USS Ranger
Over the years many ships have sailed under the name The Ranger, but the ship that was constructed in 1954 at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company in Newport, Virginia had a unique distinction. She was the very first aircraft carrier ever to be built with an angled deck. The Ranger was launched on September 29, 1956 and was officially commissioned on August 10, 1957 under the command of Captain Charles T. Booth II.
In October of 1957, The Ranger joined the Atlantic Fleet and set out for Cuba. There she received her full crew and the aircraft of the Attack Squadron 85. She ran exercises and prepared to join the Pacific Fleet later in August. She continued the training exercises in California and then Hawaii and was made the flagship of Rear Admiral H. H. Caldwell, ComCarDiv 2 with the Seventh Fleet. The fleet sailed to Okinawa where The Rangers' planes were used to great effect. She was there until July, at which time she returned to San Francisco, California.
From that time until March of 1962, The Ranger sailed to Southeast Asia two more times to be involved in the important battles in Okinawa, the Philippines and in the South China Sea. Afterwards she returned to California and received upgrades for the ship and training for the crew.
When the USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy were both attacked by Vietnamese torpedo boats in 1964, The Ranger sailed to Vietnam with orders to attack bases that were used by the Vietnamese Navy. The Ranger completed her mission and then set off to Japan. On the way she was made the flagship of the Fast Carrier Task Force 77.
On April 13, 1965 a broken fuel line started a large fire in a machinery room. It took just over an hour for the fire to be put out, and one life was lost during the process. The Ranger sailed to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard 13 for repairs. After several short missions, the ship was brought back to America and upgraded to be fully combat ready. By September 15, 1967, she was ready to sail again and to carry the new Corsair II Jet Attack Plane, as well as the UH-2 C Seasprite Rescue Helicopter. The Ranger was the first vessel capable of carrying either of these new technological advances.
By December 3, 1967 The Ranger was involved with the ware effort in North Vietnam. She was an important part of the battles there, and was in the Vietnam area off and on between 1967 and 1971. By June of 1971, she had returned to San Francisco for an overhaul, and was docked until May of 1972. On May 27, The Ranger was hit with an act of sabotage. A Navy Fireman intentionally dropped a large paint scraper into the primary reduction gear of the ship, which caused the deployment for The Ranger to be pushed back until November.
Peace talks with the Vietnamese were underway by December of 1972. The Ranger was once again deployed to Vietnam, and by 1973 the talks had proved successful, and she once again returned home. She served on various other missions and operations leading up to her voyage to maintain peace between North Yemen and South Yemen. Along the way, she was involved in a collision with a tanker ship called the Liberian Fortune. She had to discontinue the mission and sail to Japan for major repairs.
The Ranger remained active throughout the 1980's, and even made history in 1983 by being the first ship to carry a flight crew that was made up of women only. The 1990's brought more missions for The Ranger as she participated in Operation Desert Storm and a variety of other deployments. It wasn't until July 10, 1993 that The Ranger was decommissioned. She currently resides at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, located in Bremerton, Washington.
During her years of service, The Ranger earned 12 battle stars, was written about in the book Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy, and was used as a set for movies such as Star Trek IV, Top Gun and The Final Countdown. The darker side of her fame came about when it was discovered that the ship had asbestos on board, which meant that many crew members had been in danger of exposure to the toxic material over the years. Asbestos can lead to diseases such as mesothelioma, which is a form of cancer. Those who spent time on The Ranger should talk to their doctors about the risks of exposure they may have faced.
