America (CV 66) - Naval Cruise Book

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HISTORY OF AMERICA oczzzxx:cz ccxzzx The USS AMERICA (CV-66) is the fifth ship to bear the name AMERICA. She became the first war- ship so named to be commissioned into the fleet of the United States Navy. Her identity has been established by the officers and men who serve her. The first AMERICA was intended to be the greatest war- ship of the Revolutionary Navy. Her keel was laid in 1777, a seventy-four gun ship of the line. John Paul Jones was to be her prospective Commanding Officer, but was denied her command just a few months before her launching. 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. All AMERICA ' S have served ably, from the schooner yacht built in 1851 to the U.S. luxury liner, S.S. AMERICA. The schooner yacht won the first America cup race. During the Civil war, the Confederacy obtained and pressed her 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. The twin-screw steamship AMERIKA, built in Ireland in 1905 for the Hamburg-American line, was taken into the U.S. Navy in 1917 as a troop transport and renamed AMER- ICA. By 1921, she was back in passenger service with the United States Lines, but retired in 1931. She was taken out of retirement in 1941 and put into service as an Army troop transport. The beautiful United States Line passenger liner S.S. AMERICA was converted to a troop transport to serve in World War II under the name WEST POINT. After the war, she was reconverted to a passenger liner for the United States Lines, and in 1964, was sold to foreign shipping inter- ests and named AUSTRAILIS. r- , ' yss Above (Left): The 1st AMERICA . . presented to France. 1783. Lejt: Steamship AMERIKA, 1905 ... a troop transport in WWI. Above: SS AMERICA . . . passenger liner and troop transport in WWII.

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Her name . . . the personal choice of . . . President John F. Kennedy After more than 200 years, the name and ship were finally united in defense of the country whose name she so proudly bears. Her name was the personal choice of the late Presi- dent John F. Ken nedy. She is conventionally powered, but at one point, while still on the drawing boards, AMERICA was designated to be nuclear powered. Plans were changed be- fore the keel was laid, but some diagrams and component blueprints still bear the name USS AMERICA (CVAN-66). A modified FORRESTAL class carrier, her major distinctions being elevator configuration and a modernized island struc- ture. AMERICA is an enormous ship. For instance if the Eiffel Tower was laid on her flight deck, the Paris landmark would overhang a mere 5 feet. The carrier ' s length is twice the height of the Washington Monument and is only 202.5 feet shorter in length than the stupendous Empire State Build- ing. Her keel was laid in January, 1961 at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. Three years later, Mrs. Catherine T. McDonald, wife of the Chief of Naval Oper- ations, christened AMERICA. After sea trials and accep- tance trials, AMERICA was commissioned on 23 Jan uary, 1965. Over six thousand spectators crowded the ship ' s han- gar 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. I I Top (Right): AMERICA . . . under construction at Newport News Ship Building and Dry Dock Company. July. 1961. Middle (left): Mrs. David L. McDonald launches AMERICA. February. 1964. Middle (Right) Bottom (Left): Flight deck island and mast. Opposite page (Top): The newly commissioned AMERICA. Opposite page (Bottom): Preliminary sea trials. December. 1964. I 1