Essex (CVS 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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F, Change of Command I relieve you, Sif- A ceremonious Transifion. AT change of command ceremonies aboard ESSEX in QuonseT PoinT, RADM AshworTh relieved RADM McElroy of The command of Carrier Division EighTeen. RADM McElroy wenT on To become command- ing officer of The Naval Base aT Key WesT, Florida, wiTh The loesT wishes of The crew Tor good luck in his new assignmenT. To his crediT was The iniTial esTablishmenT of smooTh relaTions loeiween The flag and The ship, GS ESSEX became newly designaTed flagship of ASW Group Three. RADM AshworTh Took The Hag . ..anCl laTer wenT half-way around The world wiTh ESSEX, operaTing wiTh several foreign navies and bringing crediT To The ship by his aloiliTies.

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' rv E1 asieaE::fm1:f-Q1z2AfiM'i'2!f:5', a t ' -ge' HE A R-235 ' L The busy little tugs push, shove and guide ESSEX from Bayonne where she stopped to have her mast put on. ...Destinalion...Quonset Point ESSEX arrives in Quonset Point . . . welcomed by fireboats and tugs to her new home. Soon, it was time to leave New York. Putting the busy days at the Yard behind her, ESSEX, now CVS-9, was ready to turn north towards her new home port. Sailing maiestically through the East River, she took her last look at New York's famous skyline. Then, marshalled and pushed by the impudent little tugs, she was in open waters and on her way home. 197 E

Page 206 text:

A last look of Quonsef. A Middie Cruise... and a record breaking landing JusT as in school, l note Taking is imporTonT. In June, 1960, ESSEX deparTed QuonseT PoinT To begin a shorT cruise designed To Train midshipmen from various colleges and universiTies The way of life aT sea. These poTenTial Navy officers, under The Holloway Plan, joined The crew for inTensive Training . . . which in- cluded The Techniques of swabbing The deck, as well as learning To operaTe signal flags and lighTs, wield a broom, and observe aT firsT hand The operafions of The greaT ship. For These midshipmen, This was To be more Than The usual middie cruise . . . for iT was while ESSEX waslaT sea in, early summer, ThaT an S2F piloTed by Capfain Richard L. Fowler, Commanding Officer of CVS-9, caughT The wire, and broke The exisTing record for The greaTesT.number of arresTed landings ever made on any one carrier. The nrevious mark, held by The old SNRATOGA, was 98,549 landings . . . and The record breaking landing was .duly celebraTed wiTh The Tradi- Tional cake, as well as much newspaper coverage. The middie cruise also included a brief liberiy in Halifax, Nova ScoTia.' '