Carrier Strike Group 6

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Carrier Strike Group 6 was a United States Navy carrier strike group. Its last homeport was Naval Station Mayport at the mouth of the St. Johns River near Jacksonville, Florida. Fifty-one Rear Admirals served as Commander, Carrier Division/Group/Strike Group 6 from August 1944 until the command was deactivated in April 2007.

United States Navy Naval warfare branch of US Armed Forces

The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone, it is larger than the next 13 navies combined, which includes 11 U.S. allies or partner nations. It has the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, and two new carriers under construction. With 336,978 personnel on active duty and 101,583 in the Ready Reserve, the U.S. Navy is the third largest of the U.S. military service branches in terms of personnel. It has 290 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of June 2019, making it the third-largest air force in the world, after the United States Air Force and the United States Army.

Carrier strike group type of US Navy unit

A carrier strike group (CSG) is an operational formation of the United States Navy. It is composed of roughly 7,500 personnel, an aircraft carrier, at least one cruiser, a destroyer squadron of at least two destroyers or frigates, and a carrier air wing of 65 to 70 aircraft. A carrier strike group also, on occasion, includes submarines, attached logistics ships and a supply ship. The carrier strike group commander operationally reports to the commander of the numbered fleet, who is operationally responsible for the area of waters in which the carrier strike group is operating.

Naval Station Mayport airport in Florida, United States of America

Naval Station Mayport is a major United States Navy base in Jacksonville, Florida. It contains a protected harbor that can accommodate aircraft carrier-size vessels, ship's intermediate maintenance activity (SIMA) and a military airfield with one asphalt paved runway (5/23) measuring 8,001 ft × 200 ft.

Contents

History

Carrier Division 6 (1944–1973)

Carrier Division 6 was formed as an aircraft-carrier-centered command in the Pacific theater during the Second World War. Arthur W. Radford commanded the division in 1944.

Arthur W. Radford US Navy admiral

Arthur William Radford was a United States Navy admiral and naval aviator. In over 40 years of military service, Radford held a variety of positions including Vice Chief of Naval Operations, commander of the United States Pacific Fleet and later the second Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

On 2 June 1952, USS Wasp (CV-18) relieved Tarawa at Gibraltar and joined Carrier Division 6 in the Mediterranean Sea. After conducting strenuous flight operations, between goodwill visits to many Mediterranean ports, Wasp was relieved at Gibraltar on 5 September by Leyte.

USS <i>Wasp</i> (CV-18) Essex-class aircraft carrier

USS Wasp (CV/CVA/CVS-18) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous Wasp (CV-7), which was sunk 15 September 1942. Wasp was commissioned in November 1943, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning eight battle stars. Like many of her sister ships, she was decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, but was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career, she operated mainly in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Caribbean. She played a prominent role in the manned space program, serving as the recovery ship for five missions: Gemini IV, Gemini VI, Gemini VII, Gemini IX, and Gemini XII. She was retired in 1972, and sold for scrap in 1973.

USS <i>Tarawa</i> (CV-40) aircraft carrier

USS Tarawa was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during and shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the first US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the bloody 1943 Battle of Tarawa. Tarawa was commissioned in December 1945, too late to serve in World War II. After serving a short time in the Far East, she was decommissioned in 1949. She was soon recommissioned after the Korean War began, serving in the Atlantic as a replacement for carriers sent to Korea. In the early 1950s, she was redesignated an attack carrier (CVA) and then an antisubmarine warfare carrier (CVS). Except for one tour in the Far East, she spent her entire second career operating in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Consequently, Tarawa was the only ship of her class to never see combat action.

Mediterranean Sea Sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean between Europe, Africa and Asia

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa and on the east by the Levant. Although the sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is usually referred to as a separate body of water. Geological evidence indicates that around 5.9 million years ago, the Mediterranean was cut off from the Atlantic and was partly or completely desiccated over a period of some 600,000 years before being refilled by the Zanclean flood about 5.3 million years ago.

On 1 August 1955, the division consisted of USS Intrepid (CVA-11) and USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) (flagship), both homeported at Norfolk. [1]

In June 1970, then Rear Admiral James L. Holloway III reported aboard Saratoga as Commander, Carrier Division 6. [2] Saratoga was, at the time, in port in Naples, Italy. Holloway served as commander of Carrier Division 6 as well as of Task Force 60 from June 1970 and throughout the Black September crisis in Jordan. Carrier Division 4 relieved Carrier Division 6 on 22 November 1970, and Holloway and his staff returned to Mayport aboard Saratoga.

James L. Holloway III American admiral

James Lemuel Holloway III is a retired United States Navy admiral and naval aviator who was decorated for his actions during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. After the Vietnam War, he was posted to The Pentagon, where he established the Navy's Nuclear Powered Carrier Program. He served as Chief of Naval Operations from 1974–1978. After retiring from the Navy, Holloway served as President of the Naval Historical Foundation from 1980–1998 and served another ten years as its chairman until his retirement in 2008. He is chairman emeritus of the Naval Historical Foundation and author of Aircraft Carriers at War: A Personal Retrospective of Korea, Vietnam, and the Soviet Confrontation published in 2007 by the Naval Institute Press.

Naples Comune in Campania, Italy

Naples is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy after Rome and Milan. In 2017, around 967,069 people lived within the city's administrative limits while its province-level municipality has a population of 3,115,320 residents. Its continuously built-up metropolitan area is the second or third largest metropolitan area in Italy and one of the most densely populated cities in Europe.

Carrier Group 6 (1973–2004)

On 30 June 1973, Carrier Division 6 was redesignated a carrier group, along with all similar formations.

After a brief stop in Palma (24–28 August 1978), USS Forrestal (CV-59) left the Mediterranean en route to the Atlantic and the North and Norwegian Seas, to take part in the huge NATO exercise Northern Wedding (4–18 September). [3] En route she put into Rota to allow RADM Norman K. Green, Commander, Carrier Group 6, to embark, and for RADM Smedberg to disembark and transfer his flag to the guided missile cruiser USS Harry E. Yarnell (CG-17). Northern Wedding involved over 40,000 men and women, 22 submarines, and 800 aircraft from nine NATO countries. Planners geared the exercise to simulate allied abilities to reinforce Western Europe in the event of an East Bloc attack. Forrestal and HMS Ark Royal (R09) led separate task groups that steamed in a two-carrier formation to gain sea control and deploy their aircraft to support amphibious landings in the Shetland Islands and the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark. Heavy seas and high winds, however, curtailed flight operations during the first phase of the exercise, but conditions improved just barely enough in the harsh northern climes to permit the ship and her embarked air wing to support the planned objectives. The professionalism and dedication to completing their tasks which the British and Canadians displayed especially impressed crewmembers, who noted these specific allies' pride in more than one report. Vice Admiral Wesley L. McDonald—Commander, United States Second Fleet—gave a news conference to a group of U. S. and international journalists in the carrier’s "War Room" on the 9th, describing in some detail the significance of the exercise – normally held every four years – in preparing the allies to resist a Soviet-led attack against the West. After completing the exercise the ship returned to the Mediterranean, pausing in the Spanish port of Malaga (22–27 September).

USS <i>Forrestal</i> (CV-59) Forrestal-class aircraft carrier

USS Forrestal (CV-59), was a supercarrier named after the first Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. Commissioned in 1955, she was the first completed supercarrier, and was the lead ship of her class. Unlike the successor Nimitz class, Forrestal and her class were conventionally powered. The other carriers of her class were USS Saratoga, USS Ranger and USS Independence. She surpassed the World War II Japanese carrier Shinano as the largest carrier yet built, and was the first designed to support jet aircraft.

Northern Wedding was a NATO Cold War naval military exercise, designed to test NATO's ability to rearm and resupply Europe during times of war. In 1978, it was described as being 'conducted every four years', but by the mid 1980s, Exercise Ocean Safari was being run in odd-numbered years, 'every other year, alternating with Northern Wedding.'

HMS <i>Ark Royal</i> (R09) 1955 Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy

HMS Ark Royal (R09) was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1979, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier. She was the first aircraft carrier to be equipped with angled flight deck at its commissioning; her sister ship, HMS Eagle, was the Royal Navy's first angle-decked aircraft carrier after modification in 1954. Ark Royal was the only non-United States vessel to operate the McDonnell Douglas Phantom at sea.

In 1984 the group was based at Mayport and commanded USS Saratoga (CVA-60). [4]

Rear Admiral Leighton W. Smith, Jr. took command of the group in 1986 and deployed with it to the North Arabian Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and North Atlantic. [5]

USS Forrestal (CV-59) and her task force—commanded by Commander, Carrier Group Six—commenced her 21st and final operational deployment on 30 May 1991. During this period she provided air power presence and airborne intelligence support (the airwing flew over 900 sorties over Iraq) to the Combined Joint Task Forces of Operation Provide Comfort enforcing the northern "no-fly zone" in Iraq. During this last deployment Forrestal served in a number of new and innovative battle group and carrier roles. She completed this deployment on 23 December 1991.

In October 1993, after several weeks supporting United Nations peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia, orders came on four hours notice for Carrier Group Six, under Rear Admiral (lower half) Arthur Cebrowski, [6] to move quickly. The group was to transit the Suez Canal and relieve USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) on Groundhog Station, 90 miles north of the equator in the Indian Ocean, supporting UNOSOM II in Somalia. [7] The flagship USS America (CV-66) transited the Suez on 29 October 1993. She was followed, on 1 November, by members of her battle group, USS Simpson (FFG-56) and the replenished oiler USS Savannah (AOR-4). The transit took America over 2,500 miles in a week. The turnover from Abraham Lincoln permitted the west-coast carrier to return to Alameda, California, thereby ending a scheduled six-month deployment on time. Upon arrival, Rear Adm. Cebrowski, as carrier group commander, took command of Naval Battle Force Somalia (CTF 156), [8] supporting efforts to restore order. Other elements of the force included USS Simpson (FFG-56), USS New Orleans (LPH-11), USS Denver (LPD 9), USS Comstock (LSD 45), USS Cayuga (LST-1186), and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) appears to have become the group flagship after America retired in 1996.

On 23 September 2002, USS Hue City (CG-66) hosted the change of command ceremony as RADM Donald K. Bullard relieved Rear Admiral Steven J. Tomaszeski as Commander, Carrier Group 6. [9]

Carrier Strike Group 6 (2004–2007)

It appears that Carrier Group 6 became Carrier Strike Group 6 on 1 October 2004, in common with all other Carrier Group redesignations.

On 20 April 2005, it was announced that:

The group's final operation was a special shore-duty deployment as Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) in Djibouti, East Africa, under Rear Admiral Michael Hunt. Michael Hunt was reassigned as Director for Programming (N80) on 16 March 2007.

"More than 60 sailors returned home Thursday [February 22, 2007] after a 12-month assignment with the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. The staff of Carrier Strike Group 6, led by Rear Admiral Richard W. Hunt, deployed to Djibouti on February 21, 2006, to fight terrorism and enhance diplomatic ties in the region. Relieving a Marine Corps staff, Carrier Strike Group 6 was the first Navy unit to lead a ground-based task force in the war on terror, Navy officials said." [10]

During its nearly 63 years history at least four group-commanding rear admirals were later promoted to Chief of Naval Operations, the most recent being Admiral James L. Holloway III. For most of its history the group operated as a Task Force Command under the Second or Sixth Fleet’s operational control. Famous attack aircraft carriers assigned to the command include the USS Shangri-La (CVA-38), USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42), USS Forrestal (CVA-59), and USS Independence (CV-62). [11]

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USS <i>Shangri-La</i> Essex-class aircraft carrier

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United States Fleet Forces Command

The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFF) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) under the authority of the Secretary of Defense. Originally formed as United States Atlantic Fleet (USLANTFLT) in 1906, it has been an integral part of the defense of the United States of America since the early 20th century. In 2002, the Fleet comprised over 118,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel serving on 186 ships and in 1,300 aircraft, with an area of responsibility ranging over most of the Atlantic Ocean from the North Pole to the South Pole, the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the waters of the Pacific Ocean along the coasts of Central and South America. The command is based at Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads in Norfolk, Virginia and is the navy's service component to U.S. Northern Command and is the Joint Functional Maritime Component Command under the U.S. Strategic Command.

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United States Sixth Fleet Numbered fleet of the United States Navy

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Carrier Air Wing Six (CVW-6) was a United States Navy aircraft carrier air wing whose operational history spans from the middle of World War II to the end of the Cold War. Established in 1943 as Carrier Air Group Seventeen (CVG-17), it would be re-designated several times during its establishment, including Carrier Air Group Six (CVG-6) as the second unit to be so designated. The first Carrier Air Group Six served for just over two years during World War II, but drew on the history of the Enterprise Air Group established in 1938 and active in the early battles of the Pacific War, being disestablished after the first year of the conflict. During its time in USS Enterprise (CV-6), it was the Navy’s only carrier-based air group to carry out three complete tours of duty during World War II.

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Nora W. Tyson admiral

Nora Wingfield Tyson is a retired United States Navy officer. In 2015, she was installed as the new commander of the Navy’s Third Fleet, making her the first woman to lead a U.S. Navy ship fleet. She retired from service in 2017. Tyson previously served as the commander of Carrier Strike Group Two (CCSG2), from July 29, 2010 to January 12, 2012; she was the first female commander of a U.S. Navy Carrier Strike Group. She then served as Vice Director of the Joint Staff beginning in February 2012. In July 2013 she was promoted to Vice Admiral and named as Deputy Commander, US Fleet Forces Command.

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References

  1. ↑ Naval Aeronautical Organization OPNAV NOTICE 05400 for Fiscal Year 1956 dated 1 August 1955, 14
  2. ↑ James L. Holloway III, 'Aircraft Carriers at War: A Personal Retrospective of Korea, Vietnam, and the Soviet Confrontation,' Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2007, 272-3, 285.
  3. ↑ Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, USS Forrestal
  4. ↑ Norman Polmar, 'The Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet,' 1984 edition.
  5. ↑ Nixon's Trident: Naval Power in Southeast Asia 1968-72, p.63
  6. ↑ Department of Defense, General/Flag Officer Worldwide Roster, December 1993, 39
  7. ↑ "USS America (CV 66)". Official Website of the United States Navy. 15 June 2009. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  8. ↑ Further reading: see My Clan Against the World: US and Coalition Forces in Somalia, 1992-1994, 180, 182
  9. ↑ Hue City Command History 2002, pg 17 of 18
  10. ↑ 'A First for the Navy,' The Florida Times-Union, Friday, 23 February 2007
  11. ↑ "About Our Reunion Group". 2007. Archived from the original on 31 August 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
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