USS Independence (CV-62)
History of the USS Independence Aircraft Carrier
The USS Independence (CV-62) was ordered for the U.S. Navy on July 2, 1954. Her keel was laid down at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York on July 7, 1955. She was launched on June 6, 1958 and commissioned on January 10, 1959 under the command of Captain R.Y. McElroy.
In her early years, USS Independence trained and spent time with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. On one of her Mediterranean cruises, April 19, 1962, she supported President John F. Kennedy’s stance on Berlin. In October of the same year, she was in the Caribbean to support the American naval blockade of Cuba, called a quarantine, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. After this, she headed to Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia for overhaul.
USS Independence then took part in training and international fleet exercises. She was visited by President Makarios of Cyprus on October 7, 1963 while participating in these exercises. The carrier spent the next year in training exercises before sailed to Norfolk for another overhaul.
On May 10, 1965, the USS Independence became the first carrier from the Atlantic Fleet to be deployed to the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam. She was the fifth American carrier to serve there, and her Air Wing 7 was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for their service during this deployment. Her aircraft launched over 7,000 sorties in the seven months they were there.
The USS Independence arrived back at Norfolk, Virginia on December 13, 1965. After replenishment and training, she took part in Operation Strikex before sailing with the Sixth Fleet. She underwent another overhaul at Norfolk in 1967.
In late 1969, USS Independence was involved in NATO fleet exercises. The following summer, she was back in the Mediterranean, this time earning a Meritorious Unit Commendation for her service and support of actions against the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) during the crisis in Jordan.
President Gamal Abdel Nasser of the United Arab Republic died in September 1970. The USS Independence was one of 10 U.S. Navy ships that were placed on standby for the potential evacuation of American citizens from the Middle East. The following August, during carrier qualifications, Marine Corps Air Reserve squadrons qualified for carrier duty for the first time ever.
President Richard Nixon boarded the USS Independence to deliver his annual Armed Forces Day address in May 1973. She spent that year deployed to the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. During October, she operated off Crete in readiness for the potential evacuation of American citizens from the Middle East during the Yom Kippur War.
During her Mediterranean deployment in mid-1974, USS Independence sailed to the crash site of TWA Flight 841 after a terrorist bomb exploded. For two days, she helped retrieve what was left of the plane and the people aboard.
The USS Independence was the landing site for the first female Navy pilot to pass carrier qualifications in a fixed-wing aircraft. Lieutenant Donna L. Spruill landed her C-1A Trader aboard the carrier on June 20, 1979.
At the end of the Iranian Hostage Crisis, USS Independence sailed to the Indian Ocean at Gonzo Station on November 19, 1980. She spent 204 days deployed here with only three periods of liberty for the crew, heading home to Norfolk on June 10, 1981.
USS Independence supported peacekeeping efforts in Lebanon in 1982. In 1983, she took part in Operation Urgent Fury to invade and liberate Grenada. She then returned to Lebanon to launch air strikes at Syrian targets. The aircraft carrier won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet in 1984.
The USS Independence headed to Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Pennsylvania for modernization and overhaul on February 17, 1985. Work was completed in June 1988, and she sailed to her new homeport at Naval Air Station North Island in California to arrive on October 8.
During the fall of 1989, USS Independence hosted a film crew for the Paramount film Flight of the Intruder. Filming lasted for two weeks, during which time the film crew’s lighting equipment started a number of electrical fires.
USS Independence was stationed in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm. Her homeport was changed to Yokosuka, Japan on September 11, 1991, when she also became the flagship for Commander Carrier Group Five. The aircraft carrier returned to the Persian Gulf in August 1992 to enforce the no-fly zone in Iraq as part of Operation Southern Watch.
The USS Independence earned the distinction of being the most battle-experienced ship in the active fleet on June 30, 1995; she was the first carrier to do so.
USS Independence headed to Taiwan in March 1996 during the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis. When she returned to Yokosuka, she was visited by President Bill Clinton during his official state visit to Japan. The carrier would make historic ports of call at Guam and Malaysia in 1997. She then headed to Hong Kong before returning to the Persian Gulf for Operation Southern Watch in January 1998.
The USS Independence was decommissioned on September 30, 1998. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on March 8, 2004, and she awaits either dismantling or donation to be sunk as an artificial reef.
Sources include:
John Hedley-Whyte and Debra R Milamed, "Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences," Ulster Med. J. 77(3):191-200 (Sep 2008)
U.S. Navy, A Brief History of Aircraft Carriers – USS Indepenedence
