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| USS Wright Alumni Association | |||||||||||||||
| (CVL-49: dp. 14,500; 1. 684', b. 76'9"; ew. 115', dr. 28'; s. 33k.; cpl. 1,787; a. 40 40mm.; act 50+; cl.Saipan)
The second Wright (CVL-49) was laid down on 21 August 1944 at Camden,N.J., by the New York Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 1 September 1945 (the day before the formal Japanese surrender ceremony on board the battleship Missouri (BB-63) in Tokyo Bay); sponsored by Mrs. Harold S. Miller, a nieceof the Wright brothers, and commissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyardon 9 February 1947, Capt. Frank T. Ward in command. Wright departed Philadelphia on 18 March 1947 and stopped briefly atNorfolk, Va., en route to the Naval Air Training Base at Pensacola, Fla.After her arrival there on 31 March, Wright soon commenced a rigorous scheduleof air defense drills and gunnery practice while acting as a qualificationcarrier for hundreds of student pilots at the Naval Air Training Base, conducting40 operational cruises-each of between one and four days' duration off theFlorida coast. In addition,the carrier embarked a total of 1,081 naval reservistsand trained them in a series of three two-week duty tours. On 3 September 1947, Wright embarked 48 midshipmen for temporary trainingduty and later welcomed 62 Army officers when she stood out to sea on 15October in company with Forrest Royal (DD-872) to let her guests observeflight operations in the Pensacola area. The exercises included the catapultingof a Grumman F6F type aircraft for rocket-firing operations. That exercise was her last prior to her departure from Pensacola on 24October to return north. She arrived at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyardsoon thereafter and, from 1 November to 17 December, underwent post-shakedownrepairs and alterations before she returned to Pensacola two days beforeChristmas where she resumed her regular schedule of pilot qualificationtraining under the operational control of the Chief of Naval Air Training,Commander Air Atlantic. Wright spent the year 1948 engaged in those pilotcarrier qualification operations, before she put into the Norfolk NavalShipyard on 26 January 1949 to commence a four-month overhaul. Following refresher training in Cuban waters, Wright returned to Norfolkon 1 August 1949 and four days later shifted to Newport, R.I., for two weeksof antisubmarine warfare (ASW) training in the Narragansett Bay area withsubmarines and destroyers. She also visited New York City before takingup a steady schedule of carrier qualifications, air defense tactics andexercises out of Quonset Point, R.I.; Key West and Pensacola, Fla. But for10 days of maneuvers with the 2d Task Fleet from 21 to 31 October 1949,she continued that duty until 7 January 1951, when she embarked the lastincrement of personnel from Fighter Squadron (VF) 14 for temporary duty. Wright then sailed from Norfolk on 11 January with a fast carrier taskgroup and reached Gibraltar on the 21st for her first tour of duty withthe 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. Wright's first Mediterranean deploymenttook her from Gibraltar to Oran Algeria. She proceeded thence to AugustaBay, Sicily; Suda Bay, Crete, Beirut, Lebanon; and Golfe Juan, France-herreplenishment and liberty ports during the never-ending cycle of fleet trainingand readiness exercises with the 6th Fleet. Departing Golfe Juan on 19 March, Wright made port at Newport on the31st. The carrier later entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and underwentan overhaul there before she took part in Atlantic Fleet maneuvers out ofGuantanamo Bay, Cuba; engaged in ASW tactics and carrier operations in NarragansettBay, received further repairs at the Boston Naval Shipyard; and participatedin a convoy exercise that ran from 25 February to 21 March 1952; and rangedfrom Newport to waters of the Panama Canal Zone and Trinidad in the BritishWest Indies. As flagship for Carrier Division (CarDiv) 14, Wright sailed on 9 June1952 in company with four destroyers forming Task Group (TG) 81.4 for ASWoperations along the Atlantic seaboard until the 27th, when the ships arrivedat New York City. Returning to Quonset Point on 1 July, Wright trained unitsof the organized naval reserves concurrently with hunter-killer tacticsand pilot training in operations out of Narragansett Bay until 26 August.On that day, she set course from Quonset Point and later rendezvoused withVice Admiral Felix B. Stump's 2d Task Fleet en route to northern Europefor combined defense exercises and maneuvers with naval units of other NorthAtlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) navies. En route, Wright, escorted by Forrest Royal, was detached to ferry menand gear of Marine Night Fighter Squadron (VMF(N) ) 114 to Port Lyautey,French Morocco, an operation she completed on 4 September. Two days later,Wright and her escort rejoined the task force; and they reached the Firthof Clyde, Scotland, on the 10th. Three days later, Wright put to sea with two British destroyers actingas her plane guard for NATO Operation "Mainbrace." She conductedair defense maneuvers and tactics evolutions with the British carriers HMSIllustrious (R-87) and HMS Eagle (R-05) en route to Rotterdam, Holland,where the force arrived on the 25th. On 29 September, Wright departed Rotterdam,bound for the United States, and arrived at Newport on 9 October. That day, she embarked Rear Admiral W. L. Erdman, Commander, CarrierDivision 4, and spent the next few months engaged in carrier qualificationduties in waters ranging from Newport to the Vireina capes, before she beganher second deployment to the Mediterranean. She reached Golfe Juan on 21February 1953 and operated with the 6th Fleet until 31 March, when she sailedfor home, via the Azores. Wright returned to Newport and, after a rigorous schedule of trainingin Narragansett Bay, sailed on 6 May for the Gulf of Mexico. During thattraining cruise, she visited Houston, Tex., where she hosted some 14,000visitors on 16 and 17 May. Returning to Quonset Point on 28 May Wright operatedlocally for another month before shifting south for a stint of operationsout of Mayport, Fla. Wright was overhauled at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard from 31 Julyto 21 November and then conducted refresher training in Cuban waters from4 January to 16 February 1954. Next, after departing Davisville, R.I., on5 April, Wright sailed for the Far East- via the Panama Canal, San Diego,Calif., and Pearl Harbor-and reached Yokosuka, Japan, on 28 May. The carrier,with Marine Attack Squadron 211 embarked operated with the 7th Fleet offboth coasts of Korea and also off Okinawa before she visited Hong Kong from24 to 30 September. Departing Yokosuka on 16 October, Wright arrived atSan Diego on the last day of October and entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyardwhere she remained until 23 February 1955. At that point, Wright was attached to CarDiv 17, Pacific Fleet, and operatedlocally out of San Diego until 3 May, when she put to sea as part of TG7.3- formed around the flagship Mount McKinlely (AGC~ 27)-for the atomictest, Operation "Wigwam," carried out in Pacific waters. Returningto the west coast on 20 May, Wright subsequently cruised to Pearl Harborbriefly before she entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 14 July tocommence preparation for inactivation. After shifting to the Puget SoundNaval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., on 17 October, for the final phase ofpreservation for inactivation, Wright was decommissioned at Puget Soundon 15 March 1956 and assigned to the Bremerton group of the Pacific ReserveFleet. During her time in reserve, Wright was reclassified on 15 May 1959 anauxiliary aircraft transport, AVT7. However, she never served in that role,but remained inactive until 15 March 1962, when she was taken to the PugetSound Naval Shipyard for conversion to a command ship and reclassified asCC-2. The conversion -which lasted a year-included extensive alterationsto enable the ship to function as a fully equipped mobile command post afloatfor top echelon commands and staff for strategic direction of area or world-widemilitary operations. Facilities were built into the ship for world-widecommunications and rapid, automatic exchange, processing, storage, and displayof command data. A portion of the former hangar deck space was utilizedfor special command spaces and the extensive electronics equipment requiredwhile a major portion of the flight deck was utilized for specially designedcommunications antenna arrays. In addition, facilities were provided toenable the ship to operate three helicopters. Recommissioned at Puget Sound on 11 May 1963, Capt. John L. Arrington,II, in command, Wright (CC-2) operated locally on trials and training evolutionsin the waters off the Pacific Northwest until 3 September, when she departed Seattle and proceeded to San Diego whichshe reached three days later. For the next three weeks, the ship trainedin nearby waters before she returned to Puget Sound on 30 September to commenceher post shakedown availability. Following those repairs and alterations-which took up all of the monthof October and most of November -Wright prepared to shift to her new homeport, Norfolk. She departed Seattle on 26 November stopped briefly at SanDiego three days later to ember; civilian engineers and personnel who wereto conduct surveys of communications and air conditioning equipment, andwas steaming south off the coast of northern Mexico when she picked up adistress message from the Israeli merchantman SS Velos on 1 December. Wrightaltered course and rendezvoused with Velos later that same day. The commandship's medical officer was flown across to the Israeli ship and treateda seaman suffering from kidney stones. Upon completion of that mission ofmercy, Wright resumed her voyage to Balboa. Transiting the Panama Canal on 7 and 8 December,Wright steamed via St.Thomas Virgin Islands, and moored at the Hampton Roads irmy Terminal on18 December. After a subsequent brief operational period off the Virginiacapes, Wright entered port on 21 December and remained there through Christmasand New Year's. For the next six years, Wright operated out of Norfolk, training to performher assigned mission as an emergency command post afloat. Regular overhaulsperformed at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard saw the ship receiving the repairsand alterations that continually improved her capabilities to carry outher task. She operated primarily off the Virginia capes, but ranged as farnorth as Bar Harbor, Maine, and as far south as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,and Punta del Este, Uruguay. Her other ports of call included Newport; FortLauderdale and Port Everglades Fla., Boston, New York City, Annapolis; Philadelphia,Norfolk, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On occasion, she alternated on "alert"status with Northampton (CC-1). There were highlights and breaks from the cycle of periods in port andat sea. From 11 to 14 April 1967, Wright lay at anchor off the coast ofUruguay, providing a world-wide communications capability in support ofPresident Lyndon B. Johnson as he attended the Latin American summit conferenceat Punta del Este. On 8 May 1968, Wright went to the aid of Guadalcanal(LPH-7) after that amphibious assault ship had suffered a machinery failureand had gone dead in the water 180 miles south of Norfolk. She towed thehelpless assault ship 84 miles before other ships arrived on the scene tohelp out. Later that same year, Wright received the coveted Ney award inthe large mess afloat category. That award is given annually to the shipthat maintains the highest food standards. During the Pueblo (AGER-2) crisisin February 1969, Wright- while en route to Port Everglades, Fla.-was hurriedlyrecalled to Norfolk and, upon her arrival there, stood by, on alert. Ultimately decommissioned on 27 May 1970, Wright was placed in reserveat the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. As of 28 June 1979, she was still there. |
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