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A Soviet tug places a line on board a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine which, for some days, had been lying disabled and surfaced in heavy weather 600 miles northeast of Newfoundland. One of nine H-class submarines in the Soviet Navy, the crippled vessel displaces 4,750 tons on the surface and carries three ballistic missiles in her sail. Eventually, the submarine, which spurned A merican and Canadian offers of help, was towed to the safety of a Soviet port (See Chronology, pages 52 and 56).
1 January According to the Maritime Administration, there were 633 vessels of 1,000 tons and over in the active oceangoing merchant fleet as of this date. There was an increase of 70 active vessels and a decrease of 77 inactive vessels in the privately-owned fleet as compared to the number of ships in this category on 1 December 1971. The total number of vessels in the privately-owned fleet is 711. Of these, 612 are active ships. The total U. S.-flag merchant fleet decreased by 20 to 1,372.
3 January Libya has ordered Great Britain to withdraw its naval mission from the North African nation, the British government announced. The order appeared to be linked to Malta’s eviction of British forces.
4 January The Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine, and the Todd Shipyards of San Pedro, California, received contracts totaling $146.5 million for construction of nine 25,000-ton tankers for the Navy. Bath will build five and Todd four, with all to be completed before the end of 1974.
President Nixon announced the awarding of a $54.6-million contract to the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company of San Diego, California, for the construction of three 38,300-ton tankers for the U. S. merchant marine.
The British Defense Ministry said that Malta’s Prime Minister, Dom Mintoff, has barred the use of his country’s facilities by the U. S. Sixth Fleet.
5 January Communist China announced the establishment of diplomatic relations with Iceland, according to the New China News Agency.
The Navy said that about 500 gallons of water containing a very small amount of radioactivity were accidentally spilled into the Thames River at New London, Connecticut, during a routine water transfer between the USS Dace (SSN-607) and the USS Fulton (AS-ii). The announcement said the discharge did not endanger human beings, marine life, or the environment.
The New York Times reported that the United States has entered into an unpublicized agreement to establish a permanent naval station on the island of
Bahrain. State Department officials were quoted as saying the agreement represented an extension of arrangements that the United States has had over the last 20 years, to use a British naval base on the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain.
The Navy announced the establishment of a 75-patient alcohol rehabilitation center to be temporarily located at the Naval Amphibious Base at Little Creek, Virginia. Eventually, it will be moved to the Norfolk Naval Station.
6 January The Defense Department said that the Navy would conduct periodic operations in the Indian Ocean to help establish an American presence therein. The more than 400 CH-46 helicopters grounded by the Navy on 31 December 1971 were cleared for flight.
7 January Vice Admiral William P. Mack, Commander, U. S. Seventh Fleet, was named by the President to succeed Vice Admiral James Calvert as Superintendent of the U. S. Naval Academy. Calvert will assume duties as Commander, U. S. First Fleet, and Vice Admiral James Holloway, Deputy Com- mander-in-Chief, U. S. Atlantic Fleet, will relieve Mack.
It was announced that the U. S. Navy will establish a small communications facility in ten acres of the large British base on the island of Bahrain.
The U. S. Air Force announced it will close its headquarters in the London suburb of Ruislip, and the 1,300 Americans there will be reassigned to other bases in Britain and on the Continent.
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8 January The keel of the Los Angeles (SSN-688), the first in a new class of nuclear submarines, was laid at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Virginia.
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The Washington Post reported that U. S. Satellites spotted construction underway on what was described as the largest surface ship ever built in the Soviet Union, at the Black Sea shipyards.
The USS Stein (DE-1065) was commissioned at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington.
10 January The Defense Department announced that the U. S. Navy task force led by the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65),
sailed out of the Indian Ocean after a month of patrol duty that began during the Indo-Pakistan war.
The nine-month-old, 34,000-ton oil tanker Martha R. Ingram split in half and sank as she got underway from the pier at Port Jefferson, Long Island, New York. There was no immediate explanation for the accident.
The 1,031-foot former liner Queen Elizabeth capsized in Hong Kong harbor after burning more than 24 hours. The cause of the fires which destroyed the ship has not been determined.
An Ecuadorian gunboat seized an American tuna fishing vessel for fishing inside Ecuador’s claimed 200-mile limit.
15 January The Canadian armed forces will be reduced to 83,349 men by 31 March 1972. This will be a reduction from 89,890 in 1971 and 98,238 in 1970.
Admiral Charles K. Duncan, Com- mander-in-Chief, U. S. Atlantic Fleet, said that Soviet fishing, research, and merchant ships have been taking on fuel and provisions in North American ports. They then return to sea for refueling and provisioning of Soviet intelligence ships.
Maltese Prime Minister Dom Mintoff canceled his deadline, set for this date, for the withdrawal of all British forces from his island and said a new agreement seemed possible.
16 January The USS Albert David (DE-ioso) collided with a North Vietnamese junk in the Gulf of Tonkin. Seven North Vietnamese survivors were picked up, treated for minor injuries, and returned to another junk in the area. Two other crew members were not found.
17 January The New York Times re- s Or ported that military analysts said they r°di believe the large ship under construction Qa at a shipyard at Nikolayev on the Black ®rig| Sea may be the Soviet craft carrier.
The Lockheed Aircraft Burbank, California, received 3 $66,000,000 modification to a previously ^ ^ awarded fixed-price-incentive contract for long lead-time effort and materials to support FY-1972 procurement of P-3C aircraft.
18 January Great Britain’s first plastic warship, the minehunter HMS Wilton, was launched at Southampton. The vessel is 153 feet long, displaces 450 tons, and costs $5.2 million.
Australian Prime Minister William McMahon said his country would welcome and assist the United States and Great Britain if they wished to establish naval and air bases on the western coast of Australia.
West Coast shippers hit back at striking longshoremen, by refusing military cargo for Vietnam and other points.
The U. S. Coast Guard cutter St oris (WAGB-38) seized two Soviet fishing vessels, the 362-foot Lamut and the 278-foot Kolyvan, in American fishing waters 9.4 miles off Cape Upright on St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea.
19 January The Pacific Maritime Association reversed itself and ordered its member shippers to begin handling military cargo immediately at struck West Coast ports.
A Navy Phantom jet shot down an enemy MiG-21, 170 miles deep inside North Vietnam. It was the first MiG downed in 22 months.
A diplomatic impasse was broken, when the two Soviet fishing ships seized on 18 January for intruding into American waters off Alaska, agreed to sail to the U. S. naval station at Adak Island for a hearing on the charges.
20 January Grumman Aerospace Corporation informed the Navy that it is losing millions of dollars building the F-14 Tomcat fighter, and refused to accept any more orders under the existing contract.
In his State of the Union address, President Nixon disclosed that he has ordered a sharp and expensive speedup in efforts to develop a new class of missilefiring submarines.
21 January The New York Times reported that Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Chief of Naval Operations, told a secret session of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that the Navy wants home- port facilities in Greece for the families of a number of U. S. Sixth Fleet ships.
22 January With about 50 antiwar
protestors watching from the land, some 700 Marines landed at Reid State Park at Georgetown, Maine, as part of the Navy’s Operation Snowy Beach, a 10- day winter combat exercise. The Marines were scheduled to bivouac at the Park for four days, testing cold weather clothing and the effect of the cold on the equipment.
The Soviet Union announced the launching of its first containership, in a continuing drive to expand its merchant fleet. Tass said the Sestroretsk, was the first of 20 special-purpose vessels.
23 January British Commodore D. E. Fieldhouse relieved U. S. Navy Captain Raymond W. Allen as commander of the NATO Standing Naval Forces, Atlantic.
The U. S. Air Force Academy reported that its latest cheating scandal, which led to the resignation of 39 cadets, was closed.
31 January The Defense Departmen1 reported that the Soviet Union has se(1j Cuba bigger and more heavily-arm^ missile-firing patrol boats. The first r»l boats of the Osa-class arrived in mi^ January. The 35-knot boats carry fo1* missiles with high-explosive warhead with a range of about 15 miles.
24 January President Nixon sent an $83.4-billion defense budget to Congress. President Nixon proposed a $545.4-million budget for the Maritime Administration in the coming fiscal year. Nearly half of the money would go for subsidy funds to aid in the construction of new merchant ships.
General Dynamics Corporation, Groton, Connecticut, received a $230,331,416 contract modification as the third and final increment for funding of the third program year of the construction of SSN-688-class nuclear-powered attack submarines 697, 698, and 699.
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The Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Virginia, received a $61,911,105 modification, third and final increment, to fund construction of the third program year of the SSN-688 class nuclear-powered attack submarine 695.
25 January The Defense Department asked Congress to raise its current appropriations by $254.8-million to begin several programs, including development of a new submarine missile system and research on ship-to-ship missiles.
President Nixon named Kenneth Rush, currently ambassador to West Germany, to replace David Packard as the number two civilian in the Defense Department.
26 January U. S. and Soviet negotiators opened discussions at the State Department, directed at liberalizing the rules restricting access of commercial shipping to each other’s seaports. The talks were aimed at possible expansion in trade between the two countries.
LTV Aerospace Corporation of Dallas- Texas, received a $67,100,000 contratf modification covering long lead-time effort and materials to support FY-197' procurement of A-7E and A-7D aircraft!
27 January The Navy Department! announced plans for a mid-decade deployment of a Fleet Satellite Communij cations System (FSCS) in a continuing effort to improve Defense Departmeni worldwide communications relays.
29 January The French Air For< monthly magazine, Air Actualities, ported that the Chinese Air Force wa* equipped with a jet fighter, the P-11 which could fly at roughly twice th( speed of sound. The plane is manuftt' tured in China.
France’s first nuclear-powered suit marine, Le Redoubtable left Brest on M first operational patrol.
The South East Asia Treay Organ( zation (SF.ATO) announced that shifg j^ and aircraft from Australia, Great ain, New Zealand, the Philippine^ , Thailand, and the United States s*'1' participate in a joint maritime exercbt|*t in the South China Sea. T^e ^
Personnel figures released by the DW 2 partment of Defense showed a N!a'ys strength of 597,902 on this date, colors ^ pared to 645,036 on the same date |
1971. The Marine Corps figures we14® lQ 197,710 and 230,013 respectively.
1 February According to the Mariti11’; Administration, there were 633 ves^d ^ of 1,000 tons and over in the acti'Oj^ oceangoing merchant fleet as of date. There was an increase of one act*\ ^
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vessel and a decrease of 14 inactive vessels in privately-owned fleet as compared to the number of ships in these categories on 1 January 1972. The total number of vessels in the privately-owned fleet is 698. Of these, 613 are active ships. The total U. S.-flag merchant fleet decreased by 23 to 1,349.
Undersecretary of State U. Alexis Johnson told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the administration has approached the Soviet Union about arranging a mutual limit on naval armament in the Indian Ocean.
2 February The Armed Forces Journal proposed that the Navy’s next aircraft carrier be named for the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King.
The President nominated Vice Admiral Richard G. Colbert for appointment to the grade of admiral and assignment as Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces, Southern Europe, as relief for retiring Admiral Horacio Rivero, Jr.
3 February The Senate confirmed Kenneth Rush as Deputy Secretary of Defense, replacing David Packard.
Two sailors, absent without leave from a U. S. destroyer, were reported being held by police in Antalya, Turkey, on charges of both possession and use of narcotics.
Grumman Aerospace Corporation of Bethpage, New York, received a $54,000,000 contract modification for long lead-time effort and materials to support FY-72 and 73 procurement of EA-6B aircraft.
4 February The USS George Washington (SSBN-598) successfully launched a Polaris A-3 missile down the Atlantic test range.
7 February The State Department announced that the United States and Greece have reached an agreement on the use of Piraeus as a homeport for a carrier task force of the U. S. Sixth Fleet.
U. S. authorities said that several U. S. Navy men were being questioned in connection with an unauthorized flooding on 6 February of two drydocks at the U. S. Naval Base at Yokosuka, Japan.
8 February The Secretary of the Navy said that other Mediterranean bases may be sought as homeport for U. S. Sixth Fleet ships in addition to the Greek port of Piraeus.
Navy Secretary John H. Chafee said that women will not be enrolled in the U. S. Naval Academy in the foreseeable future, but that they would be admitted to NROTC units to work toward non- seagoing commissions.
9 February According to a paper prepared for the Center for Naval Analyses, the Soviet Union has maintained a regular combat naval patrol off the coast of the West African state of Guinea for over a year.
In anticipation of a possible enemy offensive, the USS Constellation (CVA-64) cut short a visit to Hong Kong and returned to her station off North Vietnam, joining the USS Hancock (CVA-19) and USS Coral Sea (CVA-43).
10 February In an interview in Hanoi, Lieutenant Commander David W. Hoffman, the pilot of a Navy F-4B Phantom jet shot down over North Vietnam on 30 December 1971, said he was being "well treated” by his captors.
12 February The USS Barbour County (LST-1195) was commissioned at Long Beach, California.
13 February Divers located the sunken wreckage of the merchant tanker V.A. Fogg in 90 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico. The 572-foot tanker disappeared with her 39-man crew, while on a vogage from Freeport to Houston, Texas. The Coast Guard said that there was no evidence as to what caused the ship to sink, but that pieces of wreckage turned up in the search indicated that there was a fire on board the ship.
15 February Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird warned that unless the Soviet Union agreed to a mutual halt in missile submarine construction, or stopped production after catching up with the American lead, the United States was prepared to resume that part of the arms race.
The Secretary of Defense asked Congress for a $l-billion increase in military research and development spending to
keep the United States from falling behind the Soviet Union in weapons technology. He also called for a step-up in the development of a longer-range ballistic missile submarine.
Warships and aircraft from the United States, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Thailand began a 12-day exercise, code-named Sea Hawk, in the South China Sea. The exercise was designed to test the convoy protection procedures of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
The Senate voted to ratify a treaty to ban nuclear weapons on the ocean floor beyond the two-mile limit.
Twelve European countries signed a convention designed to end the dump ing of poisonous waste by ships and planes in the northeast Atlantic Ocean.
16 February The Navy announced that the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) would sail for Vietnam on 17 February, one p , month ahead of schedule.
The Defense Department announced that President Nixon nominated Lieutenant General Earl E. Anderson to become Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps. He will be promoted to four-star rank when he replaces General Raymond G. Davis, who will retire on 31 March.
18 February The Grumman Corporation reported a 1971 net loss of $17.99 million because of losses incurred- in work on the F-14A Tomcat fighter program for the Navy.
Secretary of the Navy John H. Chafee confirmed that the Navy will no Ionget send its officers to government-financed graduate programs at the 15 colleges and universities that are eliminating NROff programs.
19 February The Cavalla (SSN-684)! was launched at Groton, Connecticut-
20 February A U. S. Air Force, ere"’' flying in an HC-130 Hercules, set a ne"’ record for non-stop distance in a straight line by a turbo-pop aircraft, during 3 flight from Taiwan to Scott Air Force] Base in Illinois, a distance of 8,790 stap ute miles. The previous record was held by a U. S. Navy P-3 Orion—6,85”’ miles—set in January 1971.
21 February The U.S. Navy turned over the USS Tutuila (ARG-4) to the Republic of China Navy at Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
22 February In an appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., said America’s increasing dependence on foreign oil supplies and the prospect that the Navy may have to protect hundreds of U. S.-bound tankers is creating a new role for the U. S. Fleet.
The Defense Department said that officer graduate students requiring specialized courses, will attend whatever university necessary regardless of whether or not the school has dropped ROTC programs. The Navy had originally announced on 18 February that it would drop 15 colleges and universities from its program.
26 February The USS Shasta (AE-33) was commissioned at the Charleston Naval Shipyard in South Carolina.
29 February A Soviet Hotel-class, nuclear-powered, ballistic-missile submarine, apparently disabled in the North Atlantic, 600 miles northeast of Newfoundland, was taken in tow by a Russian tug.
Personnel figures released by the Department of Defense showed a Navy strength of 595,193 on this date, compared to 644,243 on the same date in 1971. The Marine Corps figures were 196,080 and 225,225 respectively. [1]
rently required. The new options, the shortest active obligation to regular Navy enlistees, guarantee duty with one of the Navy’s seagoing units or an aviation unit based on the coast of the enlistee’s choice.
The Secretary of the Navy announced that the Navy is now accepting applications from female high school seniors for the NROTC program.
In an effort to revitalize its fishing industry, Mexico authorized the construction, in national shipyards, of 500 small and medium-draft fishing craft to be financed with the aid of government-subsidized credit agencies and designed under supervision of the Navy Ministry.
2 March The Secretary of Defense announced the establishment of a task force to identify the nature and extent of racial discrimination in the administration of military justice in the Armed Forces.
The President nominated Rear Admiral George C. Talley, Jr. to the grade of vice admiral and assignment as Deputy Commander-in-Chief and Chief of Staff, U. S. Pacific Fleet. He will relieve retiring Vice Admiral David C. Richardson.
5 March Admiral John S. McCain, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific, arrived in Ceylon for what was described as a four-day "orientation” visit.
6 March Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird said that the Soviet Union was deploying multiple warheads on its intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The U. S. Naval Academy announced that it had expelled seven midshipmen for the use of marijuana.
The British submarine HMS Resolution fired an American-built Polaris A-3 missile while submerged off the east coast of Florida.
7 March The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, tol.d Congress that plans to homeport some U. S. ships in Greece were so important to morale, that if they were rejected, he would recommend reducing force levels overseas despite the military risks involved.
The West German hospital ship Helgoland returned home after more than five years in South Vietnam. The ship’s staff had treated more than 168,000 civilian war victims.
A Soviet destroyer, diesel submarine, and tanker entered Cuban waters after an Atlantic crossing from Africa.
The Coast Guard underwent its annual criticism by the House Merchant Marine Committee for failing to fight for a larger appropriation during budget authorization hearings. The Coast Guard, however, expressed satisfaction with its $135,660,000 budget request for Fiscal Year 1973.
8 March The Washington Post reported that sources in London said a British firm has agreed to build two submarines for Israel.
9 March The Associated Press reported that, with the arrival of the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) on station, the U. S. Seventh Fleet carrier force no* consisted of four ships.
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i 1 March The Kiska (AE-35) was launched at the Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
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12 March An editorial in Air Ford magazine, published by the Air Force Association, sharply criticized the Navy’s budget request for 1973, in what could be the beginning of a budget battle among the military Services.
13 March The Russian Navy was reported building a major new cruiser at the huge Nikolayev shipyard on the Black Sea where another ship, thought to be an aircraft carrier, is under construction.
The Navy announced a 15-week ban on transfer of most personnel, because it had run out of money for moving costs.
14 March Turkish Premier Nihaf Erim said his government would reopen Turkish ports to U. S. Sixth Fleet ship5' Visits by large numbers of American ships were halted in 1969 after several sailors were injured in anti-American rioting in Istanbul and Izmir. Onl) single-ship visits to remote ports con- tinucd.
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Vice Admiral Noel Gaylcr, head of thf
National Security Agency, was named to relieve Admiral John S. McCain, Jr., who will retire this summer.
The Baltimore Sun reported that Indonesia and Malaysia were lobbying with delegates to the 25th meeting of the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East, for support for a declaration neutralizing the Strait of Malacca by banning all warships from the Strait.
15 March The Wall Street Journal reported that the Navy was refining plans for a class of giant nuclear attack submarines armed both with missiles for sinking surface ships at long range and torpedoes for fighting enemy submarines at close range.
16 March The Navy reported the rare sighting of a Soviet Yankee-class missile submarine on the surface northeast of Iceland. It was not clear whether the submarine was in difficulty.
17 March In a speech to the Navy League in San Diego, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., Chief of Naval Operations, said the Navy would not be able to maintain its mission of conventional control of the seas if it fails to receive money for construction of a fourth nuclear carrier.
Goodyear Aerospace Corporation of Akron, Ohio, was selected as the prime contractor for the engineering development of CAPTOR, a new antisubmarine weapons system. CAPTOR uses conventional munitions to destroy submarines.
18 March The Washington Post reported that the U. S. Air Force had launched a behind-the-scenes counterattack against what the Air Force viewed as exaggerated Navy fears about Russia’s surface fleet and excessive Navy demands on the defense budget.
The Jesse L. Brown (DE-1089) was launched at the Avondale Shipyards in Westwego, Louisiana. She is the first ship of the U. S. Navy to be named in honor of a black naval officer.
The USS McCandless (DE-1084) was commissioned at the Boston Naval Shipyard in Charlestown, Massachusetts.
The guided missile frigate USS Coontz (DLG-9) was recommissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
19 March The Evening Star in Washington, D.C., reported that the Navy has pulled a team of porpoises out of Vietnam after a year of guarding the harbor at Cam Ranh Bay against enemy frogmen.
23 March Defense Secretary Melvin Laird, in an interview, suggested that Japan may have to establish a naval presence in the Indian Ocean—for the first time since World War II—to protect its Middle East oil supplies.
24 March The Navy and Air Force announced that they have grounded or limited flights of their A-7 Corsair aircraft following two crashes.
Shipbuilders appealed to Congress to require the Navy to assign a substantial portion of its ship repair and alteration work to private shipyards. They said the Navy is diverting nearly all its nonnuclear ship repair work to Navy Yards.
25 March The Navy announced that the Naval Schools Command at Norfolk was being abolished as an economy move and to simplify the Navy’s training program. Many of the command’s functions will be absorbed by the Fleet Training Center in Norfolk.
26 March Columnist Jack Anderson reported that the Navy’s Mark 48 torpedo is functioning at a 10% efficiency level instead of the projected 90%.
After a nine-month wrangle over terms. Malta and Great Britain signed a seven- year defense agreement, which bars island facilities to Warsaw Pact nations. The terms gave Malta 535 million yearly, 513 million paid by Great Britain and the rest by NATO countries.
27 March Congress authorized the loan of 16 warships to Spain, Greece, Turkey, South Korea, and Italy—with the specification that the loan does not commit the United States to the defense of these countries. The loan period was set at five years.
The New York Times reported that the U. S. Air Force was dispersing its B-52 bomber squadrons to an expanded complex of 47 bases to counter the mounting threat of Soviet nuclear missile submarines in the Atlantic and Pacific.
28 March The Navy said that it was
planning to pay the Grumman Aerospace Corporation an additional 540 million to compensate for the loss of a test model of the F-14 aircraft and subsequent slippage in production of the new aircraft.
29 March The State Department said that the United States had signed an agreement with Greece, providing for the sale of two squadrons of F-4 Phantom jets. A squadron normally comprises 18 aircraft.
The General Accounting Office (GAO) praised Navy efforts to improve the overall management of its shipbuilding program.
The Soviet research ship Akademik Kurchatov sailed out of Miami Harbor ending a five-day goodwill visit.
31 March Personnel figures released] by the Department of Defense showed a Navy strength of 593,360 on this date, compared to 638,817 on the same date; in 1971. The Marine Corps figures were! 197,526 and 221,993 respectively.
1 April According to the Maritime Administration, there were 626 vessel* of 1,000 tons and over in the active oceangoing merchant fleet as of this date. There was an increase of three active vessels and a decrease of nine inactive in the privately-owned fleet a* compared to the number of ships if these categories on 1 March 1972. The total number of vessels in the privately owned fleet is 677. Of these, 606 are active. The total U. S.-flag merchant fleet decreased by 27 to 1,286.
The Navy withdrew its last comba' force from Vietnam. The unit involved was Light Attack Squadron Four which flew the Bronco, a propeller-driven, counter-insurgency aircraft.
2 April The first of 20 Soviet ship to be sent to Bangladesh to help cleat that new country’s two major ports^ Chittagong and Chalna—of monsoof and war damage, arrived at Chittagong- The rest of the flotilla is scheduled arrive on 19 April, with the two-mond1 salvage and clearance to begin by the end of April.
4 April Secretary of the Nav? John H. Chafee resigned after thre£ years as civilian head of the Navy. Tbc
White House said his successor would be announced in about two weeks.
5 April According to the Baltimore Sun, an unreleased General Accounting Office (GAO) study said that after spending hundreds of millions of dollars over nearly a decade on development, the Navy still does not have a missile that can effectively defend its ships from hostile aircraft.
After failing to meet recruiting quota for several consecutive months, the Navy decided to join the Army and Air Force in buying a limited amount of advertising.
According to a report by Reuters News Agency in The New York Times, a new GAO study said that the Navy has not yet demonstrated conclusively that the F-i4 Tomcat is superior to the modified F-4 Phantom, which it is scheduled to replace. The study also said that the F-4 could be modified at a much lower cost, to do the job assigned the F-14.
The Soviet H-class nuclear submarine that broke down in the North Atlantic has been towed to home waters according to the West German Navy.
6 April For the first time since 1968, hundreds of Navy and Air Force planes struck military targets in North Vietnam. The attacks were in retaliation for the new Communist invasion of South Vietnam.
7 April In the stepped-up action in Vietnam, the U. S. Command reported that the USS Constellation (CVA-64) arrived in the Tonkin Gulf, giving the United States four carriers on station, the largest number since the war began; two Navy A-7 aircraft were downed by SAMs just north of the demilitarized zone; and the USS Lloyd Thomas (DD-764) had been hit by North Vietnam shore batteries, slightly damaging the ship and injuring three crewmen.
8 April President Nixon named Undersecretary of the Navy John W. Warner to succeed John H. Chafee as Secretary of the Navy.
The USS Harlan County (LST-1196) was commissioned at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in California.
9 April Malaysia rejected a U. S. con
tention that American naval vessels must have freedom of passage through the Malacca Strait, linking the Indian and Pacific oceans. Malaysia claims the waterway lies within its territorial waters.
10 April The Navy reported that North Vietnam shore batteries hit two U. S. destroyers during a duel with four American ships. The USS John R. Craig (DD-885) experienced "hull and material damage,” while the USS Rowan (DD-782) received light damage from fragments.
Secretary of Defense Laird announced the assignment of Vice Admiral Eugene P. Wilkinson as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Submarine Warfare).
11 April The ballistic missile submarine USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN-640) collided with and sank a tugboat at the General Dynamics Electric Boat Division docks at Groton, Connecticut. The submarine, being overhauled at the shipyard, was not damaged, and there were no injuries.
The New York Times reported that the USS Saratoga (CVA-6o) departed Jacksonville, Florida, apparently for Vietnam.
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12 April The Navy announced the awarding of two contracts associated with the design support for the new class of patrol frigates. Bath Iron Works Corporation received a cost-plus-fixed- fee contract for $3,150,000 to carry out work for ship system design support and propulsion system design. Upon completion of ship system design and program approval by Congress, Todd Shipyards Corporation of Seattle, will be awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for $1,778,000 to perform similar design work of lesser scope.
13 April The New York Times reported that in response to the North Vietnamese offensive, U. S. Navy strength off the coast of Vietnam was at the highest level since the peak of the war in 1968.
The New York Times reported that U. S. warships in the Caribbean had been ordered by the President to prevent Cuban ships from seizing the merchant vessels of countries friendly to the United States. The instructions stem from the seizure by Cuban patrol boats
on 5 and 15 December of two merchantmen operating out of Miami under Panamanian registration.
14 April President Nixon announced that he will nominate Robert D. Nesen to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy for financial management. Nesen, who is currently national director of the Navy League of the United States, will succeed Frank Sanders, who has been named to replace John W. Warner as Undersecretary of the Navy.
Lykes Brothers Steamship Company,
Inc., Todd Shipyards Corporation, and the Maritime Administration signed a $13,958,276 contract covering the conversion at Galveston, Texas, of four break-bulk freighters into container- ships. This brought to $447 million the total value of merchant shipbuilding and conversion under President Nixon’s maritime program.
15 April The Navy rejected for the present any consideration of switching part of its $2-billion order for 30 ne»' destroyers from the problem-riddefl Litton Industries shipyard at Pascagoula, Mississippi.
The 28th Sturgeon-chss nuclear-powered attack submarine, the USS Drufl1 (SSN-677), was commissioned at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.
The Ainsworth (DE-1090) was launched at the Avondale Shipyards, WestwegO Louisiana.
16 April The U. S. Command in Viet' §| nam said the USS Worden (DLG-is) wa* [v apparently hit by a missile fired b)' American planes off the coast of North Vietnam. One sailor was killed and nit^ others wounded in the explosion.
17 April The chairman of th*
Grumman Corporation, E. C. Towl, said that his firm’s aerospace subsidiaO would be forced out of business if thf Navy refused to "restructure” a mone)" losing contract for the F-i4 Tomcat j£l j fighter. bre
Two University of Wisconsin scientist5 cj released a report critical of Project 5 Sanguine, saying the northern Wiscof sin radio transmitting project would n0( work "... apart from the possible effcc( on animals, plants, and ecology.”
The Navy released a two-volume, 987-page environmental impact study, contending that its proposed long-range Sanguine communications system would have no more effect on the environment than building a power or telephone line.
The Navy told the House Armed Services Committee that Litton Industries was seeking huge increases in its billion-dollar contract to build five assault ships that are already 19 months behind schedule.
The USS Buchanan (DDG-14) was hit by a shell from a North Vietnamese shore battery. One sailor was killed and seven others wounded.
19 April North Vietnamese MiG fighters and gunboats attacked U. S. ships bombarding North Vietnam. Two of the gunboats and one MiG were destroyed. One U. S. ship, the USS Higbee (DD-806), was damaged and four crewmen were wounded.
20 April The Secretary of the Navy
announced establishment of two
coastal/river divisions in the Naval Reserve to provide a readiness capability for naval inshore warfare operations. One will be located at Mare Island, California, and the other at Great Lakes, Illinois.
22 April The Fort Fisher (LSD-4o) was launched at the General Dynamics Corporation, Quincy Shipbuilding Division, Quincy, Massachusetts.
23 April According to the Soviet news agency Tass, naval forces from Warsaw Pact countries completed six days of maneuvers in the Black Sea.
24 April A South Vietnamese Navy ship sank a North Vietnamese trawler in the Gulf of Thailand, capturing 16 of her 22 crewmen. Secondary explosions indicated that the 100-foot craft was carrying ammunition.
25 April The Senate confirmed John W. Warner as Secretary of the Navy, to replace John H. Chafee. The Senate also confirmed Frank P. Sanders to replace Warner as Undersecretary of the Navy and Robert D. Nesen to replace Sanders as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for financial management.
27 April Alene Bertha Duerk, a nurse, was among 50 captains to be selected for promotion to rear admiral. She will become the Navy’s first woman flag officer.
U. S. News and World Report reported that in response to the build-up of Soviet seapower, the Royal Navy will build 33 oceangoing ships during 1972, compared with 19 in 1971.
29 April The New York Times reported that the Soviet Union is building three new missile cruisers in the 12,000-to- 15,000-ton range, about twice the size of its current modern cruisers. They were also reported to be converting three Sverdlov-class gun cruisers to missile ships, with advanced communications and electronic equipment. The old Sverdlovs range from 15,000 to 19,000 tons.
30 April Personnel figures released by the Department of Defense showed a Navy strength of 587,918 on this date, compared to 631,216 on the same date in 1971. The Marine Corps figures were 196,494 and 219,847 respectively.
1 May According to the Maritime Administration, there were 618 vessels of 1,000 tons and over in the active oceangoing merchant fleet as of this date. There was a decrease of eight active vessels and an increase of two inactive vessels in the privately-owned fleet as compared to the number of ships in this category on 1 April 1972. The total number of vessels in the privately-owned fleet is 671. Of these, 598 are active ships. The total U. S.-flag merchant fleet decreased by 12 to 1,274.
2 May The New York News reported the State Department as saying that the number of Soviet ships in Haiphong harbor has more than doubled—to more than 20—since the American bombing of the harbor area began two weeks ago.
The Senate approved legislation to permit sale of the liner United States to the government as a potential troopship, and to allow five other government-subsidized passenger vessels, now in mothballs, to be sold abroad.
3 May Faculty members at Brown University voted to abolish the 31-year-
old Navy ROTC program by June. The vote was 148 to 54.
4 May The Defense Department said that a Soviet diesel submarine armed with three ballistic missiles, each having a range of 650 miles, recently entered a port on Cuba’s north coast. The submarine was accompanied by a destroyer and a new type of submarine tender.
5 Afay The Navy’s 100th nuclear submarine, the USS Silversides (SSN-679), war commissioned at the U. S. Naval Submarine Base, Groton, Connecticut.
6 May U. S. Navy F-4 Phantom jets shot down three enemy MiG fighter* during two dogfights, 50 to 75 miles southwest of Hanoi. There was no damage to the American planes.
The Associated Press reported that > Navy A-7 aircraft was downed by a surface-to-air missile during a raid over North Vietnam, and that the USS Hanset (DD-832) had been hit by fire from shore batteries while bombarding the North Vietnam coast.
The USS Bagley (DE-1069) was commissioned at Puget Sound, Washington
8 May Rear Admiral Rembrandt C Robinson, Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla 11, was killed in J helicopter crash in the Tonkin Gulf. Hf was the first U. S. admiral killed in the Vietnam war.
In response to the massive North Vic1' namese offensive in South Vietnam- President Nixon announced the mining by Navy aircraft of Haiphong and othd North Vietnamese ports. Ships in pot* were given a 72-hour deadline for ge1' ting underway before the mines were activated.
9 May The U. S. Command in Vie[ nam said that Navy aircraft had com' pleted the initial phases of the mining of North Vietnamese ports. All plan^ were said to have returned safely, am one MiG was shot down while trying tl’ intercept.
10 May Secretary of Defense LahJ announced that a Soviet ship en rout£ to North Vietnam has changed courS£ since the United States mined tW1 country’s harbors.
Navy fliers, Lieutenant Randy Cunningham and Lieutenant (j.g.) William Driscoll, flying an F-4 Phantom, downed three MiGs over North Vietnam. These, in addition to earlier victories, made them America’s first aces of the Vietnam war. Shortly after, their aircraft was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, but they were picked up in good condition in the Tonkin Gulf.
11 May The Defense Department reported that five vessels, four of them Russian, left Haiphong before American mines blocking the harbor were activated. The mines were activated three days after they were sown.
The Soviet Union demanded that the United States immediately end the blockade and bombing of North Vietnam.
The North Atlantic Assembly warned that Soviet advances in seapower threaten the West’s entire defense structure in Europe. The Assembly urged an increased U. S.-sharing of its electronic expertise with its European allies.
The British cargo ship Royston Grange and the Liberian tanker Tien Chee collided and burned at the entrance to the River Plate channel, 90 miles east of Buenos Aires. Both vessels were reported destroyed by the fire, and 83 people were reported missing. Another 32 were rescued from the oil-blackened water.
12 May The Defense Department said that several merchant ships, en route to North Vietnam, had apparently changed course to avoid running through American-laid mines in North Vietnam’s harbors. The spokesman said the mining operation was, so far, 100% effective.
13 May U. S., British, and Greek marines landed in southern Greece in the final stage of a NATO Mediterranean exercise, which has seen participation by more than 80 warships and 300 aircraft from eight nations.
The USS Mount Vernon (LSD-39) was commissioned at the Boston Naval Shipyard at Charlestown, Massachusetts.
The Navy’s second nuclear-powered attack aircraft carrier, the Nimitz (CVAN- 68) was launched at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia.
15 May The United States ended 27 years of American rule in Okinawa, and transferred control of the islands in the Okinawan archipelago back to Japan.
The Defense Department said that it had mined some of North Vietnam’s rivers and canals in addition to its harbors, in an attempt to shut off the flow of supplies to the invading army in South Vietnam.
16 May Secretary of Defense Laird said that the United States would build ten large missile-firing submarines, designed to replace some of the older Polaris subs late in the 1970s. Formerly called Undersea Long-range Missile System (ULMS), the multi-billion dollar program will now be called "Trident.”
18 May With the arrival of the USS Saratoga (CVA-60) in the Tonkin Gulf, the United States had six carriers on station for the first time in the war.
The USS John C. Calhoun (SSBN-630) surfaced west of Scotland and moored at Holy Loch, ending the Navy’s 1,000th undersea ballistic missile patrol.
20 May The U. S. Command in Saigon announced that Navy, Marine, and Air Force aircraft destroyed a major petroleum storage area inside Hanoi, and damaged three others elsewhere in North Vietnam in bombing raids during the past week. Boats, railroad cars, bridges, barracks, and warehouses were also destroyed or damaged in the more than 680 strikes against the North.
22 May President Nixon arrived in Moscow to become the first American President to visit the Soviet Union.
Anthony Lewis of The New York Times, reported from Hanoi that the consensus of foreign observers in North Vietnam, is that American mining has effectively closed that country’s ports.
23 May The Defense Department said that all of the 20 to 23 ships en route to North Vietnam when the harbors were mined, have changed course and are headed elsewhere. The spokesman also said that attack aircraft are using television and laser beam-guided bombs in strikes on industrial targets as part of the campaign to force the North Vietnamese to stop their offensive.
Vice Admiral James L. Holloway relieved Vice Admiral William P. Mack as Commander, U. S. Seventh Fleet. Mack will become the superintendent of the U. S. Naval Academy on 16 June.
24 May The NATO defense planning committee gave its approval for the alliance’s biggest land, sea, and air exercise ever in the North Atlantic. Involv-j ing more than 50,000 men and 300 ships from 11 NATO nations, including France, "Strong Express” will take place between 14 and 28 September.
25 May The United States and the Soviet Union signed an agreement to prevent naval incidents at sea. The agreement was signed by Secretary of the Navy John Warner and the commander of the Soviet Navy, Admiral) S. G. Gorshkov.
26 May The United States and the Soviet Union signed a new arms-limita- tion pact, which limits the number of land-based and submarine-launched missiles each country may have. No curbs, were placed on bombers or their armaments.
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The Navy announced establishment of Human Resource Development Centers at four major naval bases, to assist local commands in coping with personnel problems, such as race relations, drug> alcohol abuse, and the like. Located at Norfolk, Newport, San Diego, and Pearl Harbor, each center will be manned by two civilians, 34 officers, and 26 enlisted personnel.
27 May The USS Richmond K. Turned (DLG-20) was recommissioned at Bath. Maine.
The USS Barnstable County (LST-1197) was commissioned at Long Beach, California
30 May The Defense Department said that supplies are stacking up on the rail lines leading from China into North Vietnam, and that the flow of war material into the country is virtually closed off because of U. S. air strikes against the supply lines.
LTV Aerospace Corporation, Dallas. Texas, received a $94,022,130 fixed- price-incentive-fee contract for A-7E aircraft for the Navy and A-7D aircraft fof the Air Force.
31 May Admiral Richard G. Colbert relieved Admiral Horacio Rivero as Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces, Southern Europe.
Personnel figures released by the Department of Defense showed a Navy strength of 588,985 on this date, compared to 624,484 on the same date in 1971. The Marine Corps figures were 196,152 and 216,666 respectively.
1 June— According to the Maritime Administration, there were 623 vessels of 1,000 tons and over in the active oceangoing merchant fleet as of this date. There was an increase of five active vessels and a decrease of seven inactive vessels in the privately-owned fleet as compared to the number of ships in this category on 1 May 1972. The total number of vessels in the privately-owned fleet is 669. Of these, 603 are active ships. The total U. S.-flag merchant fleet decreased by 28 to 1,246.
The Navy said that it had received permission from the Greek government to begin assigning Navy personnel and their families to homeports in Greece. The initial agreement would cover only the 55 officers and enlisted men assigned to the staff of Commander Carrier Division Two.
Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announced a 90-day experiment in which the Marine Corps and Army would test payment of a $1,500 bonus for a four- year enlistment in one of the designated ground combat arms military occupational specialties. It was another step toward the 1 July 1973 zero-draft goal.
2 June— Rear Admiral Robert W. McNitt, U. S. Navy (Retired), was appointed dean of admissions at the U. S. Naval Academy.
U. S. military spokesmen in Saigon said a Russian-speaking American on board the USS Me Morris (DE-1036) used a loudspeaker to warn the Soviet surveillance trawler hmeritell away from a mine field near the port of Vinh, North Vietnam. The Russians reportedly thanked the Americans and sailed away.
The Miller (DE-1091) was launched at the Avondale Shipyard in Westwego, Louisiana.
In a 24-page letter and analysis sent to
Senator William W. Proxmire (Dem., Wis.), the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., charged the Senator with using "biased and conceptually flawed” research to support his assertions that the Department of Defense misleads the American people about the present and future naval balance between the major powers.
4 June— Senator Proxmire charged that pilots who fire the M-16 22-mm. Gatling gun of the Navy’s F-14 fighter, risk destroying their aircraft when smoke from the gun is ingested by the plane’s engine.
5 June— The USS America (CVA-66) sailed for deployment with the U. S. Seventh Fleet, after the Coast Guard cleared the way of anti-war protestors so that the ship could move from the Norfolk Naval Station pier.
6 June—Secretary of Defense Laird said that he could not support the U. S.- U.S.S.R. arms limitation agreements if Congress rejected funds for development of the Trident missile submarine and other strategic offensive weapons systems.
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Maritime Affairs Andrew E. Gibson was named Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Domestic and International Business. His successor was not named.
7 June— At Annapolis, Maryland, 885 midshipmen graduated from the Naval Academy, and were commissioned as ensigns in the Navy.
10 June—The formal academic program of Navy ROTC ended at Dartmouth, with the commissioning of 16 ensigns. The 30-year-old program was voted out by the Dartmouth faculty and trustees in May 1969.
The Tunny (SSN-682) was launched at the Ingalls Nuclear Shipbuilding yards at Pascagoula, Mississippi.
12 June—Yale University, which formed the first Reserve Officer Training Corps unit in 1916, ended all ROTC programs on its campus.
U. S. Air Force Chief of Staff, General John D. Ryan, said he relieved General John D. Lavelle as Seventh Air Force commander in Vietnam earlier this year,
after Lavelle ordered 28 missions, involving 147 strikes by single planes, against unauthorized target? in North Vietnam. Lavelle was demoted in retirement to lieutenant general.
13 June— The Japanese Defense Agency announced that two ships of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force will make goodwill visits to the United States and, six countries in Central and South America, during the next few months.
Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announced the reassignment of Vice Admiral Vincent P. de Poix as Deputy Director, Defense Intelligence Agency. He is presently serving as Commander, U. S. Second Fleet.
14 June—The Soviet Union reported the successful test of a new underwater, remote-controlled robot capable of exploring the ocean floor. Known as the "Crab,” it has been used to explore Mediterranean volcanoes down to i depth of 4,000 feet.
15 June— Litton Industries, Inc., announced that its problem-ridden, new’ Mississippi shipyard had begun construction of the new DD-963-class destroyers six months ahead of the contract schedule.
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16 June— Vice Admiral William P Mack, former Commander, U. S. Seventh Fleet, relieved Vice Admiral James Calvert as superintendent of the U. S- Naval Academy. Calvert will become Commander, U. S. First Fleet.
The Spanish Navy Ministry announced, that Spain will soon receive five U. S-- built destroyers.
20 June—A NATO spokesman said that the Soviet fleet in the Mediterranean was about 40% smaller than it was in the summer of 1971. NATO aircraft, said to be keeping track of the Russians, counted 30 surface ships and 12 to id submarines.
25 June— French news agencies reported that the first of the current series of French atmospheric nuclear tests took place in French Polynesia. The tests reportedly are designed to develop miniature warheads for France’s nuclear strike force.
26 June—Newsweek magazine reported
64 U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Naval Review 1973
that the French nuclear submarine Le Refutable will move into the Atlantic in July for the first test-firings of her Polaris-type missiles. The 7,500-ton submarine carries 16 1,500-mile-range missiles, and is the first in a planned fleet of five such ships.
The first international symposium of chiefs of naval material from 34 Free World nations began at the U. S. Naval Academy. The five-day conference, sponsored by the U. S. Navy, will concentrate on such areas as training, environmental protection, amphibious operations, and future technology for international fleet support.
27 June— Three companies—Marine Transport Lines, a ship operator, and two investment firms, Salomon Brothers and Citicorp Leasing, Inc.—signed a $l46-million contract with the Navy to build nine 25,000-ton tankers for Navy charter. The tankers, scheduled to be completed in less than three years, will be 587-foot, 16-knot ships, with crews of 26 men each. The companies will finance construction and will operate them for the Navy on an initial five-year charter with options for an additional 15 years.
Defense Secretary Laird wound up two days of private sessions with South Korean defense officials by signing a $l6-million agreement aimed at strengthening Korean naval forces. The agreement will help South Korea acquire three gunboats from the United States.
28 June— President Nixon ordered that, from this date forward, no draftees be sent to Vietnam unless they volunteer for duty there.
The Navy’s new F-i4 Tomcat jet made its first arrested landing on board the USS Forrestal (CVA-59) off the Virginia coast.
Secretary of the Navy John W. Warner announced that the first of a new class of nuclear-powered guided missile frigates will be named the Virginia. The 10,000-ton, 585-foot ship will be built at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Virginia.
29 June— According to the North Vietnamese news agency, 14 U. S. Navy and Air Force pilots, said to have been captured in North Vietnam during
April, May, and June, were displayed at a news conference in Flanoi.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Thomas FI. Moorer, received the "Venerable Order of the Gray Eagle,” signifying the "most ancient naval aviator on active duty.” Fie succeeds retiring Rear Admiral Francis D. Foley.
30 June—An F-14 Tomcat fighter crashed into the Chesapeake Bay, four miles from the Patuxent River Naval Air Station while on a test flight, killing the pilot. It was the second F-i4 crash.
In a 2-to-l decision, the U. S. Court of Appeals ruled that compulsory chapel attendance at the three U. S. Service academies is unconstitutional. It was expected that the Department of Defense would appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Senate approved the nomination of Admiral Thomas H. Moorer for a second two-year term as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Personnel figures released by the Department of Defense showed a Navy strength of 589,821 on this date, compared to 623,248 on the same date in 1971. The Marine Corps figures were 198,240 and 212,369 respectively.
[1] March According to the Maritime Administration, there were 623 vessels of 1,000 tons and over in the active oceangoing merchant fleet as of this date. There was a decrease of ten active vessels and a decrease of five inactive in the privately-owned fleet as compared to the number of ships in these categories on 1 February 1972. The total number of vessels in the privately-owned fleet is 683. Of these, 603 are active ships. The total U. S.-flag merchant fleet decreased by 36 to 1,313.
The Navy announced two new enlistment programs called the "Seafarer” and "Airman”—which feature a minimum active duty obligation of three years instead of the four and six years cur