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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