USS Constellation, CV-64

USS Constellation, CV-64 08/12/03 Phot US Navy

The second Constellation (CVA 64) was built by New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, N.Y.; christened 8 October 1960 by Mrs. C. A. Herter, wife of the Secretary of State; and commissioned 27 October 1961, Capt. T. J. Walker, in command. She was named for one of the six frigates bought by the Continental Congress in the late 1790s. The first of those frigates, ships which were to make American naval history, was named for the ring of 13 stars that formed a "new Constellation" on the flag of the new United States.

The construction of the carrier was nearly 90% completed and in the hangar bay there was a tank with 502 gallons of fuel inside. A forklift collided with that tank and the fuel ran out and flew into a lower deck where some workers were welding. A fire started and the flames quickly grew up because of all the wooden materials stored in the hangar bay and on the flight deck. Moments later a huge flame and a dark cloud of smoke could be seen above the carrier.

An example for the density of the smoke was that a standard breathing apparatus can be used for approx. 45 minutes, but aboard the CONSTELLATION they could only be used for 20 minutes. Almost the whole hangar bay was burning. The efforts to extinguish the fire using the existing fire-fighting equipment were not successful and so the Brooklyn fire department was called for assistence.

The fire was mainly extinguished with water and 15.000 tons of this water got into the carrier.

At the time of the accident, a total of 4200 people worked aboard the carrier and so the fire deptartment had not only to extinguish the fire but also to rescue the people.

All in all it took twelve hours to extinguish the fire. 50 people were killed and hundreds were injured and the ship was heavily damaged.The carrier was scheduled to be commissioned in early 1961 but because of the fire and the resulting damage, the commissioning ceremony had to be postponed to October 27, 1961.

By the way, during one year in the Naval Shipyard, there were 42 fires aboard USS CONSTELLATION

EVENTS DURING MY TOUR 1984-1989

Constellation set sail on her 14th deployment to the western Pacific and Indian Ocean on 21 February 1985. This was the first operational deployment of the F/A-18 Hornet strike fighter and the LAMPS, which used the SH-60B Seahawk ASW helicopter. The Hornets replaced the A-7E Corsair IIs operated by two squadrons assigned to CVW-14, making Constellation the Navy's first carrier to have F/A18s assigned to her air wing. The SH-60B Seahawk helicopter operated as the air subsystem of the LAMPS MK III weapon system, deployed aboard the frigate USS Crommelin (FFG 37). In addition to the western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, the cruise included port visits to Singapore, Kenya and Western Australia. Constellation returned to her homeport of San Diego In late August. For her performance during this cruise, the carrier's crew earned the Meritorious Unit Commendation. The ship also received the Secretary of the Navy's Environmental Protection Award.

With the cruise and two major awards, 1985 was a pretty good year for Constellation, but 1986 would be even better. During the first part of this year Constellation earned the Golden Anchor Award for retention excellence and a second consecutive Environmental Protection Award. The most Important award, though, came when the ship earned the U.S. Pacific Fleet Battle Efficiency Award covering her outstanding performance from January 1985 to June 1986.

Constellation began a two-month Northern Pacific Cruise (NOPPAC) in September 1986. In early September, the ship spent five days in Vancouver, British Columbia, where many members of the crew visited EXPO '86. In late September the ship spent four days in Anchorage, Alaska. It was the first carrier to ever visit that port. During these port visits, the ship hosted over 15,000 visitors.

Constellation's final port visit was in Seattle, Wash., where an estimated 45,000 visitors walked her decks while America's Flagship celebrated the Navy's 211th birthday. Connie returned home to Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego in time for her 25th birthday. On 27 October 1986, Constellation celebrated her Silver Anniversary on board with a concert, ceremony and a giant cake.

On 11 April 1987, Constellation once again made her way west to the western Pacific and Indian Oceans. But this cruise, her 15th major deployment, took her on up into the North Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman.

On 2 August 1988, Constellation successfully fought a severe fire in the main engineering space using the installed HALON firefighting equipment; this was the first carrier use of the system in fighting a fire. There were 42 injurys and no deaths from this fire.


During Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Constellation Carrier Strike Group flew more than 1,500 sorties (missions) and expended more than 1 million pounds of ordnance, including 408 Tomahawk cruise missiles. USS Bunker Hill was one of the first warships to conduct Tomahawk strikes against leadership targets in Iraq. Its embarked LAMPS (Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System) helicopter detachment, Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 45 "the Wolfpack," supported the rescue of United Nations workers being forcibly removed from oil platforms in the Northern Arabian Gulf and provided medical evacuations from Umm Qasr.