Operation Sea Orbit | |
---|---|
Part of Cold War (1962–1979) | |
Type | Naval surface warfare and naval air operations |
Location | World-wide |
Planned by | United States Navy |
Objective | First circumnavigation of the world by nuclear-powered surface warships |
Date | 31 July 1964 to 3 October 1964 |
Executed by | Rear Admiral Bernard M. Strean, USN Task Force One: • USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) • USS Long Beach (CGN-9) • USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25) • Carrier Air Wing Six (CVW-6) |
Outcome | Mission successfully accomplished. |
Operation Sea Orbit was the 1964 circumnavigation of Task Force One of the United States Navy, consisting of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) and her escorts, the cruisers USS Long Beach (CGN-9), and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25). This all-nuclear-powered unit sailed 30,565 miles around the world for sixty-five days without refueling. [1] [2]
Operation Sea Orbit was the idea of Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Jr., who saw the exercise – which demonstrated how nuclear-powered ships could operate unfettered by shore logistical ties [2] – as a statement of American technical achievement similar to that of the coal-burning Great White Fleet in 1907–1909. [1]
Long Beach and Bainbridge departed Norfolk on 28 April 1964, in company with the aircraft carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt for the Atlantic crossing to the Mediterranean, where the rendezvous with Enterprise was scheduled. Task Force 1 formed up at Bahia de Pollença, Mallorca on 13 May, before undertaking a series of exercises to test the efficiency of the all-nuclear formation working together. [3]
Having been relieved by other vessels, TF1 departed on its trans-global cruise on 31 July 1964, with all three ships having taken aboard maximum provisions the day before to ensure there was no need for further underway replenishment en route. The task force initially sailed down the west coast of Africa, calling at Rabat, Dakar, Freetown, Monrovia and Abidjan, before crossing the equator. By 10 August, TF1 had reached the Cape of Good Hope, where it conducted exercises with a pair of South African Navy ships. [3]
Following the South African visit, TF1 transited the Mozambique Channel into the Indian Ocean where the ships then called at Mombasa, before transiting the Indian Ocean to Pakistan, where they rendezvoused with three ships of the Pakistan Navy, before the entire force called at Karachi. However, due to the sea conditions it was determined to be too dangerous for either Enterprise or Long Beach to enter the port; instead, while Bainbridge came alongside, the two larger ships were forced to anchor several miles outside the harbour. [3]
Upon departing from Karachi, TF1 transited along the west coast of India before turning towards Australia. While en route, in the area south of Indonesia, the force conducted an exercise with a Royal Navy carrier group led by HMS Victorious, before splitting to allow individual port calls at Fremantle (Bainbridge), Melbourne (Long Beach) and Sydney (Enterprise), [3] before the three ships reformed for the transit to New Zealand, where both Bainbridge and Long Beach additionally called at Wellington.
TF1 crossed the South Pacific Ocean and rounded Cape Horn back into the Atlantic, with visits to Buenos Aires and Montevideo before the entire task force put in at Rio de Janeiro. Having departed Brazil, Bainbridge was detached on 30 September to return to Charleston, [4] while Enterprise and Long Beach put in at Norfolk, all three arriving back on 3 October 1964.
Task Force One had spent 65 days deployed, with 57 of them at sea, and steamed 30,216 miles in total without replenishment. [5] Rear Admiral Strean noted that the flexibility of operating a force of nuclear powered vessels meant that TF1 "could have been diverted to any other maritime area of the world without logistical considerations and could have been ready for immediate operations upon arrival". [3]
Veterans of Operation Sea Orbit gathered on July 30, 2004, for a 40th anniversary reunion. [2] In 2011, Operation Sea Orbit was included in the Technology for the Nuclear Age: Nuclear Propulsion display for the Cold War exhibit at the U.S. Navy Museum in Washington, DC. [10]
USS Texas (DLGN/CGN-39) was the United States Navy's second Virginia-class nuclear guided missile cruiser. She was the third ship of the Navy to be named in honor of the State of Texas. Her keel was laid down on 18 August 1973, at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company.
USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, is a decommissioned United States Navy aircraft carrier. In 1958 she was the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth United States naval vessel to bear the name. Like her predecessor of World War II fame, she is nicknamed "Big E". At 1,123 feet (342 m), she is the longest naval vessel ever built and the only ship of a class that was originally planned to have five other ships. Her 93,284-long-ton (94,781 t) displacement ranks her class as the third largest carrier class, after the Nimitz class and the Gerald R. Ford class. Enterprise had a crew of some 4,600 service members.
The fifth USS Truxtun (DLGN-35/CGN-35) was a nuclear powered cruiser in the U.S. Navy. She was launched as a destroyer leader and later reclassified as a cruiser. She was named after Commodore Thomas Truxtun (1755–1822). She was in service from May 1967 to September 1995.
USS Long Beach (CLGN-160/CGN-160/CGN-9) was a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy and the world's first nuclear-powered surface combatant. She was the third Navy ship named after the city of Long Beach, California.
The seventh USS Ranger (CV/CVA-61) was the third of four Forrestal-class supercarriers built for the United States Navy in the 1950s. Although all four ships of the class were completed with angled decks, Ranger had the distinction of being the first US carrier built from the beginning as an angled-deck ship.
USS Mississippi (CGN-40), a Virginia-class nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser, was the fourth ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 20th state admitted to the Union. Her keel was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Newport News, Virginia, on 22 February 1975. She was launched on 31 July 1976. The ship was commissioned on 5 August 1978 by Jimmy Carter, then serving as the 39th president of the United States. Early deployment included escorting the carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68). She also was deployed in 1989 as a response to the capture and subsequent murder of U.S. Marine Corps Colonel William R. Higgins by terrorists.
USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25/CGN-25) was a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy, the only ship of her class. Named in honor of Commodore William Bainbridge, she was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. With her original hull classification symbol of DLGN, she was the first nuclear-powered destroyer-type ship in the US Navy, and shared her name with the lead ship of the first US Navy destroyer class, the Bainbridge-class destroyers.
The third USS Luce (DLG-7/DDG-38) was Farragut-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy that served from 1962 until discarded in 1992. The ship was named for Rear Admiral Stephen B. Luce (1827–1917). Luce was sold for scrapping in 2005.
USS Chicago (CA-136/CG-11) was a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser laid down on 28 July 1943 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, by the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Launched on 20 August 1944, she was sponsored by Mrs. Edward J. Kelly, wife of the Mayor of Chicago, Illinois, and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 10 January 1945, Captain Richard R. Hartung, USN, in command. She served in some of the last battles around the Japan home islands in WWII, and as part of the post war occupation fleet. Decommissioned after the war, she was refitted as a missile cruiser beginning in the late 1950s and recommissioned in 1964, serving during the Vietnam War. She served until 1980. USS Chicago CG-11 carried the title of "The World's Most Powerful Guided Missile Cruiser".
USS South Carolina (CGN-37) was the second ship of the California class of nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers in the United States Navy.
USS Halsey Powell (DD-686), was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy.
USS California (CGN-36), the lead ship of the California-class of nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers, was the sixth warship of the United States Navy to be named for the state of California. She was the last active nuclear-powered cruiser for the United States.
USS Coontz (DLG-9/DDG-40) was a Farragut-class destroyer leader/frigate in the United States Navy. She was named after Admiral Robert Coontz, the US Navy's second chief of naval operations.
USS Healy (DD-672) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy.
USS Platte (AO-24) was a Cimarron-class oiler serving with the United States Navy, named for the 1836 Platte Purchase that included the Platte Rivers in Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. Her memorial in Platte County, Missouri honors all four rivers that share the name recorded by Lewis and Clark in 1803.
Fighter Squadron 33 (VF-33) was an aviation unit of the United States Navy. Originally established on 11 October 1948 it was disestablished on 1 October 1993. It was the second U.S. Navy squadron to be designated VF-33.
Leahy-class cruisers were a class of guided-missile cruisers built for the United States Navy. They were originally designated as Destroyer Leaders (DLG), but in the 1975 cruiser realignment they were reclassified as guided-missile cruisers (CG).
Carrier Strike Group 14 was a U.S. Navy carrier strike group. The group was for some time the only U.S. carrier strike group that did not have an assigned aircraft carrier or carrier air wing. As of December 2010, it directed the cruisers USS Gettysburg (CG-64) and USS Philippine Sea (CG-58). Carrier Strike Group 14 was seemingly last based at Naval Station Mayport. Without a carrier flagship, it did not conduct the typical deployments of other carrier strike groups; instead, its two cruisers made independent voyages.
Carrier Strike Group 15, is a training formation of the United States Navy. It trains and certifies Pacific Fleet Carrier Strike Groups, Amphibious Ready Groups, and independently deploying surface ships. It replaced Commander, Strike Force Training Pacific in a title change. Carrier Strike Group Four is the equivalent command for US Fleet Forces ships.
In the early 1960s, the United States Navy was the world's first to have nuclear-powered cruisers as part of its fleet. The first such ship was USS Long Beach (CGN-9). Commissioned in late summer 1961, she was the world's first nuclear-powered surface combatant. She was followed a year later by USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25). While Long Beach was a 'true cruiser', meaning she was designed and built as a cruiser, Bainbridge began life as a frigate, though at that time the Navy was using the hull code "DLGN" for "destroyer leader, guided missile, nuclear". This was prior to the enactment of the 1975 ship reclassification plan, in which frigates (DLG/DLGN), which were essentially large destroyers, were reclassified as cruisers, so that the US Navy's numbers would compete with those of the Soviet Navy. Long Beach, the largest of all the nuclear cruisers, was equipped with a C1W cruiser reactor, while all the others were equipped with D2G destroyer reactors.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .