News from 1972

The Pittston Dispatch carried the following flashback from 1972:

Three Pittstonians were on hand at ceremonies launching the nuclear aircraft carrier Nimitz at Newport News, Virginia. Along with Congressman Dan Flood were the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives Defense Appropriations Committee John Garrity, of Port Griffith, his wife the former Mary Marek of Dupont, and Michael Clark, who was the legislative assistant to Congressman Flood.

The group met with Navy Secretary John Warner and Admiral Hyman Rickover, the father of the atomic powered submarine the Nautilus. According to its web site, “the Nimitz measures more than 18 stories high from keel to masthead and has a total length of 1,092 feet. Carrying a full compliment of 5,800 officers and crew and 85 combat aircraft, its enormous 4.5 acre flight deck serves as the launching pad for the supersonic jets of Carrier Air Wing 11.”

General Chester W. Nimitz became one of the first submarine commanders; he built the submarine base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, he assumed command of the Pacific Fleet. When it came to fighting the war, Nimitz said, “It is the function of the Navy to carry the war to the enemy so that it is not fought on U.S. soil.”

To see photos of the launching of the Nimitz go to www.navsource.org/archives/02/68.htm.