Nuclear Ships To Visit N.Z.

[Dave Homewood]

Nuclear Ships To Visit N.Z.

(N.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON, August 21.

Two nuclear-powered American warships are to visit New Zealand next month, said the American Ambassador. (Mr Herbert B. Powell). The ships are the cruiser, U.S.S. Longbeach, of 15,200 tons, and the frigate, U.S.S. Bainbridge, of 8400 tons.

Both ships are due in Wellington about noon on September 8 and will sail again at seven the next morning.

The 85.350-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, Enterprise, will depart from Sydney in time to rendezvous with the Longbeach and the Bainbridge as task force one, said Mr Powell. The three ships will then proceed to South America.

The three ships comprise the first task force of nuclear propelled surface ships in the world.

They have been operating with the United States Sixth Fleet at Task Group 60.1 in the Mediterranean. They left there on July 31 for their present world cruise.

Both the Longbeach and the Bainbridge are propelled by two nuclear reactors and two propellers. They are both capable of speeds of more than 30 knots. The 721 ft Longbeach is described as a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser. She carries 965 officers and men.

The Bainbridge, of 564 ft, is a nuclear-powered guided-missile destroyer leader and has 497 officers and men.

Apart from purely operational deployments, the United States Navy has not made an announced world cruise since the 16 battleships of the Great White Fleet showed the United States flag abroad from December, 1907, to February, 1909, visiting New Zealand in August, 1908.

The task force will cover 30,000 miles on its two-month circumnavigation, probably crossing the equator four times. The operation, named “Sea Orbit,” will also be the first circumnavigation of the earth to be made by one or more nuclear-powered surface ships.

The navy’s primary mission in “Sea Orbit” is to gain practical experience in operating its new atomic warships together for the first time on a long voyage to test the nuclear ships’ capacity to navigate over great distances without logistic support. The entire cruise is being conducted without refuelling or replenishment of supplies.

The operation is also designed to demonstrate the world-wide mobility and readiness of United States forces and to enable people in geographically remote countries to see at first hand the friendly deterrent power represented by the task force, said Mr Powell.

Since their departure from Rabat, Morocco, the task force, which is under the command of Rear-Admiral Bernard M. Stream, has visited Dakar, Freetown, Monrovia, Abidjan, Mombasa, Karachi, and Bombay. Ships of the task force will visit Australian ports before coming to New Zealand.

The visit would arouse great interest in New Zealand, the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) said this evening. The task force demonstrated the great technological advances being made by the United States in the use of atomic energy.

PRESS,  22 AUGUST 1964

[Dave Homewood]

Giant Carrier’s Jets To Fly Over Chch.

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Sept. 3.

Jet aircraft from the United States Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, Enterprise, will make demonstration flights over Wellington and Christchurch early on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 9. The Enterprise is part of Task Force One which is making a maiden surface voyage, “Sea Orbit” around the world on atomic power without replenishment or fuel supplies. The two other units in the task force, the cruiser, Long Beach, and the frigate, Bainbridge, are visiting Wellington on Tuesday, September 8, and Wednesday, and will meet the Enterprise on leaving for South America.

The flights will consist of 24 jet aircraft in formation. The aerial demonstration over Wellington is timed for about 2 p.m. The demonstration team will perform formation manoeuvres within a two by five miles area at a minimum altitude of 500 ft over water and 1500 ft over built-up areas. The demonstration will only take place if there is clear visibility. The Christchurch flight is timed for between 1.15 p.m. and 2.15 p.m. All the aircraft will be supersonic, but they will fly at subsonic speeds to avoid possible damage to windows in the area.

PRESS, 5 SEPTEMBER 1964

[Dave Homewood]

SHOOT OFF KAPITI

Demonstration By Enterprise

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Sept. 6.

The American aircraft carrier Enterprise will give a fire-power demonstration 30 miles west of Kapiti Island on Wednesday morning. The nuclear-powered ship will arrive off the island opposite Paraparaumu, at 9.30 a.m. The demonstration of fire power and aircraft exercises will be watched by New Zealand service heads and officials who will be flown out to the carrier. The carrier, which is “six storeys high,” should be plainly visible from the coast. The demonstration will last for two and a half hours. Then the ship will go down the coast go through Cook Strait about noon and rendezvous in the Pacific with the destroyer Longbeach and the frigate Bainbridge. The force will then sail for South America. The Longbeach and the Bainbridge will arrive at Wellington at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, will leave at 7 a.m. on Wednesday.

PRESS, 7 SEPTEMBER 1964

[Dave Homewood]

Jets Fly Over Christchurch Twice

Necks were craned and thousands of eyes turned skywards all over Christchurch yesterday afternoon as 18 aircraft from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise flew across. Twelve 1600-m.p.h. Phantom fighters and four Vigilante attack bombers flew in formation, as seen in the photograph, which was taken in Cathedral square, and two Vigilantes followed.

Many gathered on high buildings all over the city. The aircraft were expected about 4 p.m. but it was not until 4.16 p.m. that the sharper-eyed saw black dots leaving a trail of smoke in the blue sky over Sumner. The aircraft made two passes over the city, travelling slowly and flying at a height that made it just possible to distinguish their United States markings.

On both occasions they started from near Sumner, passed over the Square, and curved over the western and northern boundaries of the city before heading to sea again. Many reached their point of vantage too late to see the planes, but some of those who did see were disappointed that only two rather quiet runs were made.

Earlier in the afternoon the sky was overcast but cleared about 3 p.m. and visibility for the flight was good. After the fly over the aircraft were expected to rejoin the carrier near Kaikoura. From the time they neared Christchurch until they returned to the carrier they were controlled by radar at Christchurch Airport.

The Press Association reported that Wellington residents crowded rooftops and other points this afternoon to watch 24 aircraft. The supersonic Vigilante jet fighters turned huge cartwheels, marking their paths with puffs of smoke, and Phantoms and Vigilantes wheeled through the sky singly and in pairs to show their sped and manoeuvrability. A fly-past by the 24 jet planes completed the display.

PRESS, 10 SEPTEMBER 1964

[Dave Homewood]

Enterprise Shows Her Awesome Powers

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, September 9.

A keyhole peep at the nuclear might of the United States Navy was given a privileged party of 30 observers off the Wellington coast this morning.

The key that opened the door to the display was the gigantic nuclear-powered attack aircraft-carrier, Enterprise, which passed through Cook Strait in the course of a world cruise.

She and her two nuclear-power escorts, the cruiser, Long Beach, and the frigate, Bainbridge, both of which called briefly at Wellington on Tuesday, form the United States Nuclear Task Force One.

For the best part of an hour some of the most modern attack bombers and fighters in the world bared their talons and flailed the ocean with rockets, napalm and explosive bombs, cannon shell and “Sidewinder” guided missiles. The noise was immense. Shock waves from each assault less than a quarter of a mile from the carrier jarred the ears of the V.I.P. party and the scores of American navymen lining vantage points on the Enterprise and the Long Beach, slightly astern.

Crusader and Phantom jet fighters and heavy attack swept-wing bombers broke the sound barrier frequently. In one uncanny display two Vigilantes, capable of travelling at more than twice the speed of sound, swept past the Enterprise in ghostly silence, to be followed a shuddering second later by the shock of their sound waves.

Flare Targets
A “rescue” of a body in the water by a fast-moving helicopter and a crewman dangling on a line was followed by a display of “Sidewinder” air-to-air missiles. They were fired by the Phantom 1600 miles an hour fighters at parachute flares hanging in the sky and sought them out by their heat radiation.

The Enterprise carries about 100 aircraft of seven types, including helicopters capable of pacing some of the slower-moving piston-engined planes. To fly them all there are 200 pilots and 1500 maintenance men. They make up a few of the carrier’s complement of 4600 men—nearly twice the equivalent population of Picton, bigger than Lyttelton or Rangiora, and about equal to the population of Malvern County.

Her cost, £158 million, was more than four times as much as the whole of New Zealand’s defence bill this year (£36.4 million). Her displacement tonnage (85,350 tons) is more than three times that of the whole of the New Zealand Navy and she can generate enough electricity to supply the needs of a city with a population of two million.

Three Fields
More than two and a half full-sized Rugby fields could be marked out on her four-and-a-half acre flight deck. Her height, from keel to mast top, is equal to a 25-storey building. The daily capacity of her water distilling plants (280,000 gallons) is enough to supply the needs of about 1500 homes.

And to move this massive bulk the Enterprise has eight nuclear reactors driving four 21 ft diameter propellers, giving her a speed which has exceeded 40 miles an hour. Internally the Enterprise is a floating town, with all the services that a town provides. Every berthing compartment and most working spaces in the ship are air-conditioned. Each bunk has its own air-conditioning outlet adjustable to individual needs. Berthing compartments are for the most part, arranged in cubicles of from three to six men. Two galleys prepare meals during 19 hours of the day.

The ship has six doctors specialising in aviation medicine, radio-biology and internal medicine, assisted by a medical administrative assistant and 48 hospital corpsmen, and an 86-bed sick bay on a par with many metropolitan hospitals.

Fighting Ship
The list of comparisons and recitation of facts and figures could be endless. But however much the Enterprise is compared with a short-side metropolis one fact asserts itself above all others: The U.S.S. Enterprise—the “Big E” as she is called—is first and foremost, and resoundingly so, a fighting ship.

In August, 1963, the Enterprise was awarded the battle efficiency pennant for the year in competition with all other United States Atlantic Fleet attack aircraft carriers. She achieved the highest rank in over-all efficiency and readiness as demonstrated by battle drills, exercises, inspections and other facets of naval preparedness. It was the first time that the pennant had been awarded to a carrier after only one year in commission.

It was a display of this kind of efficiency that the V.l.P.’s had gone to see. They could scarcely have been more thoroughly impressed.

The Last Word

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Sept. 9.

Among comments on today’s demonstrations by the American nuclear powered Task Force One were:— The Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake): “Fantastic. No matter how much we have read about the Enterprise it is impossible to grasp its size, scope and magnitude.” The Minister of Defence (Mr Eyre): “Very impressive.”

Chief of Defence Staff (Rear-Admiral Sir Peter Phipps): “An obviously high standard of training is shown by the ground crews as well as the pilots in the formation flying and handling.” But the last word on the visit of Task Force One to New Zealand came from an American sailor: “The most beautiful girls in the world are right here in New Zealand. I’m coming back as soon as I’m discharged from the Navy.”


PRESS, 10 SEPTEMBER 1964

[Dave Homewood]

U.S. Navy Jets

Christchurch saw only three 1600-mile-an-hour supersonic Phantom fighters from the United States aircraft carrier, Enterprise, on Wednesday afternoon. Twelve of the aircraft were Douglas Skyhawk attack bombers capable of 680 m.p.h. With the two leading Phantoms were two Crusader supersonic interceptor fighters. according to a correspondent, "Passing Seagull.” In the rear of the Skyhawk formations were a Phantom and a Skyhawk.

PRESS, 11 SEPTEMBER 1964

[davidd]

The formation in the photograph above appears (to me) to contain two F-4s and two F-8s leading, followed by 12 A-4s in three sections of 4. A-5 Vigilantes were quite large aircraft, and would certainly dwarf F-4s and F-8s, and they would tend to make A-4s look microscopic!

I have a vague recollection of seeing this formation (as a 13-year old) from Hoon Hay, but think they were a very long way off from where I stood!

Whoops, pipped at the post by Mister Homewood I fear!

[Dave Homewood]

You are right David.