John F Kennedy (CV 67) - Naval Cruise Book

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USS JOHN F. KENNEDY tCV-675 is named for the 35th President ofthe United States. The ship's keel was laid October 22. 196-1, at the Newport News Shipbuild- ing and Drydock Company in Virginia. President Kennedys 9-year-old daughter. Caroline. christened the ship in May 1967 in ceremonies held at Newport.News. Virginiag the ship subsequently entered naval service on September 7. 1968. KENNEDY was originally designated as CVA-67,- attack aircraft carrier. ln the early l970's. the classification was changed to CV-67. indicating the ship was capable of supporting anti-submarine warfareaircraft, making it an all- '. . purpose, multi-rnission aircraft carrier. i KENNEDY's maiden voyage was to the Mediterranean Sea. j She subsequently made another seven deployments to this area . i ofthe world through the '70's in response to a deteriorating situation in the Middle East. The ship's fourth Mediterranean cruise included her first visit to a North Atlantic port, Edinburgh. Scotland. By the mid 70's. KENNEDY had been upgraded to handle both the F- 14 Tomcat and the S-3 Viking, KENNEDY under- went her first year-long major overhaul in 1979. The ship's ninth deployment in 1981 was her first to the Indian Ocean. KENNEDY transited the Suez Canal. hosted the first visit aboard a United States ship by a Somali head ofstate and achieved its l50.000th I arrested landing. In 1982. KENNEDY won her eighth Battle efficiency award and fourth Golden Anchor retention award. ln 1983. as a result ofgrowing crisis in Beirut. Lebanon, KENNEDY was called upon once again to support efforts that would define the ship's operations into the next year. Awards received during that period include a ninth Battle the Silver Anchor Award for Retention, the RADM Flatley Award for Safety andthe Battenburg Cup for the best overall ship in the Atlantic Fleet. KENNEDY spent the winter of 1984 in drydock for a complex overhaul at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. ln 1985. the ship re- ceived a fifth Golden Anchor Retention Award and several departmental efficiency awards. While in the shipyard, the ship was also awarded the inaugural Depart- ment ofDefcnse Phoenix Award signifying a level ofmaintenanee above all other Department of De- fense components worldwide. In July 1986. KENNEDY served as the center- piece fora vast international naval armada during the lntemational Naval Review in honor ofthe 100th Anniver- sary and rededication ofthe Statue of Liberty. KENNEDY was underway in the Mediterranean from August 1986 to March 1987 KENNEDY departed Norfok Virginia, for her 12th major deployment to the Mediterranean in August 1988. On January 4, 1989 while conducting routine operations in international waters. F- 1 4 TOMCATs from the embarked air wing shot down two Libyan MIG-235 that were a ' f l ' ..,'-.Q-A' Q . Y ' pproac ring the battlegroup in a hostile manner. After spending the first half of 1 990 participating in a variety ofexerciscs. KENNEDY paid visits to New York for Fleet Week '90 g and Bostonifor the Fourth ofJuly. ln August, withjust four days notice, KENNEDY deployed in support ofOperation Desert Shield Qyg KENNEDY entered the Red Sea in September 1990 and became the Commander. Red Sea Battle Forces flagship On January i 16. 1991. aircraft fiom the ships Carrier Air Wing THREE bw rn O ' X 7 U - A 1 l . L A ' 2 pcratronDesertStormwthatt' 'kg 1 ' 'fi' 1 A ' 1aunched1l4strikes and7 898 sorties with 'urcrews ofCVW gfl ' 7 I I dh Son mql mum The Ship . . ' . -f -- r. 1 . -J ying 11,63 combat hours 'ind deliverin 'lNO1'C1l'l'l1S' - ol ordnancein the conflict. L F 'I ' '5 mllhon polmdb 1 1

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1 Svirvmiv VIS Q i 3 1 -,.......-5, - H , ..-- ni 1 v -..-...M --- -mu- r. 1 ohn Fitzgerald Kennedy was bom May 29,1917 in Brooklyn, Massachusetts. He was the 35th president of the United States from 1961 to 1963. He was the son ofJo- seph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. The Kennedyls immi- grated to America in the 19th cen- tury and were of Irish Catholic de- scent. - John Kennedy's father played a large part in the young Kennedy's political life. Joseph Patrick Kennedy was born in 1888 and died in 1969. He was bom in Boston and engaged in banking, shipbuilding, and mo- tion-picture distribution before serv- -ing as chairman ofthe Sectuities and iExchange Commission from 1934 to 1935. He was head of the Maritime 'Commission from 1936 to 1937. .From 1937 to 1940 he was the U.S. fAmbassador to Great Britain. In .Great Britain, the young Kennedy got -Qhis taste for politics. Being the son tof a multimillionaire helped his ca- ..reer. 5 John graduated from Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut. il-Ie briefly attended Princeton Uni- versity before entering Havard in 1936. While in Havard, he wrote an honors thesis on British foreign poli- cies titled Why England Slept. In 1940 it was published and became a top seller rn America In the days of World War Two Kennedy served in the U.S. Navy He served with distinction as commander of a PT boat in the Pa- cific While captain of PT 109, in 1943 his boat was hit by a Japa- nese destroyer The crew was adrift inthe ocean many miles from land. He lead his crew rn an open ocean swim dragging one severely injured man to the nearest island John left his crew to swim to another island eventually rescued but the war would leave a permanent reminder, a severly injured back and malaria. He was a Democratic con- gressman from Massachusetts from 1947 to 1953 In 1952 he won a seat 1 if , , f , . . . . - ii. a . ' . ' . Ji to find help for his crew. They were 1 , fl' . S f - , 2 . in the U.S. Senate. The next year he married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. The couple had three children: Caroline Bouvier born November 27, 1957, John Fitzgerald Jr., born November 25, 1960, and a second son who died in infancy in August 1963. During Kennedyls political career he did not receive a salary. His pay check as a civil servant was quietly donated to various charities. Kennedy was a relatively in- effective senator. During parts of 1954 and 1955, he was seriously ill with back problems. During his ill- ness and after his back surgery he worked on a book of biographical studies of American political heroes. Profiles in Courage was published in 1956 and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1957. Like his earlier book on Brit- ish foreign policy, it revealed his ad- miration for forceful political fig- ures. Kennedy narrowly lost the Democratic vice presidential nomi- nation in 1956. His sights were on the Presidential bid in 1960. He put together a well financed, highly or- ganized campaign and won the partyis presidential nomination. There was nothing John liked better then to get out and campaign. He liked to press the flesh and meet the people he was representing. As a northerner and a Roman Catholic, he recognized his lack of strength in the South. Kennedy se- lected Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson of Texas as his running mate. John was a shrewd and cun- ning political opponent and did well in the first televised political debates. He narrowly defeated Republican Vice President Richard Nixon. He became, at 43 , the youngest man and only Roman Catholic to be elected president. His domestic program, the New Frontier, called for tax reform, federal aid to education, medical care for the aged under Social Security and the extension of civil rights. Kennedy is credited with being the driving force for putting an Ameri- can on the moon. Many of his re- forms stalled in Congress and for- eign-affairs occupied much of his time. He was criticized for his ap- proval for the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961. In Octo- ber of 1962, U.S. reconnaissance planes discovered Soviet missile bases. In the ensuing Cuban Missile Crises, Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cuba and demanded the removal ofthe missiles. After a brief and tense interval, the USSR complied with his demands. The next year the U.S. and the Soviet Union signed a limited treaty banning nuclear tests. Kennedy also increased the number of U.S. military advisers in South Vietnam to about 16,000. He estab- lished the Alliance for Progress to give economic aid to Latin America and created the Peace Corps. John also pressed hard to achieve racial integration in the South. On November 22, 1963 Kennedy was shot and killed in Dal- las, Texas. John F. Kennedyis legacy of camolot will be remembered by his energetic youth, charm and cha- risma. His administration is best de- scribed by his quotes . . .ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country and Any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfac- tion: I served in the United States Navyf' 3

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