Midway (CV 41) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 16 text:

A ty y u A- g A ff 'ay l t A ' , - Y tv ,f ' , 'A 1 --9 -- 1, y , - d Who! is Q cruise book? Many Ore n0Th'il9 more. Than ct few .mn ol: shuts of sailors standing in front ot or leaning against various paiesles Ok goo! or airplane wings smiling sweetly at the ph0f09 0Phe - In Qc sedlan of such books are some pretty but unrelated color shots of r', Bud- dha, shrines, Japanese girls and more smiling sailors, this time..thy6ld'iyng gldilol of Asahi. f lg the Wal Midway Cruise Book, Westpac l96l, we have attempted :to avoid randomness by stating a theme at the outset and following it througbhtxy description at parts visited by the ship. ' Our theme is to show as comprehensively as possible what aboard on aircraft Cartier in Westpac. What keeps 3700 men busy day? Why does the ship operate airplanes l5 to 20 hours C1 doy, every day at sea? How is o ship of 62,000 tons propelled through water oiliprvds up to 32 knots? And: why have aircraft carriers at alll? The Boolz esaniin-as first in the Prologue the Midway's Westpac role United Solis Cold War strategy. It then turns to the ship's primary mission sptointcining the readiness of the Air Group. However much of 6 I fl . , , the book is spent on owen neglected support functions: lobs and duties Pcffofmed 51 men many of whom have never seen a launch. Flight operations may be the most spectacular part of carrier life, yet somebody :os tahcooir hh! taodk Somebody has to supply power to the ship. Some- ody as to :paint staes. Somebody has to fix broken legs. The ke totund e.. E, .el ' - . . Y ,tt Us yd 'Q 'le Operohort of an aircraft carrier is realization of the ways insgiiivhich each division and department on board Contributes to the worlcn T tts, nt . t' l gig g S D C5 G Whole. For without the smooth connection and itting ofigtlte parts, the whole could not exist To r .d h. d , i H . l p ovi e t IS un ers onding p,.rpase of this Cruise Book, ,s 315 ai. if-. .,. ig , X in it fs -E i ln the four lnterludvs, we have tried to present a serious and initelligsiflfgs A . i . , gf'f1f'j,:ff A - 151154,-'idf ' ll it fl i,l.p . 5 2' ,,,...Qf1':' ., , , ' 2 ,Y , 'WA UTI J ' ' ' sfglf in . 4 I-5 1. 1 i ,v . 'P it J 1 6 'l fi. s, :.:r.3 'J s Q, k, 1 xi +1 , . , '.. 4 ,.: W. -lt ., - ' .1 ' tl? ff 5 1 k i 'Y if. if ' yi I '.: .tt f-'if all is 'iii .AL . .yy .r..y . 1.5 s

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

Page 17 text:

1 su OLOGUE Soulheast Assn The an Navy d War PAGE l INTER SAN tnd Towbars . Routine . . Fixes, S and Fog Signals uls' ION . . Pump rop P THREE NG ' Staples. . . d O Slocks, Breech and Bo suns Reams, pn References lol Drugs, Rest, FOUR i Reluguon . THE ir 158 162 167 180 182 205 223 225 227 FLAG STAFF ORIAM Bid e Cold War AIR GROUP CVG-25109 . . . VF-21 VA-22 vA-23 VF-24 vA.25 VAH-8 . . VMA-311 . VCP-63. . VAW-11 .