Essex (CVS 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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Yard Period lo Deployment Since Essex' NorTh ATlanTic Deployment WI'1iCI1 ended 22 Eebruary l962, She IWOS been 0 busy GHCI DVOducTive ship. Un a weT Spring day in March, Essex enTered The Unilfed STOTGS IXIUVGI SIWIPYUVCI in BVO0IfIY if New York, i0V C1 ERAM ll conversion. Six monThs IaTer, a new Essex, The mosT modern anTi-submarine warfare carrier in The Ameri- can EleeT, reTurned To acTive duTy. On six SepTember Essex accepTed The Admiral ElaTIey Award, presenTed annually To The ASW carrier displaying highesT achievemenf in safe aircrafT operaTions. On The nineTeenTh of 0cTober l962, Essex arrived aT GuanTanamo Bay, Cuba, for six weeks of Training. Unknown To all hands, she would suddenly leave TwenTy-four hours later aT five o'cIock on a very dark morning. The Tol- lowing day RresidenT John E. Kennedy announced The naval quaranTine of Cuba. Essex spenT The nexT TwenTy-six days aT sea, conducTing 6211 consecuTive hours of fIighT operaTions. November arrived, and so did Essex' TwenTy-firsT Commanding Officer. OH The TWeV1Ty-fil'ST of November, Capfain Joseph M. WesT relieved CapTain Gerard S. BogarT in a change of command ceremony aT our home porT in QuonseT RoinT, Rhode Island. Un The TwelfTh of December, Essex had compleTed Three weeks of ASW exercises when she anchored aT ST. Thomas, Virgin Islands, for four days of liberTy, before proceeding home for The ChrisTmas holidays. February I963 found Essex once again undergoing Training by The EIeeT Training Group in preparaTion for an operational readiness inspecrian. Erom The fourTeenTh unTil The sixTeenTh, Training was again inTerrupTed, for Essex was called inTo acTion To parTicipaTe in The surveillance force which soughT The kidnapped Venezuelan ship An- zoaTegui. Essex Then conTinued her Training and on The nineTeenTh of Eebruary successfully compleTed a difficulT DRI. During The nexT four monThs Essex prarTicipaTed in five ASW exercises, including Slamex, a combined UniTed STaTes-Canadian operaTion in The NorTh Arlanric. Essex Terminafed The successful Slamex exercise wiTh a visiT To I-Ialifax, Nova ScoTia. I In The monTh of June, Essex was moored for five days in NewporT, Rhode Island, in coniuncTion wiTh Global STraTegy Week and also sTeamed Through NarraganseTT Bay, inTo Rhode Island Sound, wiTh Two Thousand seven hundred guesTs aboard for her annual DependenTs' Day Cruise. On eighT July Rear Admiral DOnC1Id Gey, .lr-, GSSUmed Command of Carrier Division EighTeen of which Essex is The flagship. One hundred TwenTy Midshipmen were aboard Essex when she IefTQuonseT on The fifTeenTh of July for six weeks of ASW Training. The Midshipmen Cruise broughT The ship To I-Ialifax, Nova ScoTia, Bermuda and New York CiTy, TerminaTing aT QuonseT RoinT, Seprember one, Essex came home To QuonseT RoinT noT To resT, buT To ready herself for a voyage ThaT would Toke her ogrogg The ATIanTic, Through The MediTerranean Sea and The Suez Canal, half way around The World fo The Argbion SQGD Essex' lasr monTh in porT was hecTic. Supplies for eighTy days of overseas deploymenT were broughT aboard. EauipmenT was peaked To maximum efficiency. Personnel were briefed on subIecTs ranging from whaT beverages To drink in Europe To operaTing procedures wiTh BriTish and RakisTani naval uniTs. Einally on one OcTober I963 Essex pulled away from all ThaT was familiar, bound for her Midlink Deploymenf,

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Donald Gay, Jr., born in NewporT News, Virginia, on April 22, T9TLi, son of The laTe Donald and MarTha Louise Gay, aTTended public schools in The NewporT News area. Upon graduaTion from The US, Naval Academy, Annapolis Maryland, he was commissioned an Ensign on 23 June T937, and was assigned To The baTTleship NEVADA and laTer The desTroyer STTVTTVTS. in April T9LiT, afTer compleTion of flighT Training aT Pensacola, Elorida, Rear Admiral Gay was designaTed a Naval AviaTor. He Then reporTed To RaTrol Squadron ST which was employed in neuTraliTy paTrols and anTi-sub- marine operaTions in The ATlanTic aT The sTarT of World War ll. He laTer commanded a paTrol bombing squadron which operaTed from England under The Royal Air Eorce Coasfal Command in The Bay of Biscay, anTi-submarine offen- sive and in supporT of The Normandy landings. ln T945-T946 he served in The Office of The Chief of Naval Opera- Tions and on deTachmenT Took command of EighTing Squadron Lil based on The U.S.S. ERANKLIN D, ROOSEVELT, In T949 he was made navigaTor of The ROOSEVELT and on reTurn from iTs Mediferranean deploymenT aTTended The Armed Eorces STaff College, Norfolk, Virginia. Upon graduaTion, he was ordered To The STaff of The RresidenT of The Naval War College. In T952 he was ordered To command Air Group THREE and in ThaT capaciTy was deployed in The MediTerranean aboard The U.S.S. LEYTE. In T955 he was ordered To NATO duTy serving as Rlans Officer for The Commander Naval STriking Eorces, SouThern Europe based aT Naples, lTaly. In T956 he served as DirecTor of Service TesT, aT The Naval Air TesT CenTer, RaTuxenT River, Maryland, where in addiTion To qualifying in every -Naval high performance aircrafT, he organized and supervised The EleeT InTroducTion Programs which phased This family of aircrafT, beTTer known as The Super Six , info fleeT operaTions. He became OperaTions Officer for The SEVENTH EleeT, operaTing in Ear EasTern Wafers in T957. ln May of T959 he Took command of The U.S.S. ELOYDS BAY TAVE-ZTOJ in Hong Kong, BriTish Crown Colony, and conTinued operaTions as a uniT of The SEVENTH EleeT. On L1 June T96O, in The harbor of Kobei, Japan, he Took command of The U.S.S. RANGER, an aTT ack carrier of The SEVENTH EleeT and served as her Commanding Officer unTil 5 May T96T. Upon deTachmenT he reporTed To The Office of The Chief of Naval Opera- Tions on ST May T96T. A . Rear Admiral Gay was selecTed To his presenf rank in May T963 and GSSUVNSCT Command Of Carrier DTVTSTOVW ETGHTEEN on ,July 8, T963. He has Twice received The DisTinguished Elying Cross and he is TherecipienTof The Bronze STar wiTh CombaT V, Three air medals and various campaign and occupafion ribbons. Admiral Gay and his wife, Mickey, reside in NorTh KingsTon, Rhode Island. Their only son, Donald, QT, is a Corporal in The Marine Corps. They have Two daughfers, Rriscilla, TS, and Tracy Treadwell, Li. T

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ff' f, 1 4 f, Essex CIT ST. Thomas, Virgin Islands