USS Oriskany
USS Oriskany (CV-34) (also CVA-34) was a United States Navy aircraft carrier.
She was laid down 1 May 1944 by the New York Naval Shipyard, launched 13 October 1945, and sponsored by Mrs. Clarence Cannon. Construction was suspended on 12 August 1947, when the ship was approximately 85% complete. Oriskany was redesigned as the prototype for SCB-27 modernization program. To handle the new generation of carrier aircraft, the flight deck structure was massively reinforced. Stronger elevators, more powerful hydraulic catapults, and new arresting gear were installed. The island structure was rebuilt, the antiaircraft turrets were removed, and the hull was blistered. Oriskany commissioned in the New York Naval Shipyard 25 September 1950, Captain Percy H. Lyon in command.
Oriskany departed New York 6 December 1950 for carrier qualification operations off Jacksonville, Florida, followed by a Christmas call at Newport, Rhode Island. She resumed operations off Jacksonville through 11 January 1951, when she embarked Carrier Air Group 1 for shakedown out of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
After major modifications at New York Naval Shipyard 6 March through 2 April, she embarked Carrier Air Group 4 for training off Jacksonville, then departed Newport 15 May 1951 for Mediterranean deployment with the 6th Fleet.
Having swept from ports of Italy and France to those of Greece and Turkey, thence to the shores of Tripoli, Oriskany returned to Quonset Point, Rhode Island, on 4 October 1951. She entered Gravesend Bay, New York 6 November 1951 to offload ammunition and to have her masts removed to allow passage under the East River Bridges to the New York Naval Shipyard. Overhaul included the installation of a new flight deck, steering system, and bridge. Work was complete by 15 May 1952 and the carrier steamed the next day to take on ammunition at Norfolk, Virginia 19-22 May. She then got underway to join the Pacific Fleet, steaming via Guantanamo Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Horn, Valparaíso, and Lima, arriving San Diego, California, on 21 July.
Following carrier qualifications for Air Group 102, Oriskany departed San Diego 15 September 1952 to aid UN forces in Korea. She arrived Yokosuka 17 October and joined Fast Carrier Task Force 77 off the Korean Coast 31 October. Her aircraft struck hard with bombing and strafing attacks against enemy supply lines and coordinated bombing missions with surface gunstrikes along the coast. Her pilots downed two Soviet-built MiG-15 jets and damaged a third, 18 November.
Strikes continued through 11 February, heaping destruction upon enemy artillery positions, troop emplacements, and supply dumps along the main battlefront. Following a brief upkeep period in Japan, Oriskany returned to combat 1 March 1953. She continued in action until 29 March, called at Hong Kong, then resumed air strikes 8 April. She departed the Korean Coast 22 April, touched at Yokosuka, and then departed for San Diego 2 May, arriving there 18 May.
The Oriskany was also the ship where the film "The Bridges at Toko-Ri," adopted from the James Mitchner novel, was filmed. The movie starred Grace Kelly and Mickey Rooney, who played the courageous helicopter rescue pilot who plucks shot-down pilots from the ice-cold sea and inside of North Korea. Rooney's character is later transferred off the Oriskany in the film due to his constant fights with other sailors regarding the favors of their Japanese girlfriends. Rooney's character is killed by a North Korean at the end of the movie while attempting to rescue a pilot from the Oriskany flying the F9F Panther jet fighter from the VF-192 Golden Dragons squadron. The film caps off shoing the captain of the Oriskany, upon contemplating Rooney's character's death, "where do we get such men" who fly off the pitching decks of an aircraft carrier, in unstable and hard to control helicopters, do battle with the opposition, and land said helicopter back upon the tiny teak deck of carriers like the Oriskany.
According to the "Light this Candle", an autobiography of Alab B. Shepard, America's first astronaut and a former Oriskany pilot, Rooney, Shepard and another aviator would retreat to Shepard's cabin abourd the Oriskany and partake in heavy alcohol drinking, after a heavy day's worth of filming. Oriskany was also the ship described in Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff" where a F-2 Banshee pilot named John Mitchell, crashes his fighter into the 'spud locker' of the ship, and surviving. Mitchell was a pilot together with Alan B. Shepard in the night interceptor squadron VF-193, the Ghost Riders.
Following readiness training along the California coast, Oriskany departed San Francisco 14 September to aid the 7th Fleet watching over the uneasy truce in Korea, arriving Yokosuka 15 October. Thereafter she cruised the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, and the area of the Philippines. After providing air support for Marine amphibious assault exercises at Iwo Jima, the carrier returned to San Diego 22 April 1954. She entered San Francisco Naval Shipyard for overhaul; completed 22 October when she stood out to sea for the first of a series of coastal operations.
Oriskany arrived at Yokosuka on 2 April 1955, and operated with the Fast Carrier Task Force ranging from Japan and Okinawa to the Philippines. This deployment ended 7 September and the carrier arrived Alameda, California 21 September.
She cruised the California Coast while qualifying pilots of Air Group 9, then put to sea from Alameda, 11 February 1956, for another rigorous Western Pacific deployment.
Oriskany returned to San Francisco 13 June and entered the shipyard to undergo the SCB-125A modernization program on 1 October. She decommissioned there 2 January 1957. Oriskany received a new angled flight deck, aft deck edge elevator, and enclosed hurricane bow. Powerful new steam catapults replaced the older hydraulic catapults. The wooden flight deck planking was also replaced with aluminum planking.
Oriskany recommissioned at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, 7 March 1959, Capt. James Mahan Wright in command. Four days later, she departed for shakedown out of San Diego with Carrier Air Group 14 embarked. Operations along the west coast continued until 14 May 1960, when she again deployed to Westpac, returning to San Diego 15 December. She entered San Francisco Naval Shipyard 30 March 1961 for a five-month overhaul that included the first aircraft carrier installation of the Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS).
Oriskany departed the shipyard 9 September for underway training out of San Diego until 7 June 1962 when she again deployed to the Far East with Carrier Air Group 16 embarked. She returned to San Diego 17 December 1962 for operational readiness training off the west coast.
The carrier again stood out of San Diego 1 August 1963 for Far Eastern waters, with Carrier Air Group 16 embarked. She arrived Subic Bay 31 August 1963; thence to Japan. She stood out of Iwakuni, Japan the morning of 31 October en route the coast of South Vietnam. There, she stood by for any eventuality as word was received of the coup d'etat taking place in Saigon. When the crisis abated, the carrier resumed operations from Japanese ports.
Oriskany returned to San Diego 10 March 1964. After overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, she steamed for refresher training out of San Diego, followed by qualifications for Carrier Wing 16. During this period her flight deck was used to test the E-2 Hawkeye, the Navy's new airborne early warning aircraft. She also provided orientation to senior officers of eight allied nations.
Oriskany departed San Diego 5 April 1965 for Westpac, arriving Subic 27 April. By this time more United States troops had landed in South Vietnam to support Vietnamese troops against increased Viet Cong pressure to destroy the independence of that nation. Oriskany added her weight to the massive American naval strength supporting the freedom of South Vietnam. In combat operations that brought her and embarked Carrier Wing 16 the Navy Unit Commendation for exceptionally meritorious service between 10 May and 6 December 1965, she carried out over 12,000 combat sorties and delivered nearly 10,000 tons of ordnance against enemy forces. She departed Subic Bay 30 November and returned to San Diego 16 December.
Oriskany again stood out of San Diego for the Far East 26 May 1966, arriving Yokosuka 14 June. She steamed for "Dixie Station" off South Vietnam 27 June. Wearisome days and nights of combat shifted to "Yankee Station" in the Gulf of Tonkin 8 July. In the following months there were brief respites for replenishment in Subic Bay. Then, back into the action that saw her launch 7,794 combat sorties.
The carrier was on station the morning of 27 October 1966 when a fire erupted on the starboard side of the ship's forward hangar bay and raced through five decks, claiming the lives of 44 men. Many who lost their lives were veteran combat pilots who had flown raids over Vietnam a few hours earlier. Oriskany had been put in danger when a magnesium parachute flare exploded in the forward flare locker of Hangar Bay 1, beneath the carrier's flight deck. Her crewmen performed fantastic feats in jettisoning heavy bombs which lay within reach of the flames. Other men wheeled planes out of danger, rescued pilots, and helped quell the blaze through three hours of prompt and daring actions. Medical assistance was rushed to the carrier from sister aircraft carriers Constellation (CV-64) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42).
Oriskany steamed to Subic Bay 28 October, where victims of the fire were transferred to waiting aircraft for transportation to the United States. A week later, the carrier departed for San Diego, arriving 16 November. San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard completed repairs 23 March 1967 and Oriskany, with Carrier Air Wing 16 embarked, underwent training. She then stood out of San Francisco Bay 16 June to take station in waters off Vietnam. Designated flagship of Carrier Division 9 in Subic B ay 9 July, she commenced "Yankee Station" operations 14 July. While on the line, 26 July, she provided medical assistance to the fire-ravaged attack carrier Forrestal (CV-59).
On 26 October 1967, John McCain flew off of the Oriskany on his 23rd bombing mission of the Vietnam War. He was shot down that day and was a Prisoner of War until January of 1973.
Oriskany returned to the Naval Air Station pier at Alameda, 31 January 1968, and entered San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard 7 February for an eight month overhaul. Upon completion of work, the carrier underwent refresher training and flight qualifications before deploying to the Far East in April 1969.
Following twenty-five years of service, Oriskany was decommissioned 30 September 1975 and mothballed in Bremerton, Washington. Various proposals to reactivate the ship during the early 1980s failed due to the ship's poor material condition, the high cost of modernization, and the lack of a suitable air wing. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in July 1989, and sold for scrapping on 9 September 1995. The contractor defaulted and the ship was repossessed by the Navy, with the contract terminated 30 July 1997. After spending several years at the former Mare Island Navy Yard, the ship was towed to the Beaumont Reserve Fleet in Beaumont, Texas, to be scrapped.
Plans were made[citation needed] in the early 1990s to refurbish ex-Oriskany and display her in Tokyo Harbor as part of the "City of America" exhibit. Congressional legislation was initiated to transfer the ship to the "City of America" project, however the project failed due to lack of financing.
While docked at Mare Island in rusted and decrepit condition, ex-Oriskany was used as a setting for the Robin Williams film, What Dreams May Come as the representation of Hell.
The Navy announced 5 April 2004 that it would transfer the former aircraft carrier to the State of Florida for use as an artificial reef. Her hull was stripped of all equipment that could be reused or recycled. The ship's bell is now on display in her namesake city in New York state, and various parts were scavenged to support the USS Hornet museum in Alameda, California.
Ex-Oriskany is the first warship to be slated as an artificial reef, under new authority granted by the fiscal 2004 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 108-136). She was slated to be sunk with controlled charges 22 miles south of Pensacola on 25 June 2005. Oil, paint and asbestos have been removed but the ship still contains considerable amounts of PCB. However, delays in environmental studies have resulted in the postponement of her sinking. In February of 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency gave its final approval to sink the ship, and barring any further delays, the ship will sink 210 feet to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico on 17 May 2006.
Oriskany received two battle stars for Korean Service and five for Vietnamese service.
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This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.