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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # USN 1061608:  USS Independence at Cannes, France, 5 July 1962

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Independence (CVA-62, later CV-62), 1959-____

USS Independence, a 56,300-ton Forrestal class aircraft carrier, was built at the New York Naval Shipyard. Commissioned in January 1959, she made a Caribbean shakedown cruise and, from August 1960 to February 1961, made the first of what would ultimately total well over a dozen deployments to the Mediterranean Sea for duty with the Sixth Fleet. In addition to regular visits to the Mediterranean, Independence was often seen in the north Atlantic and Norwegian Sea areas, operating with NATO allies to practice the defense of northwestern Europe and its oceanic supply lines.

In October-November 1962, a few months after concluding her second Sixth Fleet tour, Independence participated in Cuban Missile Crisis operations in the Caribbean area. She deployed very much "out of area" in 1965, when she became the first Atlantic Fleet aircraft carrier to conduct Vietnam War combat operations. Launching more than 7000 sorties, her aircraft executed, among many other missions, the first successful strike on an enemy surface-to-air missile installation. In February 1973, Independence was redesignated CV-62. Later in that year she served in the Mediterranean during the Yom Kippur War between Israel and several Arab nations. In 1974 she was on hand to demonstrate U.S. concern over the Cyprus crisis between Greece and Turkey. The carrier operated in the Indian Ocean in 1980-81, after Iran seized the staff of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The long-running Lebanon crisis was a focus of her 1982 and 1983-84 Sixth Fleet cruises, and she launched air strikes against hostile targets during the latter tour. Just before that 1983 Mediterranean cruise, Independence took part in combat operations to liberate the island of Grenada.

After concluding her final Mediterranean cruise in 1985, Independence entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for an extensive Service Life Extension Program reconstruction. When that work was completed in mid-1988, she transited around South America to the Pacific, her home for the rest of her career. She made an initial deployment to the western Pacific in July 1990, continuing on to the Persian Gulf area to support Operation "Desert Shield", but returned to the U.S. a few months before the brief war that drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. In September 1991, Independence shifted her home port to Yokosuka, Japan, relieving USS Midway as the Navy's only overseas-based aircraft carrier.

Independence stayed in the Far East for more than six years, deploying to the Arabian Sea four times between 1992 and 1998 to help sustain the continuing international effort to restrain Iraq's ambitions. In 1996, she also patrolled off Taiwan during a crisis between that island and mainland China's government. USS Independence returned to the United States in mid-1998 and was decommissioned in September of that year. She is presently in "mothballs" at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

This page features selected views of USS Independence (CVA/CV-62).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: USN 1041841

USS Independence (CVA-62)


Photographed in April 1959, during her shakedown cruise.
Planes on deck include the following types:
Douglas A3D "Skywarrior" (including Bu # 135420, an A3D-1);
Douglas A4D-2 "Skyhawk" (including Bu #s 142708 and 142712);
McDonnell F3H-2 "Demon" (including Bu #s 143434, 143447, 143448 and 143474);
Vought F8U-1 "Crusader" (including Bu #s 145386 and 145429).
Note paint pattern on the carrier's landing path.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

Online Image: 110KB; 740 x 615 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-N-1041841.

 
Photo #: NH 97716

USS Independence (CVA-62)
,
USS Saratoga (CVA-60), and
USS Intrepid (CVA-11)
(listed from bottom to top)

Underway in 1961, with crewmen paraded on deck in a spellout commemorating the 50th birthday of Naval Aviation.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 125KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 
   
Photo #: USN 1061608

USS Independence (CVA-62)


Crewmembers man the rail as the ship is visited by Prince Rainer and Princess Grace of Monaco, while anchored off Cannes, France, 5 July 1962.
USS Compton (DD-705) is in the background.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

Online Image: 97KB; 740 x 620 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-N-1061608.

 
Photo #: NH 97713

USS Independence (CVA-62)


Is welcomed to New York Harbor by a fire tug, 3 July 1964. The carrier, whose rails are manned in this photo, was en route to a 4th of July visit to the World's Fair.
Photographed by PH1 R.C. Lister.
Note that Independence has three types of attack aircraft embarked: A-1, A-4 and A-6, as well as F-4 and F-8 fighters and E-1 early warning planes.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 92KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97717

USS Independence (CVA-62)
(foreground) and
USS Enterprise (CVAN-65)

Rendezvous in the Indian Ocean on 21 November 1965.
Independence was en route to Norfolk, Virginia, after six months "on the line" off Vietnam. Enterprise was headed for combat duty in Vietnamese waters.
Photographed by PH3 E.R. Pomponio.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: KN-22669

USS Independence (CV-62)


Underway in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, 1 October 1974.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

Online Image: 103KB; 740 x 525 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-KN-22669.
Though reproductions of this photo from the Naval Historical Center's collections are available in black & white only, those from the National Archives should be available in color.

 
Photo #: NH 97714-KN (color)

USS Independence (CV-62)

Photographed circa the 1970s.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 101KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97715

USS Independence (CV-62)


At sea during the later 1980s or early 1990s.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 116KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: USN 1147706

USS Independence (CVA-62)


Lieutenant Christopher W. Galbreath and Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Louis P. Rottman participate in a preflight briefing in one of the carrier's ready rooms, during operations in the Mediterranean Sea, January 1971.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

Online Image: 112KB; 740 x 620 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-N-1147706.

 
Photo #: NH 97718

USS Independence (CV-62)


Catapult crewmen check the tension on the launch cable while preparing to catapult a F-4 "Phantom II" fighter, during flight operations in the Atlantic Ocean, October 1974.
Photographed by JOCS R.P. Benjamin.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 445 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97719

USS Independence (CV-62)


Lieutenant Michael F. Jordan (center), Landing Signal Officer of Attack Carrier Air Wing Seven (CVW-7), and two other landing signal personnel, man their stations during aircraft recovery on board Independence. The carrier was operating in the Mediterranean Sea.
Photographed by PH1 Donald Grantham.
This image was received by the Naval Photographic Center in October 1974.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 415 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 2 November 2001