America (CV 66) - Naval Cruise Book

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After sea trials and acceptance trials AMERICA was com- missioned on 23 January, 1964. Six thousand spectators crowded the ship ' s hangar deck to view the commissioning and hear addresses by Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, Secretary of the Navy, Paul H. Nitze, and the Governor of Virginia, A.S. Harrison. Enroute to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for her initial training, the carrier ' s first catapult launch and arrested recovery were recorded by an A-4 Skyhawk flown by Cdr. Kenneth B. Austin, the ship ' s Executive Officer. Shortly thereafter, she left on her first deployment: a tour with the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. It was on AMERICA ' S second Mediterranean deployment that she was awarded the Battle Efficiency E as the best Atlantic Fleet aircraft carrier. During this 1967 cruise the Arab-Israeli war erupted in the eastern Mediterranean and at midday, 8 June, the technical research ship USS LIBERTY (GTR-5) was attacked by unidentified air and sea forces. Within minutes, AMERICA ' S F-4B fighters were airborne to protect the Task Force and aid LIBERTY, only to find out from Tel Aviv that the attack had been accidentally committed by Israeli torpedo boats and aircraft. The next day, AMERICA rendezvoused with the crippled ship south of Souda Bay, Crete where 50 wounded LIBERTY crewmen were transferred aboard to be treated by the ship ' s doctors and corpsmen. i AMERICA NEWPORT KtHS ' SHIPBUILDING IDWOOttCO. ,, E ,|P0KT»Eft» 9, » I!

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SHIP ' S LOG The Ship ' s Log is the official record of her past. Every ac- tion, every rudder order and engine order, every evolution and event is meticulously recorded for history in this document. AMERICA ' S Log reveals many highlights from a career span- ning over seventeen years and eleven deployments to every quadrant of the globe. The USS AMERICA (CV 66) is the fifth ship to bear the name AMERICA. The first AMERICA was intended to be the greatest warship of the fledgling Revolutionary Navy. Her keel was laid in 1777, a 74 gun ship of the line. John Paul Jones was to be her first Commanding Officer, however, Congress presented the ship to France to replace the MAGNIFIQUE which had been lost by grounding in Boston Harbor. Thus the first AMERICA joined the French Navy in 1783. left: AMERICA under construction at Newport News Ship- building and Drydock Company, July, 1961 below: Flight deck, island, and mast, February, 1964 Other AMERICAS have served ably. The schooner yacht built in 1851 for Commodore John C. Stevens was obtained by the Confederacy during the Civil War and pressed into service as a blockade runner. She was later taken by Federal forces and served the union as a blockader. In 1921 she was assigned to the U.S. Naval Academy. Other namesakes were the steamship AMERICA built in Ireland in 1905 for the Hamburg-American Line and the United States Line passenger liner AMERICA built in 1941. Both served as troop transports in times of war. After 200 years the name and ship were united once again. USS AMERICA (CV 66) is the first commissioned warship to be named AMERICA and her title was the personal choice of the late President John F. Kennedy. AMERICA was built by the Newport News Ship Building Company. AMERICA is immense. For instance, if the Eiffel Tower was laid on her flight deck, the Paris landmark would overhang a mere 5 feet. The carrier is twice the length of the Washington Monument and the gigantic Empire State Building is only 202.5 feet taller than her length. She was launched on 1 February, 1964, three years after her keel was laid. Her spon- sor, Mrs. David L. McDonald, christened AMERICA with the traditional bottle of champagne. Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze and Admiral David L. McDonald, Chief of Naval Operations, addressed the audience.

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Ship ' s Lo facing page top: Mrs. David L. McDonald christens AMERICA, 1 February, 1964 facing page bottom: Admiral David L. McDonald, chief of Naval Operations, at launching ceremonies lop: Secretary of Defense Dean Rusk speaks at com- missioning ceremonies, 23 January, 1965 middle: A newly commissioned AMERICA bottom: The crew reports aboard