PART 9

The Sixth Decade

1960-1969

The year 1961 marked the golden anniversary of

Naval Aviation. It was a year filled with many nostalgic

memories of past glories and also a year in which

Naval Aviation attained new stature as an effective

fighting force. One nuclear-powered and two conven-

tionally powered attack carriers joined the operating

forces, perhaps the greatest array of carrier-air might

added during peacetime to any fleet in a single year.

Before the decade was out, two more attack carriers

had been commissioned and another was taking form

on the ways. Four new amphibious assault ships, and

others built to exploit the unique capabilities of heli-

copters in vertical assault and replenishment, joined

the fleet. New high-performance aircraft went into

operation. Vertical and short-takeoff-and-landing air-

craft were developed; one went into service. New

types of missiles appeared and such old standbys as

Sparrows and Sidewinders were given new capabili-

ties. On the other side of the ledger, the blimp and the

flying boat, long-familiar figures in Naval Aviation,

became victims of the relentless march of technology.

Efforts to conquer space began in earnest as

manned orbital flight became a reality and a series of

successes culminated in the first manned lunar land-

ing. More than half the nation's astronauts had Navy

backgrounds-Naval Aviators made the first American

suborbital and orbital flights. Navy flight surgeons

joined in the study of physiological effects of space

flight. A Navy space surveillance system helped forge

the necessary links for a continuous watch on space.

Satellites developed by Navy scientists expanded our

knowledge of space, and a Navy satellite navigation

system gave to all nations an accurate means of travel-

ing the earth's oceans. Carriers or amphibious assault

ships, were at sea in both oceans during all orbiting

periods to cover an emergency landing, and were

always on station to recover the astronauts and their

spacecraft upon their return to earth.

Support of the space program was responsible for a

number of organizational adjustments within the Navy

Department as well as for formation of a Recovery

Force command in the fleet. Broader and more basic

changes in departmental structure resulted from a

series of high-level studies directed toward clarifying

lines of authority and responsibility. The bureau sys-

tem was abolished, and material support was central-

ized under a strengthened Material Command placed

under direct control of the Chief of Naval Operations.

New impetus was given to the project manager con-

cept and other changes radiated outward to the oper-

ating forces and the shore establishment.

In other respects, the Navy's traditional role in con-

trolling the sea remained unchanged. Revival of the

old technique of naval blockade during the Cuban

missile crisis found a modern Navy fully capable of

performing it. Operating forces were near at hand to

give aid to the stricken when hurricanes, typhoons,

and earthquakes struck in widely distant points. The

round-the-world cruise of a nuclear-powered task

force and operations in the Indian Ocean carried the

flag into many foreign ports. Crises in Africa, the

Middle East, over Berlin and the threat of war in

Caribbean nations, found naval forces ready to evacu-

ate American nationals and by their presence to reaf-

firm the Navy's role in keeping the peace. In Southeast

Asia, the nation responded to aggressive actions with

retaliatory air strikes. As retaliation developed into war

and the nation's commitment increased, the burden of

the Navy's air war was carried by aircraft of the

Seventh Fleet. The requirement for sustained naval

action and support of operations ashore posed major

problems for logistic planners and force commanders

alike, as the action became progressively heavier

despite repeated attempts to halt the fighting and to

settle differences at the conference table.

1960

1 January Electronics Countermeasures Squadrons

were redesignated Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadrons,

without change of their VQ letter designation.

15 January The Naval Weather Service Division was

transferred from the Office of DCNO (Operations &

Readiness) to the staff of the Vice Chief of Naval

Operations, and an Office of the U.S. Naval Weather

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