1973-Contin ued
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UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995
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The S-3A Viking making its first catapult launch ti-om FOITestal as part of its initial canjer suitability tests Cl2l073
1 October The formal Board of Inspection and
Survey service acceptance trials of the S-3A began at
the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Md. The
tests were to utilize seven S-3A aircraft during a four-
month period, including weapons system checkouts,
carrier suitability, flying qualities and performance,
and propulsion and airframe evaluation.
5 October Midway, with CVW-5 embarked, put into
Yokosuka, Japan, marking the first home porting of a
complete carrier task group in a Japanese port as a
result of the accord arrived at on 31 August 1972
between the U.S. and Japan. In addition to the morale
factor of dependents housed at a foreign port, the
development had strategic significance because it facil-
itated continuous positioning of three carriers in the
Far East at a time when the economic situation
demanded the reduction of carriers in the fleet.
8-13 October Task Force 60.1 with Independence,
Task Force 60.2 with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Task
Force 61/62 with Guadalcanal were alerted for possi-
ble evacuation contingencies in the Middle East. John
F Kennedy, in the Atlantic, was directed to a holding
area off Gibraltar.
9 October The Pentagon announced that
Guadalcanal, an amphibious assault ship with U.S.
Marines aboard, was operating in the eastern
Mediterranean Sea as part of the Sixth Fleet. Other ele-
ments of the fleet were moving toward Crete, includ-
ing Independence and Franklin D. Roosevelt, on alert
as a result of the 1973 Yom Kippur war between Arab
and Israeli forces.
19-24 October Some 50 A-4 aircraft were flown
from the U.S. to supply Israel, staging through the
Azores and Franklin D. Roosevelt which was located
south of Sicily. When necessary, John F Kennedy, off
Gibraltar and Independence, off Crete, also provided
assistance. On the 24th, Iwo lima entered the
Mediterranean with reinforcing Marines.
27 October Due to the situation in the Middle East,
the U.S. government ordered a worldwide "precau-
tionary alert" of its military forces. Possible unilateral
intervention by the Soviet Union was feared. By 28
October, three U.S. aircraft carriers and two amphibi-
ous assault carriers were off Crete.

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