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USS Ranger CV-61(V)

The USS Ranger joined the U.S. Atlantic Fleet in l954, and during her 40 year career, received the Navy Unit Commendation for exceptionally meritorious service during 1966's combat operations in Southeast Asia and a total of 13 battle stars for service in Vietnam. She was the first aircraft carrier designed as an angled-deck ship.

Notable Incidents

The USS Ranger incurred her first fatality aboard in 1963, as a carrier attempted a landing on its deck. In 1964, she experienced one of her most interesting projects: monitoring nuclear tests in French Polynesia. The consequent the launching and recovering of a Lockheed U-2 from its flight deck was a task so secretive that the crew had to go below deck during such activities.

She was visited by General William Westmoreland of the Military Advisory Command in Vietnam, in 1965, and her mission to continue air strikes was emphasized. Unfortunately, this task was cut short when one of the Ranger's fuel lines broke and ignited. The No. 1 main machinery room became engulfed in flames; although extinguished in an hour, there was another fatality. By 1967, she became the first carrier to deploy with the Corsair II jet attack plane and the UH-2 C Seasprite rescue helicopter. That December, Bob Hope brought his "Christmas Show" to the USS Ranger while in the Tonkin Gulf.

Ranger made history with 233 strikes on just one day in 1971, but in 1972, her prowess was again preempted by an on-board accident: A Navy fireman dropped a heavy paint scraper into a main reduction gear; he was charged with a capital offense and sabotage, but acquitted by a general court-martial. During a major overhaul in 1977, Ranger received much needed technological upgrades to the flight deck gear and Command Information Systems, and was also provided with Sea Sparrow missile defense systems. At this time, she was given a forced balance automatic boiler and combustion control systems as well. However, in 1979, the Ranger collided with the tanker Liberian Fortune and lost the use of two fuel tanks, which again put her out of commission for several months.

The ship again made news in 1981. An airman died aboard while in Subic Bay, after a punishment bread-and-water diet for three days, before being forced into punitive exercises in the correctional custody unit. The next news item involved the landing of an all-woman flight crew on its docks (in a C-1A Trader), again making history in 1983. However, Ranger couldn't seem to escape its bad luck; the same year, another fire broke out from fuel spill during fuel transfer operations, and this time, six crewmen were killed. The fire knocked out one of her four engines and disabled two of four shafts. Her final deployment came in 1992 as she entered the Persian Gulf to support the declared "No Fly" zone in southern Iraq as part of Operation Southern Watch. During this mission, the Ranger made the history books one last time as a result of an unusual landing aboard her flight deck-that of a Russian Kamov Ka-27 "Helix" helicopter. It came about as a result of partnership with a Russian guided missile destroyer, the Admiral Vinogradov, for joint operations and signaling drills. Her final contribution to the US military effort came a few months later, when she took 63 digital photographs in conjunction with Operation Restore Hope for starving Somali refugees, and sent them by International Marine Satellite to the Navy Office of Information, the first successful ship-to-shore transmission. Shortly after, Ranger was decommissioned and sent to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Washington. Currently, a nonprofit organization is attempting to restore her as a naval and aerospace museum.

Publicity

Ranger was referred to in Tom Clancy's novel Clear and Present Danger and she was also filmed for the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; interior scenes were used to replicate the USS Enterprise while Ranger sailors portrayed Enterprise personnel. Ranger was also used as a substitute for the Enterprise in scenes from Top Gun, and she was a "stand in" for the film "The Final Countdown", representing the USS Nimitz.

It's evident that the carrier USS Ranger has had its share of important moments in naval history, as well as the misfortunes associated with on board fires. In all likelihood, if asbestos had not been used aboard before the first fire, it was employed after the second one. Such use was popular during the middle of the twentieth century, especially in places that had many electrical wires, high heat, and a high risk of disaster and loss of life should a fire break out. With limited ventilation and fresh air below deck, servicemen's quarters and work stations probably relied upon recycled air that may have contained minute amounts of the toxic substance. It is thus suggested than any sailor who worked aboard the Ranger and is now noticing unusual physical conditions contact their doctor immediately.

If you were exposed to asbestos while serving on the USS Ranger CV-61(V), or have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, Asbestos.com offers a free packet with more information. Enter your contact information in the form in the right column and we'll send a copy immediately.

Aircraft Carriers Index

USS America USS Antietam CV 36 K USS Antietam CV 36 USS Badoeng Strait CVE 116 USS Bairoko CVE 115 USS Bairoko CVE 115 USS Belleau wood CVL 24 USS Bennington CV 20 USS Bon Homme Richard CVa USS Boxer CV USS Bunker CV USS Cabot CVL 28 USS Constellation CV USS Coral Sea CV USS Corregidor CVE 58 USS Sable ix USS San jacinto CVL USS Saratoga CV USS Saratoga CV3 USS Shangri La

USS Cowpens CVL 25 USS Enterprise CV 6 USS Enterprise CVN USS Essex CV 9 USS Forrestal CV USS Franklin CV 13 USS Hancock CV 19 USS Hornet CV 12 USS Hornet CV 8 USS Independence C1 USS Independence CVL 22 USS Intrepid CV 11 USS Kearsage CV 33 USS Kearsage CV USS Kitty Hawk USS Sicily CVe USS Sitkoh bay USS Tarawa CV USS Ticonderoga CV USS Valley forge CV

USS Lake Champlain CV 39 USS Langley CV 1 USS Langley CVL 27 USS Lexington CV 16 USS Lexington CV 2 USS Leyte CV 32 USS Midway CV USS Oriskany CV USS Phillipine Sea CV USS Point cruz CVE USS Princeton CV USS Princeton CVL USS Randolph CV USS Ranger CV USS Rendova USS Wasp CV 18 USS Wasp CV 7 USS Wolverine IX 64 USS Yorktown CV 10 USS Yorktown CV 5

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