USS Coral Sea - Media Page

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A collection of print media from various sources.

July 1952 - Fortune Magazine Article.

Submitted by Troy Prince from MidwaySailor.com.

1971 - Life Magazine. USS Coral Sea:Vietnam War

Submitted by - Herman Doernbach

1990 - Hook Magazine. History of the USS Coral Sea.

Submitted by - Herman Doernbach

July 1991 - Sea Classics Magazine. The Ageless Warrior.

Submitted by Troy Prince from MidwaySailor.com.

August 1999 - Sea Classics Magazine. Midway Class Carriers.

Submitted by Troy Prince from MidwaySailor.com.

March 2004 - Sea Classics Magazine. Scrapping of the USS Coral Sea.

Submitted by Troy Prince from MidwaySailor.com.

1989 - Navy News article on final homecoming of Coral Sea. Submitted by Todd Jolicoeur.

Vietnam Era - Here is a document which contains two articles from the early 70's. The first is a story from the ships paper "Golden Gate" about President Nixon resigning. The second is an article about the legendary "Big Mothers" helicopter attack squadron that spent 2,215 days at sea, hopping from one carrier to another, the last being the USS Coral Sea.

Click here to download. [Adobe PDF]

Christmas poem from the Coral Sea Breeze, 1955.

T'was the Night Before:

T'was a few nights before Christmas and through Coral Sea,
Not a watch was stirring-not even intergrity.
The stockings were hung on the bunks with care
In hopes they'd absorb a little fresh air.

The sailors were squeezed all safe in their bed
In such odd shapes you'd swear they were dead.
Skipper in his kerchief and Exec in his cap,
Were trying to find Norfolk on the map.

When out on the flight deck there arose such a clatter
I rolled from my rack and fell with a splatter.
Away to the hatch I flew like a flash
Run over a butt kit aaand tore a big gash.

The moon on the crest of the new brewing strom
Gave light as an MAA caught a man out of uniform,
When what to my spray-filled eyes should I see
But a very heavily laden AD.

With the way the old boy handled that stick
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than a Banshee as on he came
In that sputtering bucking frame.

No Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, or Vixen.
But on its side were photo's of Ike and Nixon.
On and on he made his approach
As if he didn't even need a coach.

And on he came as he began his glide,
Although he was drifting a little to one side.
So on to the vessel's top his course he flew
With a plane full of toys and a letter or two.

And then in a twinkling he hit the barrier
On this efficient aircaft carrier.
Then out he jumped and off with a bound,
Up the smoke stack, and then down.

Then from the boiler room there came such a clatter,
But this time I knew what was the matter.
As quickly from the stack he reappeared
With his suit smoking, soiled, and seared.

T'was a nice suit with fur from head to foot,
Now all covered with fuel oil and soot.
The bundle of toys he'd flung on his back
Was now in a smoldering, burning sack.

His eyes how they twinged, his dimples how glarry,
His cheeks smarting-he looked pretty "hairy."
His drawl little mouth was chugging black smoke
And I'd sworn up and down he was goin to choke.

And the beard of his chin was there no more-
Only singed stubble where it'd been before,
But the stump of his pipe he still held in his teeth
As smoke engulfed his head like a wreath.

He had a hot face and just a as hot belly,
Though not shaking with laughter-cause he felt smelly.
He was short and fat, a right sour old elf,
But I laughed at him anyway just to spite myself.

A blink of his eye and a jerk of his head
Soon gave me to know he wished I'd drop dead,
But he spoke not a word and he really turned to
Distributing toys from forecastle to screw.

Then with his finger a thumbing his nose,
He received his signals from the flight deck PO's
And jumping into his plane and giving all it's do.
Away down the flight deack and away he flew.

Then we stopped to realize what all he'd been through,
And we sorta hated it too-
So we yelled and exclaimed as he flew out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to you"-and "have a good flight."

Vietnam 1964-65 - Newspaper clippings from when the ship returned from her first Vietnam cruise. Submitted by David Herron.

1983 - Ship leaving San Francisco.

1990 - AP Wire announcement of the ship being decommissioned.

1952 - Article from Fortune Magazine (the pictures referred to in the article are already on the site).

The superb ship shown on the following pages is one of the few weapons in which the U.S. holds undisputed supremacy. She is also a controversial weapon because of the blurred line between her mission and that of the Air Force, and because she ties up in one target so many lives and dollars. The Coral Sea, with her aircraft, represents an investment of about $180 million.
But in a world of recurring and widespread troubles, the aircraft carrier, the modern capital ship, can be a prime instrument of diplomacy and stability. She is able to operate without a base thousands of miles from home; she can show the flag or bring effective force to bear at almost any strategic point on the globe. She is a weapon of mobility, opportunism, and surprise, defended by her own radar, 600mph fighters, and bristling anti-aircraft batteries. She can deliver the atomic bomb.
To hold her position as a major weapon in the nation's arsenal, the carrier, since World War II, has had to go through an elaborate change. The Coral Sea demonstrates what has happened to carriers since the dawn of the jet age.
The bigger and more powerful her brood has become, the more the carrier's burden of fuel, machinery, and equipment has multiplied. The waxed, egg-smooth surfaces of jets need the most delicate care, requiring new methods and new gear for handling. Jet engines gulp vast quantities of fuel, requiring shipboard fueling systems of higher capacity, faster delivery, than those used in World War II. As jets continue to increase their range, the carriers have to increase their already elaborate communication systems.
The Navy had to meet the new requirements of the jets with carriers designed and built for conventional, propeller-driven aircraft. New gear could not simply be loaded aboard; there were definite limits imposed by construction, stability, and safety. The Navy got $218 million to build one new carrier, the 60,000-ton Forrestal (construction barely started). Meanwhile the Navy made do with the carriers it had equipping them for jet operations as it got the money to do so.
Such conversion was carried out on the Navy's three biggest carriers-the 45,000-ton Midway, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Coral Sea. Of these CVB's, the Coral Sea is the newest, commissioned in 1947. Similar conversion has also been carried out on four of the eleven Essex-class CV's the Navy has in operation; others are under-going conversion. The rest of the carriers now in. operation are five CVL's built on cruiser hulls and nine CVE's built on merchant hulls. This whole force, the Navy says, is barely enough for its commitments in two oceans. (CVB's and modernized CV's are too big for the Panama Canal.)

1976 - Newspaper clipping of ship's company forming Golden Anchor. Submitted by Todd Davis.

1988 - Newspaper clipping of ship being revitalized.

1981 - Green Sheet from Christmas 1981.

1970 - Approach Magazine - Interseting bit of trivia involving the inginuity of the USS Coral Sea crew.

Submitted by - John Vecero

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