Lexington (CV 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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arrival on the westcoast. On the return voyage to home port, Lex participated with other Fleet units and the Continental Air Defense Command in f'Strike Bluebolt , testing Army and Navy military capabilities. Following only three days in San Diego, the carrier was again operating off the California coast when orders were received to return to San Francisco and embark Air Group Twenty-One. Half way around the globe the LebanonCrisis was unfolding, and our armed forces worldwide were immediately placed on various stages of alert. -' A return was made to home port only long enough to say good-bye to everyone's fam- ily and to embark Rear Admiral Clark, COMCARDIV FIVE, and his staff. On the way to the western Pacific a two-day stopover was made at Pearl Harbor, and at that time Captain james R. Reedy relieved Captain Bailey as commanding officer. Following a brief stop at Guam, Lex Hchoppedw to Commander, U. S. Seventh Fleet and immediately began a period of forty-four consecutive days at sea off Taiw an, finally concluding the continuous steam- ing at Subic Bay in the Philippines September 18. On September 27, at sea, Rear Admiral South- erland embarked and Lexi'ngton became flagship of Carrier Division Seven QAdmiral Clark had debarked twenty days earlier, shifting his flag to USS Midway.j The Chinese Communists had intermittently been shelling the Nationalist-held islands of Quemoy and Matsu just off the Main- land, but when a cease-fire was declared in October, Lexington steamed up to Yokosukafor a week in drydock. When the cease-fire was cut short three days after her arrival there, CVA-16 was immediately ordered back to station off Taiwan. The ship was able to return to japan to complete her brief yard period soon, however, and then, after another look at Taiwan, she sail- ed to Buckner Bay, Okinawa. It was there, on November 15, that Admiral Southerland was killed in a helicopter crash dur- ing a flight from the ship to Naha Air Base. December 1 Lex headed home again, after the usual stop in Hawaii and taking time to debark Air Group 21 at Alameda, she arrived at San Diego in time for ayear-end holiday leave period. Routine operations, including carrier qualifica- tions, consumed most of the first third of 1959 in the area off San Diego. Carrier Air Group 21 came aboard April 24-25 in time to depart for Pearl Harbor. One element of the Air Group, Attack Squadron 212, became the first Navy Air Unit to take the air-to-surface Bullpup missile aboard a carrier in an operational status. The ship continued into the Western Pacific for a full-scale deployment. On June 16, four days after arriving at Yokosuka, Captain Stanley E. Reuhlow assumed command, and he was on the bridge when Lexington sailed into Hong Kong july 3. In mid-july maneuvers christened Operation Blue Sky were undertaken in conjunction with Nationalist Chinese forces. Other liberty ports and various operations occupied the next six weeks, and CVA-16 was scheduled to steam to Kobe when unrest in Laos once again threatened the political situation in unsettled Southeast Asia. Lex was therefore diverted to Subic Bay, and on September 6 rendezvoused with USS Shangri-La to await developments. Also unsettling things in the Pacific around this time was Typhoon Vera, which Lex had to go to some lengths to avoid in late September. Once clear of this dangerous storm, the ship embarked Marine Air Group Eleven, and entered the final phase of the deployment. Following final stops at Sasebo, Buckner Bay and Yokosuka, she headed for Pearl Harbor and home, arriving San Diego November 25. The remainder of the year was relatively quiet, being devoted primarily to leave and upkeep. America emerged hom World War II as the most powerful nation on earth - with world-wide responsibilities. T he U S. Seventh Fleet helped maintain the peace in the Far East The attach car- rier Lexington regularbz deployed to Asiatic waters. jets were now operation- al units ofthe fleet. Overleaf, Lexington launches a Shywarrior hr a mission with the Seventh Fleet in the summer of J 95 8. 75

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m-1 W r .Z?'Z'FJQi'I :. .. z... . ,i'l':1- ...... . -..- .fEW'?1?!'?'.. - 3- ' 7 'f 2' L ' one barricade, with a total of a dozen arresting engines. With the angled deck, a pilot failing to engage one of the few arresting wires could apply full power to take-off again, and come around for another pass. The greatest implication of this for the pilots, of course, was the substantial improvement in the safety of landing operations -not having to face barriers, barricade and parked aircraft should the arresting wires not be engaged. Other significant features were being added to carriers at this time to compensate for the larger, heavier and faster aircraft then becoming opera- tional. Twin steam catapults Qanother British developmentj, a mirror landing system and a longer and stronger flight deck all became a part of the 'fnewv Lexington which emerged from the shipyard in August 1955. Recommissioning occurred the 15th of that month, with Captain A. S. Heyward, Ir. assum- ing command. After her fitting out and readiness- for-sea period, Lex conducted Shakedown train- ing out of San Diego, California, returning to Bremerton on January 29, 1956 for post-shake- down overhaul. In early March she steamed south again to spend the next two and a half months engaged primarily in training operations in and out of San Diego. t ' May 28 was the commencement date for a de- ployment to the Far East. After a stop at Pearl Harbor, Lexington headed .toward japan, chopping to the U. S. Seventh Fleet june 16. Upon arrival at Yokosuka, Commander Carrier Division One broke his flag aboard, and was with the ship for visits to Kobe and Okinawa. Twenty-eight days during the summer were spent on rescue station off the China coast, as a part of Task Force 77. On a visit to Hong Kong on October 4 Captain Iohn W. Gannon relieved Captain Heyward as commanding offi- cer. A fleet operation christened Slim jim shared the October spotlight with a violent typhoon, although Lex managed to survive both. A cruise to Melbourne, Australia was next on the operations schedule, but this was cancelled by another of the frequent flare-ups which character- ize the international situation in Southeast Asia. When nothing serious materialized, however, the 74 ship returned to Japan, and on December 6, de- parted from Yokosuka for Pearl Harbor, San Francisco and finally to home port San Diego. Pulling in there December 20, her log book show- ed 54,000 miles steamed and 4,000 sorties com- pleted by the Air Group. The initial three and a half months of 1957 were spent in the vici-nity of her home port, con- ducting training exercises for the crew and car- rier qualifications for Air Group 12. These fliers were very much at home, therefore, when they were assigned to Lexington for the next deploy- ment, departing for Pearl Harbor April 19. Fol- lowing the usual brief stopnthere, the ship arrived Yokosuka June 1, and the following day became flagship for Rear Admiral H. D. Riley, COMCARDIV ONE Cwho also served as Com- mander, TF 77 june 19-September 6, and Com- mander, TG 77.7 September 6-October 10j. After a period of refresher training at Guam, Lex anchored a week in early july at Kobe. The remainder of the summer was spent in various operations in the waters around japan, with lib- erty stops beingsmade at a variety of ports in- cluding Yokosuka, Iwakuni, Sasebo and Hong Kong. On September 19 a new commanding officer took over- Captain B. L. Bailey. A milestone of the deployment was the receipt, October 3, of the coveted Qfiscalj 1957 Chief of Naval Operations Aviation Safety Award. On such a pleasant note another long deployment was ended in San Diego on October 17. q Shortly thereafter the flattop steamed up to Bremerton for a routine overhaul, and was rest- ing in drydock at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard when 1957 drew to a close. Work was finally completed and the ship headed south on March 26, 1958, stopping on the way to San Diego to participate in commemoration ceremonies for a new USO in San Francisco. Spring and the month of june were spent in extensive training operations for ship's company, as well as assist- ing a number of squadrons to up-date their car- rier qualification proficiency. Lexington was dispatched tofSan Francisco again the initial week in July to join other ele- ments of the First Fleet in celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Great White Fleet's

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