USS Enterprise (CVN 65) - Naval Cruise Book

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ifhe explosions and fire killed 27 and injured 85. Eighteen is earlier, a fire almost exactly the same aboard USS Forrestal ' ' wliolaiijc ed 132 lives. he relatively low casualty rate was credited to the skill of prise ' s firefighters and damage control teams. As one com- f wasinapo er stated, ' They told me we had a good firefighting crew, but La.CMiiiiaaiijti i ' t know they were that good. lifter the fires were out and the smoke subsided, the two-inch : iiraafjaml flight deck had three major holes blown into it, as well as al minor ones. There was a 26-foot hole in elevator four, a : iiiieiMi ot hole near the landing signal officer ' s platform, and on the ■•JhgafiooilK ,af d s ide, across from elevator four, was a 25-foot hole. light hours after the holocaust started. Enterprise returned to - • ' icaifkiM] Harbor under its own power — its eight reactors intact and ibcfa. naged. tawertSaa vt tne P ear l Harbor Naval Shipyard were a host of yard work- knocked to the da siting to board the Big E to start repairs. Over 650 people, ng around the clock, restored charred bulkheads, replaced rerrae. ' Tlieani stee l sorted through the spaghetti of power cables and :i a;; ever seen | ilitated ventilation systems below the flight deck. •jiv inm hose in | ' refabricated sections of the flight deck, weighing up to 21,000 Is, were airlifted to Hawaii as well as 20 special steel weld- ' .:::. iwal. Its hard to I nolo the decks Hi M Mm ■. nil enterprise crewmembers worked alongside the yard force help- ith repairs, installing gear and cleaning spaces. )n March 5, Enterprise was operational again and after five rf sea trials, it departed for Yankee Station, its fourth Vietnam jwfe. , end. l ly 30, Enterprise sailed from Alameda 1; Bremerton Naval Shipyard for a six l overhaul. Enterprise returned to Alameda on May 20. Alameda. LEBepiseietM j£ ..-.;■ jjejattl Alameda on flfccsBbatdeplovma Enterprise returned to Alameda in February. In August, the Big E won Battle E and on Sept. 17, left for its th WESTPAC. (aaB U Gulf ofTonl ewlditctivedw s sped in Pans on 5 ai olvement in the njj.ilielastll -, tkiim i cood BattieE .. | --ess. YouKipiw O New Years found Enterprise in Bay where it had also spent Christmas. Subic on Jan. 7 to begin another sion into the Indian Ocean. Following a Indian Ocean cruise, Enterprise was upon to help in the evacuation of During Operation Frequent Wind, ft from the Big E flew 95 sorties. n rnments toppled in Portugal, Greece, jj j pia, Film: Chinatown. tO Saigon evacuated, Apollo and link up in space, first personal uter introduced, King Faisal murdered , 0 idi Arabia, Khmer Rouge terrorizes . .j KxJia, Civil war erupts in Lebanon resist r is in Ira 76 Vietnam united, Droughts in ly O July 30 Enterprise departed on its eighth WESTPAC. Highlighting this deploy- ment was the Big E ' s participation in Operation Kangaroo, a joint exercise with the Australian and New Zealand navies. Follow- ing the exercise, the ship visited Hobart, Tasmania Oct. 29 through Nov. 5. iy l On Jan. 15, Enterprise departed Subic Bay for the first all-nuclear-powered excursion into the Indian Ocean since 1964. The ship was joined by the guided missile cruisers Long Beach and Truxton and the submarine Tautog. The long deployment ended March 28, when Enterprise returned to Europe, Mao Tse-tung succeeded in China, Ozone layer depletion discovered, Earthquakes kill 780,000 worldwide, Book: Roots, Films: Taxi Driver, All the President ' s Men iy Carter elected President, pardons Vietnam draft dodgers, First flight of space shuttle Enterprise, Military coup in Pakistan, President Sadat visits Israel, ly O On April 4, Enterprise departed for its ninth Western Pacific Deployment. Soon after leaving port, the Big E participated in RIMPAC-78, a four-nation exercise involving 42 ships, 225 aircraft and nearly 22,000 men from the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. After visiting the Philippines in May, Enterprise rescued 13 Vietnamese refugees from a sinking sampan about 90 miles west of Luzon R.P. During the deployment, Enterprise also made a 33- day excursion into the Indian Ocean, making a port visit to Perth in August. After leaving Perth, Aug. 12, the ship Volcanos erupt in Japan, Italy and Hawaii, Film: Star Wars 1 y O Senator Hubert Humphrey dies, First test-tube baby born, Senate votes to turn Panama Canal over to Panama, Sandinistas fight guerrilla war in Nicaragua, First non-Italian pope in 456 years elected, Film: The Deer Hunter

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flight U)ecA SJnferno The day started out like most — sunny, warm and calm. En- terprise was 70 miles south of Hawaii going through an Opera- tional Readiness Inspection, similar to REFTRAand ATA. At 8: 15 several men started working their way to their general quarters stations for an anticipated drill. What they did not anticipate was that in five minutes they would be involved in the real thing — fighting for their lives and the ship ' s survival. At 8:19, Tuesday, January 14, 1969 the ship ' s IMC (main in- tercom system) called away, Fire, Fire, Fire on the flight deck! This is not a drill! This is not a drill! The initial explosion and fire was caused by hot air exhaust T from a jet starter cart which overheated a Zuni air-to-ground re attached to an F-4 Phantom. The aircraft on the flight deck were being readied to launch bombing exercise on Kahoolawe. As such, most of the aircraft loaded down with ordnance. When the first explosion occurred, Enterprise was in a port in preparation for launch. Captain Kent L. Lee, commanding off : immediately ordered the turn be continued. This manuever kq 18-knot wind blowing the flames aft, away from aircraft and land. Chief Warrant Officer Jim Helton was one of the men woi topside when the rocket exploded. I was walking aft on the i deck, he said. Suddenly, a fire ball went off in front of me. Helton and several others immediately retrieved fire hose: helped rescue injured men from the spreading fire. A series of eight explosions shook the ship between 8:22 and Helton and the others fighting the fire were knocked to the deck eral times, yet got back to their feet to battle the blaze. One sailor who worked in the island wrote home, The guys f ing that fire had more guts than anything I have ever seen. B( were going off and they still kept pushing those damn hoses in frc themselves and dragging guys out. Below the flight deck the fire ravaged several compartments crewmember described the unbelievable damage. Some of the things back there were unreal. It ' s hard to be what fire can do. The bulkheads melted, ran onto the decks whij™ 1 turn melted and fell into the berthing spaces below. It ' s amazing we didn ' t lose more guys than we did j. | $i toil (diiie.B BBC jjwoto jJgtLsOl lahenti tawed I Etrpnsecre ' 1969 (GonLj Navy EC- 121 reconnaissance aircraft and Enterprise was once again ordered to the Sea of Japan. The Big E became the flagship of the recreated Task Force 7 1 and was joined by three other carriers, becoming the largest task force assembled in 25 years. Enterprise returned to Alameda in July and departed once again for its birthplace, Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. 1-7 ZU Enterprise remained at the shipyard for overhaul and refueling the entire year. 1971 Enterprise completed its sea trials in January and departed the Norfolk area en route to its homeport, Alameda. In June, Enterprise arrived at Subic Bay on its fifth WESTPAC. Later that month it was on station in the Gulf of Tonkin. After a six-day port visit to Singapore in September, Enter- prise and Bainbridge transited into the Indian Ocean and conducted extensive training operations. In October the Big E visited Subic Bay and returned to the Gulf of Tonkin. On Dec. 10, Enterprise was ordered to proceed to the Malacca Straits to await further orders. There, it was joined by several destroyers and an LHA, forming Contingency Force, Seventh Fleet. Soon after forming up, the ships proceeded into the Indian Ocean as a result of the Indo-Pakistan War which began a few days earlier. 1972 On Feb. 12, Enterprise returnee to Alameda ending an eight month deplo) ment. Enterprise departed Alameda on Sept. 12, for its sixth combat deployment Southeast Asia. ™ it tap Him. In, 1 7jl J On station in the Gulf of Tonkii Enterprise and the world received news tl a peace accord was signed in Paris on Jan 27, thus ending U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, North Vietnam released 59 POWs and on March 29, the last U.S. troops returned home. Also in March, Enterprise earned its second Battle E. ' ..:- iWESTPAC ' fatYei fell in Ian N)fci Skip: 1-ylU Chicago Seven found innocent, U.S. forces strike over Cambodian border, Kent State protestors killed, Floods kill 500,000 in Pakistan, Marxists gain control of Chile, Films: Woodstock, Catch- 22. J- -7 £ 1 Charles Manson convicted, Greenpeace founded, Saljut first manned space station in orbit, Voting age lowered to 18, U.S. devalues dollar, Large-scale bombing of Vietnam. J- -7 1 £ Bangladesh gains independence, President Nixon visits China, 2.5 million- year old skull discovered in Kenya, Films: The Godfather, Cabaret, 1 1 Israeli Olympians murdered in Munich. 1973 Paris peace accord signed. SALT- 1 arms limitation treaty signed, Watergate hearings commence, Arab sfc embargo oil to West, cause energy crisi Arabs, Israelis fight Yom Kippur War, ' President Agnew resigns. J- -7 1 tt Nixon resigns, Ford assumes! presidency, pardons Nixon, Syria and Is | agree to cease-fire, IRA bombs in Irela England, Turks invade Cyprus,

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197S fCjOn . J participated with HMAS Stuart and the Royal Austra- lian Air Force in a two-day exercise, Beacon South. After Beacon South, the Big E proceeded to Singapore to participate in exercise Merlin VI. On its way home, Enterprise stopped off at Hong Kong and Subic Bay, evading a large storm in the South China Sea. On Oct. 12, the ship made a brief stop at Pearl Harbor to pick up 200 Tigers (fathers, brothers or sons of crewmembers) for the last week of the deployment. 1 !y y Three Mile Island accident, Soviet army invades Afghanistan, Khomeini ousts Shah of Iran, takes American embassy, hostages, Margaret Thatcher becomes first woman Prime Minister in Britain, SALT-2 arms limitation treaty signed, Military coup in El Salvador, Film: Apocalypse Now. IbfoU U.S. boycotts grain, Moscow Olympics over Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Iran hostage rescue attempt 1 y j Enterprise set sail again Jan. 9, but this time for Bremerton, Washington. For the next 30 months the ship underwent a compre- hensive overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, its first since being commissioned. 19S2 On February 1 1, the Big E departed Puget Sound Naval Shipyard like new. Enterprise had removed the distinct bee hive fixed radar dome on the island structure and undertook the largest habitability self-help program ever attempted by a ship. The crew had refurbished every berthing and head facility. This included installing 5,200 new modular berths, redesigning lounges, putting fails, Mt. St. Helens erupts, Global eradication of smallpox announced, Iraq invades Iran, begins eight-year war, John Lennon killed. 1 y J 1 Ronald Reagan becomes President, Iran hostages released, Reagan shot, Air traffic controllers strike, are fired, Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome identified, Israeli jets destroy Iraqi nuclear plant, Sandra Day O ' Connor first female Supreme Court Justice. in new lockers and improving the lighting i i r ventilation. On Sept. 1, Enterprise departe j Alameda for its 10th Western Pacific depk ' isesPaific ment. During the cruise, the Big E con- i iUkks, ducted exercises in the Sea of Japan and tv i y operated in the Northwest Pacific. 1 y J 3 New Years found Enterprise in transit from the Arabian Sea, with special guests on board — the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. On Jan. 20, the Big E set anchor in Fremantle, West Australia for a day port visit. In March, Enterprise partic pated in the combined exercise TEAM SPIRIT off the coast of South Korea and i tk taorises. inc] iflHtalFI ■ttoAhme ' ftp iyO C Equal Rights Amendment defeated, Unemployment highest in 40 years, Brezhnev dies, UN Conference ai Law of the Sea, Falklands War, Israeli troops invade Lebanon, First permanent artificial heart, Films: Ghandi, E.T. Extra-Terrestrial. iyO j Soviets shoot down Korean airliner, Shiite extremist bombs Marine barracks in Beirut, U.S. invades Grenad ' -•■,■ Ubc Soi Vis,