Ranger (CVA 61) - Naval Cruise Book

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i From Anti-Sub Patrol Ending A Long Mediterranean Cruise-1943 The air wing was relieved at the end of six months, the World War ll carrier, however, stayed away for far longer periods without any relief. Liberty... liberty. . .what's that? Months went by in the early stages of the war before the crew got any liberty whatsoever. Even then, it was in the form of a ship's company party with rations of warm beer. Later on in the conflict, port calls in England-although many Rangermen wished they could have been more fre- quent. True Ranger ingenuity, then,as now, came through to make life at sea as interesting as possible. Inter- divisional Volley Ball took place in the hangar deck on available days: competition, particularly during the tournaments, was murderous. After the time allotted for the games C1600 to 18005, chairs were set up to watch such features as Dangerously They Live with Nancy Coleman or ln Old California with John Wayne and Binnie Barnes. Supplementing such rare fare were occasional ship shows whose raw talent was drawn directly from the crew. A Bull Horn or Ranger magazine for July, 1942 contains an article called What l liked best about the July Jollities . Listed as favored sketches are the Old Time Ump Ump Band , 0ricco's imitations of the First Lieutenant, and the parody of the parody, l exercise My Liver and Each Important Part. There is, we of the 1969 cruisebook staff believe, a value in this comparison of two ships, identically named and designed for the same purpose, sepa- rated from one another's births by a quarter of a century. Most of us realize by now that a ship is an intangible and individual personality besides the sum of her metal pieces. Today's Ranger is the logical extension of CV-4 as a strategic concept-that of a portable, high-impact thrust of air power-despite the vast differences between the wars in which they serve. It is also the extension of the spirit which made the Ranger launched 36 years ago a true fighting ship. And perhaps it is only this spirit passed onward in time that really matters. This spirit is the unique creation of the men who man her, and it becomes that much easier for them to realize when they are able to gather it around the solid core of heritage contained in the name Ranger . photographs courtesy of Naval Photographic Center, Washington, D.C

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. 1. - L, .-.WM 1-14 lim CAPTAIN W.H. LIVINGSTGN COIVIIVIANDING OFFICER