Book

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OF CONTENTS - - BLACK HISTORY MONTH 427 CROSSING THE LINE 428-433 STEEL BEACH 434-437 CONNIE CLOWNS 4« i SPORTS ' ir 440-441 BRAGGIItMr IGHTS jJ l t Bp -?:. -442 JWCtBI«PB« 4 - HHIi ■1 - 443 I M N ACTION I r 444-45 1 ra?m ' ' ' ' ' 452-455 SIDNEY 456-458 HAWAII 459-460 TIGER CRUISE tf 1-466 NEW DADS 467-469 WELCOME HOME 470-477 SPECIAL THANKS 478 STAFF PHOTO 479 FRIENDS 480

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TABLE «5i-. « TITLE-PAGE . r LETT FROM 1ttE CO battleSjRoup photo TABLE OFVONTENt HISTORY OF SHIP COMMAND BIOGRAPHIES DISTINGUISHED VISITORS CHANGE OF COMMAND CRUISE BEGINSw ' SHIP ' S COMPANY LATE ARRIVALS PUSAN KOREA , HONG KONG SINGAPORE JEBEL ALI DR KING MEMORIAL

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Constellation ' s History: A Stellar Record T ike her famous namesake, the current USS Constellation (CV 64) has a long and proud service record. -■- Built at the New York Naval Shipyard as the second ship in the Kitty Hawk class of aircraft carriers, Connie has more than 30 years of service, which have seen her sail into harm ' s way from Yankee Station off the coast of Vietnam to the Gulf of Oman in the Indian Ocean. Commissioned on October 27, 1961, Constellation sailed west to her homeport of San Diego in July of 1962. On August 4, 1 964, the American destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy were attacked by North Vietnamese patrol boats in the international waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Constellation, visiting Hong Kong on a regularly-scheduled port visit, set sail immediately and began launching strikes against heavily fortified North Vietnamese positions, engaging naval targets and shooting down enemy aircraft. The first American aces of the Vietnam War, LT Randall Cunningham and LTJG Willie DriscoU of Fighter Attack Squadron 96, flew off Constellation ' s decks. Their success came during the ship ' s seventh WESTPAC - her sixth combat cruise. For her actions in Southeast Asia, Constellation was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. In 1965, Connie was redesignated CV from CVA following modifications to her flight deck and equipment which enabled the ship to deploy with S-3 A Viking (anti-submarine) and F-14 Tomcat (fighter) aircraft. In 1982, Constellation returned to the yards, this time in Bremerton, Washington. Naval aviation had undergone vast changes since 1961, and when Connie came out of the yards in 1984, two weeks early and under budget, she was fully modernized. One facet of the ship ' s upgrade was the ability to carry the Navy ' s newest strike fighter, the F A- 1 8 Hornet. During WESTPAC 87, Constellation once again found herself in the limelight, this time in the role of providing vital air cover for the escort of U.S.-flagged tankers through the Persian Gulf. In February 1990, Constellation departed San Diego, returning to the East Coast for a three-year overhaul. The $800 million Service Life Extension Program, completed in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in March 1993, added 15 years to the carrier ' s operational life. The overhaul saw upgrades to virtually every major system on the ship, from the galleys to the enginerooms, and the flight deck to the anchors. Constellation returned to San Diego on July 22, 1993, following her third transit around Cape Horn at the tip of South America. From her birthplace at the New York Naval Shipyard to her homeport of San Diego and her rebirth at Philadelphia, from the troubled water of the Gulf of Tonkin to the North Arabian Sea, USS Constellation has written an impressive record for the world to see. And it ' s been a stellar record, to say the least.