1979-Contin ued

3 December Kitty Hawk and her escort ships arrived

on station in the northern Arabian Sea for contingency

operations during the Iranian hostage crisis. This was

the first time since World War II that the U.S. Navy had

two carrier task forces in the Indian Ocean in

response to a crisis situation.

12 December The development program for the

LAMPS MK III SH-60B Seahawk helicopter reached a

major milestone when the aircraft completed its first

flight at the Sikorsky test facility in West Palm

Beach, Fla.

17 December The first two-seater F/ A-18 Hornet

arrived at NATC Patuxent River, Md., for armament

and stores separation testing. During 1979 NATC had

conducted 416 flights in the F/A-18 for a total of 555

hours testing the new fighter/attack plane. On 12

December NATC completed a successful live firing of

a Sidewinder missile from the F/A-18.

21 December The Defense Department announced

a three-ship nuclear-powered carrier battle group from

the Sixth Fleet would deploy to the Indian Ocean to

relieve the Seventh Fleet carrier battle group led by

Kitty Hawk. The Sixth Fleet carrier battle group con-

sisted of the nuclear-powered Nimitz and her nuclear-

powered escort ships.

24 December A massive Soviet airlift of 5,000

Russian airborne troops and equipment into the

Afghanistan capital of Kabul was conducted. The U.S.

protested the large influx of Soviet troops which the

Soviet Union claimed were there at the request of the

Afghanistan government. On 27 December, a Soviet-

backed coup installed a new president in Afghanistan.

Two carrier task forces centering around Midway and

Kitty Hawk continued contingency operations in the

northern Arabian Sea.

31 December During 1979, Navy carrier forces

responded to five crisis situations around the world.

The following carriers responded for contingency

operations: Constellation responded to the crisis which

involved North and South Yemen; Saipan responded

during the Nicaraguan turmoil; Nassau was involved

in the response to Russian combat troops in Cuba;

Kitty Hawk responded to the alert in Korea; and

Midway and Kitty Hawk conducted contingency opera-

tions during the Iranian hostage crisis.

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

325

31 December U.S. Navy surface and aviation forces

of the Seventh Fleet continued their patrols and rescue

assistance efforts connected with the Vietnamese boat

people following the President's order in July. During

the last six months of 1979, Navy ships embarked over

800 Vietnamese refugees. Vietnamese refugees picked

up by merchant vessels with the aid of P-3 patrol air-

craft totaled over 1,000.

1980

1 January Midway and Kitty Hawk continued on

contingency operations in the Arabian Sea in response

to 53 Americans held hostage at the American

Embassy in Teheran, Iran, since 4 November 1979.

1 January VP-23 deployed from Keflavik, Iceland, to

Diego Garcia and made its first operational flight out

of the Indian Ocean base within ten days after receiv-

ing orders, thereby demonstrating its rapid deploy-

ment capability.

2 January A detachment of P-3B Orions of VP-lO,

deployed at Rota, Spain, flew photoreconnaissance

missions to locate areas damaged in an earthquake

which struck the Azores the day before, killing some

50 persons and injuring another 500.

4 January Nimitz rendezvoused with her nuclear-

powered escort ships in the Mediterranean and head-

ed to the Indian Ocean via Africa's Cape of Good

Hope to relieve Kitty Hawk which was on contingency

duty. This left Forrestal, the only carrier with the Sixth

Fleet, in the Med.

4 January The first TA-7C Corsair II assigned to the

Pacific Missile Test Center, Point Mugu, Calif., was test

flown.

7 January Reconnaissance Attack Wing One was

disestablished. The wing had consisted of nine fleet

squadrons, one training squadron and a support com-

mand which had provided tactical reconnaissance for

Navy carrier deployments. The phaseout coincided

with the final retirement from the fleet of all RA-5C

Vigilantes on 20 November 1979 and the disestablish-

ment of the last RVAH squadron on 28 September

1979.

22 January Nimitz and her escort ships joined

Midway and Kitty Hawk and their escort ships on sta-

tion in the Arabian Sea. The following day Kitty Hawk

departed for Subic Bay, R.P., having spent 64 days in

operations connected with the Iranian crisis.