Essex (CVS 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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THE PEACEFUL PACIFIC .,..- . Orff K ky.. I : ESSEX slips under the Golden Gate Bridge and into San Francisco Bay, following the completion of their second Korean Cruise. During the balance of 1953, and during all of 1954, ESSEX operated between the San Diego Operational area, and the Philippines, where she conducted launching exercises in the South China Sea and Manila Bay. In this period of activity, she operated with many other ships, including PHILIPPINE SEA, TARAWA, PRINCETON, WASP, HELENA, KEARSAGE, and others, conducting carrier qualifications and other training de- signed to maintain the maximum readiness of the embarked air group and crew should ESSEX be needed anywhere for active combat. During July, 1955, she again entered Puget Sound Navy Yard for overhaul, and remained there for the balance of the year and during the winter months of 1956. When she left the Bremerton Yard in March, she emerged with a longer deck of 889 feet, an angled deck, a hurricane bow, a second deck-edge elevator, as well as a larger displacement. She resumed operations in the San Diego Operations Area, conducting air defense exercises and other maneuvers and drills off the California coast. Then, on 16 July, 1956, she departed San Diego for a peace-time cruise to the Western Pacific. ESSEX made calls at Pearl Harbor, Kobe and Sasebo, Japan, and Subic Bay, Philippines, before returning to the States in January, 1957. ESSEX then rounded Cape Horn, to ioin the Atlantic Fleet. En route from one coast to the other, she stopped at Balboa, Valparaiso and Rio de Janeiro, arriving in Mayport, Florida, her new home port, on 1 August 1957. Wives of ESSEX crew members wave good-bye -again-as ESSEX departs for a peaceful cruise to WESTPAC. 1 I., I I f-. 'UU If M

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, 1331 M1.1513243:-gl--af.i,:1-.,g1:-gg.fr,geg-11..,L:p-1fi:y.i.-fawe, 1.31. , Y .NH , ....,2-..,- A - 4.-.,,-. ., . , 1 l ESSEX JOINS THE SIXTH FLEET ESSEX ioined the Sixth Fleet in February of 1958. The majority of the cruise was spent operating in eastern Mediterranean waters, and stops were made at many colorful ports- of-call, among them Genoa, Naples, Cannes, Palma, Barcelona, S-uda Bay, Salonika, Piraeus and Rhodes. It was during ESSEX's stay at Athens that the call to action came again, and the ship departed Rhodes Bay hurriedly in the early morning hours, to provide support for the Marine landings in Lebanon. ESSEX was first on the scene and remained on the line off the coast of Lebanon until August 20, providing continuous air support, through day and night flight operations. ESSEX then returned to Naples, looking forward to a well-deserved rest period, on 23 August. But by the 25th, she was underway again, and a scant two weeks later she was operating in support of the S-eventh Fleet oft the Formosa Coast. ln company with FORREST ROYAL and ROAN, units of DESRON 10, she departed Subic Bay 3 October 1958, and proceeded to Singapore, Colombo, Ceylon, Capetown, South Africa, and Rio de Janeiro, arriving home in Mayport, Florida, 17 November 1958. This marked the completion of what is believed to be the longest naval cruise in modern peacetime history, covering 78,000 engine miles in nine and one half months, nearly one third of the entire distance she covered during her activities in World War Il. f ESSEX operated with FORRESTAL, MACON, ALBANY, IOWA, and NORTHAMPTON during the NATO exer- cises in 1957. The training maneuvers were conducted Q in the North Atlantic.