Midway (CV 41) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 14 text:

CCLD WAR HRONOLCGY 22 March WWhile the Midwoy's crew is spendlng the third of seven scheduled days ot rest and relaxation In in Hongkong, the ship is suddenly ordered to gel Undoef' way in the morning and move quickly to the South Chino Sea oft the coast at South Vietnam. Taken by surprtsfit the crew is forced to leave in Hongkong over 513,000 ln deposits, shirts and other clothes. lThese deposits plus much laundry were later recovered by a special Supply Department task force.l The cause of the sudden departure is the rapidly deteriorating situation in the small, landlocked lndochinese country of Laos. ln the dense, uncivilized jungles and rugged mountains, a rebel army, supported and supplied by Russia and Communist China, continues to move south, advancing against the poorly trained and in many cass poorly equipped Royal Laotian Army. At issue is possible military intervention by the US andfor SEATO, which has pledged aid to Laos. 23 March Underway early in the morning, the Midway moves south. Throughout the Far East, the complicated US military machine is alerted. Other units of the Seventh Fleet the Lexington, Coral Sea, Bennington and gmoller WPP0'l '-NPS m0ve to designated positions in the South China Sea, 27 March To increase her capacity to aid a limited ground war, the ship moves to Subic Bay for eight hourg to onlaad VMF-3ll, a Marine F8U squodron, '2 April The day being Easter Sunday, holiday routine isicgbsgrlied. Many people turln out for .Egger Church Ser- . ater bask on the flight deck tn the hot tropical sun The weather continues hot, in the low nineties. The sea :K water injection temperature is 84 degrees In Laos and in Bong, lmols, the two sides exchange offers ol conditionol qeosehresl but the fighting in Laos's steam- lflg jungles COt'ttir1Ue5, S Apfll AS hopes continue to T550 for a cease-tire, the Midway glgbrdered to 'proceed agoin fo u tc Bay, this time to Offlood the Marines Rumors of a trip North are persistent, yet Q, Seo the ship lives in ignorance. A5 day after broiling doy posses' the average sailor feels like C pown on a great chess board, He hos no idea when a move is comin nor.to where or for who, purposi, He is curious, anxious, bored. He Q X reads the morning news of confer proposals, plans, and wonders wh erases' difclfsslofw, studies, and be done with it. Meunwhil' e COn',lU5l fight it out circles again around a stationary PTMLhe hMtdway steams in 9 April-To relieve the monoiony 'Lt e South China Sea, held on the flight deck, featuring such 90.0 Olllmpiad is drag race and a swab throwing Co Events GS 0 bridle event, a tug of war, the burly Eighth est. ln the final crew from the Air Department bests everond lf0nQClr deck hefty, ominous-looking chiefs. ln the Yone including The is at last ordered North. meantime the ship

Page 13 text:

. 3. .Stax Q33 . K...- X f . ff '- l X ' s 5 K - 2 ef 1 rf-1. r ' - Q A 14 f 2. s-WA'-mx A W . 4 - ' 'W qnfmk ' x A ' x ag - ' A 1 ,fff,a33fe5 t Qii - , l.??3 ' a -- f .. . - ,Wi df J 33 sqx?g?x?v1-sl Q , If . :F ' , ' 4 ' ' s' ' F- .' N 'M 'I . I I nn-1 ,' 'i'e'f,u Q,-:S45?RtN',9:f.r:5n-1 .N d 'B A ' ,rm 1 . . - 1,5 'gfjz 5' A -A. N.u s . Q . .1 . O., 1:1 .9 it 4. NI. .isvx px ...mf h ,-.. 4 v. H, -L s f.,vvid si :EQ ' W7-'-fic. .- ' . Q' 1 'rvf 'Q 3 ' ' ' -'A Sri f'ia51'if' Q . -n Q fx . , . P -f - --5 X., we- 4 - . - f. -- . - .,f.ff. - F-NWN' X 5 1 X ' -f?,',-2 1 iff -H - F x 7 -- -- r1f'53 . fi- ' 4-' L- .'f9'+fg3jq-1:9 Q ..-.. L. --3, ,. QL, .- :Ugg ...Q ' Q, Q f- f ,,. ,,,-, L fe ' ' I x K 1' 4 Q, -!l i'?'a '1' ,- n X - is.. -sl -ni . 1 . H . ', . ',l, ,Si if-3:kfx.?hXNgi:.5jE! -N l , .Zia tr -., .Y ,,,q'..'g- . , .L . ... -'-A. '-v .- 1' ,J 7552 J. ,fbi gf-'IC 7 Q . . :.'g.qfs..-f -4 - X f- in Q,-1-+1 5,4 '5'x5:4'sf.fr'-., ' ,, ' - 4 vi , wa-'f'f '- 15' - 4' ' 2' -T rf'-if' gf 'Q -f 4- ' , I u . v f 1.2: 0,JL'5'1 ' gp . LFST.- ai-. 'll r l' 1 Alibi' .'.,. ,, - 6.-I., ' . , Q E ,S ,N il? ' .',i'-rig 3.1 6. '. 1 . ' h '. NQN ' 's.5.-. I- . , Vg 43' ' A I ' i?b'+5?fW-w - --bw ' , t , . -.'::-'-4-ma .fa ,,,, ue h ' ' . - '. , , . - . V v ,' .zjf . -'f 2 Ai' - X-.2 .ak - a -asf' --14.1 . .ff .ir r - 'Q fl H 5lf'73.ln'2a :I -'T Niue i'sN'-Ax 1 , - ' 9 , r fig, gt .N , s-,P',f- in T -V i -'JHVM 'VY' H f W f f -I? 1--inl-

Page 15 text:

ld April-The Midway finally arrives in Yokosuka and the crew receives their first liberty in 23 days. Since leaving the States on the l5th of February, the ship has steamed 22,000 miles and spent nearly 9095 of her time underway. 28 April'-Again the schedule is altered. Ten hours before the ship is to anchor in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, o mes- sage is received order- ing the Midway again to the South China Sea. Although Russia and Great Britain have agreed in principle to o cease fire, no one seems sure of exactly when the shooting will stop. The rebel Pathet Lao, in an ollsout effort to grab as much territory as possible before 0 cease-fire, commences its biggest drive to date and the Royal Laotian army sufters some of its worst defeats ln Peking, the Chinese demand that the US siiusr . tndra. ull rrtilttczry advisors and supplies before a cease tf-1 can bc agreed upon, 30 April As the Midway re i'-f Jin. alert ana ready at SEO, on land the Cold Vllar rages lnter.ent.J't or noni intervention is the question Should tnr- US calvin: ner forces to a long costly war against gi-iitlla voices in a landlocked, principally lunqlr- arf-ri with rtvtsally na nv:-rnal lines of communication? Oi could tn ls , tt lc -. ' f-'-.A f, .xo tmthr- Communists bf- too qrv-at at sr-thucu tit inf lv'r'v's? and would it result ine-vttctbly in 4.1C'lllUl l f.s1l lll'Jf't'x''Lll LYvY of Southeast Asia? Can ct rt--utiiil iinciiftvr-.tt--d git'--rn ment be pe-ctcf-ably uqr----cl up-an by brim stctw. wl'l'Cl'1 will remain neutral and iirtcoiiiiiiittr-rl 7 an sh tit Clin int- uS UftOfd not to lntvrvr-nv' 3 4 MGX Attvr dctys at ttf-qittirittwrt thi- s.-ifiblitrsqv at it ceasovtirr- is finally sign.-rl tty tn-- Ptith.-t Luo and the L0Oti0n government Fiqhtinq how--vr-r cipntintms suofudi I fl c-Dun'-'fcharar-s cally and there' ure- llttlttudlkllv' Chu Q-M rim of violcltiort of the nvwly siqrt--Cl ctqi--vnu-nt lhr- .Midway is dlspQtChc'd North ctqrtin ctrtd the Seventh Fleet bPQlV1S to resume its norrttcll routine- I5 Moy Back on the Qrtqinctl schedule' the Midway enters Kobe for tive- days ln Laos Bangkok. and later GBHGVO, dlstiussions between the' warinq factions and cs special tri-power council work out the ds-tails of the cease- fire. Occasionally fighting flares but overall the situgtian is calm. l July The second half of lQol sees a geographic shift of the Cold War focus to Berlin, and Laos and Southeast Asia fade from page one lt is quite clear, however, that Indochina has not seen the last of crisis At best, peace in this area can only be tern. porory. Laos faces on uncertain and uneasy future as various factions vie for power and the Communists work towards an internal takeover. ln the meantime, the Cold War is still very much in evidence in the surrounding territory. Nearby South Vietnam, especially, would be a valuable addition to the Communist comp, much more so than Laos. lf President Ngo Diem loses his battle against the Communist Viet Cong from North Vietnam, neither the independence of Southeast Asia nor SEATO could survive. ln any event, no one in the Seventh Fleet can say for sure that he has seen the last of the South China Sea. is 'O