Coral Sea (CV 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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SS CORAL SEA departed her home port of Norfolk Naval Station on September 28, 1987 to conduct a scheduled six month Mediterranean deployment. During the Atlantic transit enroute to join the Sixth Fleet, the crew celebrated CORAL SEA's 40th, and the U.S. Navy's 212th birthday on October 7 with a cake-cutting ceremony on the ship's hangar deck. I ' . . What more appropriate place is there to be celebrating this occasion than at sea . . . On our way toIdo our jobs In the Mediterranean? stated Commanding Officer, Captain Bruce Bremner as he addressed sailors and Marines who filled the hangar. Appropriate indeedg CORAL SEA began her Navy service departing Norfolk 40 years earlier for a sux-month Mediterranean cruise. I , , During the transit the carrier battle group joined the 22nd Marine Amphibious Ready GIroup QMARGJ to mark the first time a carrier battle group and a MARG deployed simuItaneousIy. Two task groups, 15 ships carrying 13,000 men, conducted training exercises to establish a more effective and Integrated operational group. I II I The two groups passed through the Straits of Gibraltar on October 11, and participated In exercise National Week 88, along with the ships of the USS SARATOGA Battlegroup, USS IOWA Battleship Task Group, and MARGI3-87. The exercise, which involved 35 U.S. Navy ships and more than 25,000 sailors and Marines, was designed to test joint command and control functions of such a large combat force. I I I I CORAL SEA and her embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing 13, conducted high-tempo flight operatloIns and remained at sea for 23 days before anchoring for liberty. The warship reaffirmed its role as an ambassador of goodwill when It hosted 1,700 NATO and Italian guests for Sunset Parades in Gaeta, and Naples, Italy. The two days of fanfare Included buffet-style feasts prepared by the ship's galley, close-order rifle drills by CORAL SEA's Marine Detachment, weapons Iexhlbltlons, and an air power demonstration by the air wing. CORAL SEA continued hosting Sunset Parade receptions during each new port visit. During November the deployment took on a French flavor with port visits to Marseille and Cannes, France. Between port visits, the battle group held training exercises with the French Navy to test the air defense structure of France's Mediterranean coast. I I I Rough seas delayed liberty boats in Cannes, but the focus was on the ship, not the shore. Wlth the French Riviera as a backdrop, NBC's TODAY show was launched live via satellite from CORAL SEA's flight deck to take America on a stem-to- stern tour of the carrier. Virtually every department on board the ship was involved with the production. The next evening the crew jammed the hangar bay to watch singerfentertainer Wayne Newton rock the ship with classic tunes from the 60's and 70's. The true stars of CORAL SEA were performing at sea when the carrier sailed to Palma on the largest of Spain's Balearic Islands, Mallorca. Some crewmembers spent off-duty hours as they had in previous ports, aiding local citizens. More than 45 men catered a typical American picnic for children in a poor Spanish community. CORAL SEA work projects in other ports included refurbishment of housing for the elderly, and donating money and gifts funded by the ship's religious offerings to local orphanages. CORAL SEA departed the Spanish port on December 3 and steamed for 14 days in the western Mediterranean. The carrier engaged in training exercises in which United States and Royal Moroccan Air Forces defended Moroccan shore- based targets against attacking forces from CORAL SEA and the MARG. An arduous at-sea period, coupled with the approaching holidays made mail service, more than ever, a priority. Letters flooded the Sixth Fleet in response to a Dear Abby column that solicited pen pals for deployed sailors and Marines. As CORAL SEA prepared to anchor in Naples for the holidays the fan mail kept flowing, as did 10,000 dozen cookies sent to the carrier's 4,300 men by the Association of Virginia Baptist Churches. As in previous ports, crew members participated in ship-sponsored tours in and beyond the Neopolitan city. One and two- day tours visited Rome as sailors and Marines joined thousands of worshipers on Christmas Eve in the Vatican for a papal midnight worship service. The coming of January meant more than just ringing in the new year for the crew. It also meant they were over the hump. Half way through the deployment also meant CORAL SEA and Carrier Air Wind 13 were preparing for their Midcruise Corrosion Control Audit on January 18 while anchored in Cannes. Aircrews scrubbed aircraft between flight operations, ridding them of the sea's corrosive elements. Meanwhile, in the bowels of the Ageless Warrior, engineers stoked boilers to make fresh water to clean the aircraft, and built-up steam pressure for the ensuing catapult launches. When inspectors from U.S. Naval Air Forces Atlantic graded corrosion levels of aircraft and ground support equipment, they recorded one of the most successful audits ever aboard an aircraft carrier. Team spirit continued beyond the call of duty during a three-day port visit to Augusta Bay, Sicily. CORAL SEA's fortuitous arrival during Naval Air Station Sigonella's Orange Festival pitted CORAL SEA football, basketball, soccer and boxing teams against their shore-based counterparts. The ship's rugby team took an athletic approach to diplomacy while scrimmaging with SiciIy's top amateur teamg the ship's ambassadorial role continued as more than 1,000 local citizens toured the ship each day. . Having established itself as an ambassador of goodwill, CORAL SEA steamed for ports in the eastern Mediterranean. A five-day anchorage in early February marked the carrier's return to the region where more than 30 years earlier it assisted in the evacuation of U.S. citizens during the Suez Crisis. CORAL SEA spent February visiting the eastern Mediterranean ports of Alexandria, Egyptg Izmir, Turkeyg and Haifa, Israel. She then steamed west for a final port call to Benidorm, Spain. IThe final exercise conducted by Commander Task Force 60 involved orchestrating dual carrier battle group operations with the USS CORAL SEA anId USS DWIGHT D EISENHOWER carrier battle groups. Following these operations, which involved 27 ships and two Alr Wings, the Coral Sea left the Mediterranean on March 19, 1988. After a brief stop at Rota, Spain, Coral Sea again transited the Atlantic Ocean and on March 29, 1988 returned to Norfolk and the waters of her birth. Q

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