Intrepid (CVS 11) - Naval Cruise Book

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Continues in Turmoil :rv I Burma '70 0Yanlcee Sbatlon Than land 6JD1X1e Statlon BornB0 , J' 35 . 'o 0 00 ,9 '...

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Q , TT f ti LL,,LSf I X g jglff-J..g'J. 171 'Oo?v 'ro hav' Vase: 4xf1'l' A .SEV . 5, . 453353 5 iff E age-tae: - M QBWV LQQT' 14423 vt mes, we-sal'-ar' 5 5 1 D N it-915' 4:22 Q 1 'Fi s k v 123159 f 1' fn ' .f 9og, ff IW bil'-ss V31 it-P554 f Q53 ,f ,Ly ,b if if Q 'fffgxi i My Wi, ',, K sf f ' Q' A 'X X! X I 1 Q.--fs, Y N' .Ns NV.. , J' X! f X' , ,.,..-sf, 1945 - 1965 The Far East INTREPID returned home from West Pacific to a sad task-decommissioning. Resting quietly in the San Francisco Naval Shipyard with protective coatings covering her, she was officially placed out of com- mission in reserve on 22 March, 1947. As all the treaties of the war took effect and the ensuing changes in the world's balance of power began to take shape, the United States came face to face with the fact that the war had not really ended, its form andadversaries had merely altered. The new conflict began to take shape in the late Forties, and the American people soon knew well the meaning of the Cold War, The 17th Parallel, the Wall. The threat of the Sino-Soviet Bloc had become all too evident to freedom-loving peoples throughout the world. The United States and her allies were confronted on every hand by the face of Communism. Nowhere was this threat to become more urgent than in the Far East where the Bloc nations found the most fer- tile ground for the sowing of the seeds of Communism. infiltrating in every direction from her borders, China made her presence felt throughout the Far East. When the call came for aid, the United States met her commitments on every hand. Many thousands of Americans today know the cold of the Korean win- ter, the arduous duty of patrolling the Straits of Taiwan, and the steaming combat of the jungles of Laos and Vietnam. On October 15, 1954 INTREPID took her place as an active unit of the U. S. Atlantic Fleet to again make her presence felt as an instrument of U. S. Military power. Operating as a CVA until 31 March 1962 when she was reclassified CVS, INTREPID again made her mark both in the attack role and later as an anti-submarine warfare carrier. While she and her sisters of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet operated in support of U.S. policy in the Atlantic and Mediter- ranean, our allies in the Far East became harder pressed by the encroachment of Communist influence within their borders. Beginning initially as token aid and technical assistance, the U.S. commitment in the lrny Republic of Viet Nam grew larger. The confronta- tlon with the Communists became the test case fur freedom in the Far East. Faced with the expanding conflict in Vietnam and criticism both at home and abroad of our foreign policy, the President of the United States nevertheless strengthened our commit- ments and increased our aid to the Republic of Vietnam. 44-I

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The New Struggle Bids Her: With the decision to make a sizable increase in the num- ber of U.S. forces in that small, war-torn country, the Com- mander-in-Chief spoke to the nation on July 28, T96 : Why must young Americans--born into a land exultant with hope and golden with promise-toil and suffer and sometimes die in such a remote and distant place? The answer, like the war itself, is not an easy one. But it echoes clearly from the pain- ful lessons of half a century. Three times in my lifetime, in two world wars and in Korea, Amer- icans have gone to far lands to fight for freedom. We have learned at a terrible and brutal cost that retreat does not bring peace. Most of the non-Communist nations of Asia cannot, by themselves and alone, resist the grow- ing might and grasping ambition of Asian com- munism. Our power, therefore, is a vital shield. If we are driven from the field in Vietnam, then no nation can ever again have the same con- fidence in American promise, or in American protection. ln each land the forces of independ- ence would be considerably weakened. And an Asia so threatened by Communist domination would imperil the security of the United States itself. We did not choose to be the guardians at the gate, but there is no one else. Nor would surrender in Vietnam bring peace. We learned from Hitler at Munich that success only feeds the appetite of aggression. The battle would be renewed in one country and then another bringing with it perhaps ever larger and crueler conflict. Moreover, we are in Vietnam to fulfill one of the most solemn pledges of the American Nation. Three Presidents-President Eisenhower, Presi- dent Kennedy, and your present President-over ll years, have committed themselves and have promised to help defend this small and valiant nation. Strengthened by that promise, the people of South Vietnam have fought for many long years. Thousands of them have died. Thousands more have been crippled and scarred by war. We can- not now dishonor our word or abandon our com- mitment or leave those who believed us and who trusted us to the terror and repression and mur- der that would follow. This, then, my fellow Americans, is why we are in Vietnam. Robert S. McNamara P0Ul H- Nlfle Admiral David l. McDonald Secret fD f . ' - my 0 e ense SeC'elU'Y of NUVY Chief of Naval Operations ,, ,,,, ,, , , ,, I