Coral Sea (CV 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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C QLEFTJ Roger Williams, Chairman Executive Committee of the Shipyard, delivers the Coral Sea to the U.S. Navy. QBELOWQ ' Captain Storrs, General Bradley, Admiral Ainsworth and Commander Will look over the brand new Coral Sea flight deck. Q' 5 - ' S , . . T tiff 1 R C 4 , fi of Q EEF? Hu . wr, .ew fm' V ,V ,AV

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The oral' Sea departed on her 10th deployment from Norfolk, May 31, 1989. As she steamed out of a harbor she first saw over 41 years ago she did so as a veteran of unprecedented proportions. In A the ensuing years since her birth at Newport News Shipbuilding she has seen and participated in many tumultuous events. ' On departing the pier at Norfolk she passed her scheduled replacement, the nuclear-powered George Washington taking form across Hampton Roads at the site of her own birth. The Ageless Warrior's history begins in the mid 1940's. The U.S. Naval construction program of World War II produced a fleet of the finest ships ever to sail into harms way in any navy of th'e world. These included the Iowa-class battleships, Essex- A copy of the original invitation to the commission- ing of USS Coral Sea QCVB-435. class carriers, Baltimore+Cl'asSif:?'? f7 heavy cruisersand the 4. Fletcher-class destroy61'SQf' a logical progression then that ' produced a pedigree of . combatant ships in the latter part of the war. One of these. ships was the large battle carrier to be christened Coral Sea. Capitalizing on wartime experience, she was constructed with the most advanced damage control innovations -I possible, including an armored flight deck and extensive A internal subdivisioning not A found on any other carrier or other combatant before or since. Her original length was ' 968 feet, which with an extreme beam at the waterline of 112 feet, and a maximum draft of 34 feet, gave a full load displacement of 60,100 tons. Her twelve Babcock and Wilcox boilers fed four - Westinghouse engines total of 212,000 ' for a design knots. T she was built with catapults. Her armament was fourteen 5ginch 54-caliber gun two mouiI1?S i.if for-Q air defense. Her ' firstrcomtplement was 379 officers and 3,725 enlisted men with the .air wing embarked. Coral Sea - the name speaks of glorious de-eds and brave men and a ship that has lived up, with pride and glory, to her name sake, the battle which saved Australia from - Japanese invasion in the early days of America's participation in World War II. T The Battle of Coral Sea was one of double significance in American and world naval history. It was not only the first major U.S. fleet success in the war in the Pacific, but was also the first battle in which 1 thetwo opposing fleets never , Y., If . Tllc Captain, Ollllccrs nml Crew. Y '-N , V' IIKK UNITED smrzis sun' Colm:-sl5A l'CKllIC5t tllc IIUIIOI' Or ,'0lll' Ill'CSCll0C UNITED STATES Sllll' N.,.sz,l:. N.,..1 sl..,.,....1. P... .I on lluc allcrnoon ol' J A ' - K 'ant llircc Jclnclc'

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C... S.. begins a proud tradition made visual or electronic contact. As a consequence of damage inflicted by U.S. carriers Lexington and Yorktown, one Japanese carrier, Shokaku, was so badly damaged that she was out of action for two months, and a second carrier, Zuikaku, suffered aircraft losses which kept her out of action until the middle of June 1942. Had these two powerful carriers and their veteran pilots been available for the historic carrier battle at Midway Island, they could well have been the margin for a Japanese victory. The temporary disablement of these carriers by RADM Fletcher's task force proved to be an invaluable preliminary to the American victory at Midway. Prior to the battle of Coral Sea, Japanese forces had been advancing toward Australia in preparation for the invasion of that country. The Battle of Coral Sea ended this southward Japanese drive and prevented the invasion. The anniversary of the Battle of Coral Sea is still celebrated in Australia. . The present carrier is the third shipfto be named after the Battl.efof.f-theCoral Sea. p ,The first'Coralf1SQea'a was an j escort aircraft carrier, built by Kaiser Shipbuilding Company in Vancouver, Washington. Originally named Alikula Bay, her name was changed during construction in 1943. Launched May 1, 1943 she was placed in commission August 27, 1943 as CCVE-571. Her name was changed to Anzio at the end of that huge battle and the name Coral Sea assigned to a great' new carrier then under construction. The second Coral Sea was a battle carrier KCVB-421 who's name was changed to Franklin D. Roosevelt following the President's death in April 1945. Coral Sea CCV 431, the third of the Midway Class, was laid down in 1945, launched, April 2, 1946 and commissioned o October 1, 1947. Her sponsor A ' was Mrs. Thomas C. Kinkaid, wife of Rear Admiral Thomas A C. Kinkaid, who commanded fa cruiser division under VADMQ Jack Fletcher at the Battle off Coral Sea. Secretary of the J pihf- Navy, John L. Sullivan, was lrii A the principal speaker. The V L Newport News sh-ipyard f it q recorded the event this way: A Shortly after dawn, at,6:30'l a.m. on Wednesday, October -1 9 N f I A en 1947 the latestof f1 e aircraft ,ca'rr,iersg, our plant from' her A brand-new Coral Sea proudly ' mans-the- rail sailing into her first-ever ' foreign port- of-call. on her journey to become a part of the United States Navy Following Shakedown and training cruises in 1947 and early 1948, Coral Sea, the newest of the supercarriers, was ready to join the Atlantic Fleet. Europe in the post-war era was tense. As Naval historian Tom Grassey notes in his essay on the Midway class aircraft carriers, Coral Sea regularly deployed to the Mediterranean through the mid-1950's, supporting the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations, conducting readiness exercises, and hosting visits by heads of state and other dignitaries. A Coral Sea was also instrumental in the Navy's role in the nascent Nuclear Age. At the smallest atomic U.S. Arsenal was Mark VI, and only its B- airborne with the aircraft at could lift a 10,000 Off an aircraft Grassey notes, patrol based aircraft. capable of pound the April