page_title: USS Independence (CV-62)
section_title: 1970–1979
hierarchical_section_title: USS Independence (CV-62) / Operational history / 1970–1979
caption_attribution_description: The Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (R09) and the U.S. Navy carrier USS Independence (CVA-62), foreground, operating as Task Force 401 during NATO exercise "Royal Knight" in the North Atlantic.
context_page_description: The fifth USS Independence was an aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. She was the fourth and final member of the Forrestal class of conventionally powered supercarriers. She entered service in 1959, with much of her early years spent in the Mediterranean Fleet.
  Independence was decommissioned in 1998 after 39 years of active service. Stored in recent years at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, the ex-Independence was towed beginning on 10 March 2017 to Brownsville, Texas for scrapping. She arrived on 1 June 2017 and dismantling was completed by early 2019.
context_section_description: On 25 September 1970, the news was received that Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of the United Arab Republic had died; an event that might plunge the Middle East into a crisis. Independence, along with John F. Kennedy, Saratoga, and seven other U.S. Navy ships were put on standby in case U.S. military protection was needed for the evacuation of U.S. citizens and as a counterbalance to the Soviet Union's Mediterranean fleet.
  Pilots of VMA-142, -131 and -133 began qualification landings in A-4 Skyhawks aboard Independence on 3 August 1971. For the next three days, four active duty and 20 reserve pilots operated aboard the carrier —the first time that Marine Corps Reserve squadrons qualified in carrier duty.
  Deploying from Norfolk in September 1971, the crew earned the designation as 'Blue Nose' sailors when the Independence crossed the Arctic Circle on 28 September. During subsequent operations in the North Sea, Independence conducted cross-deck operations with the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and transited the English Channel en route to the Strait of Gibraltar and scheduled operations in the Mediterranean Sea.
  In May 1973, President Richard M. Nixon delivered his annual Armed Forces Day address from the decks of Independence. While based in Norfolk, the ship made deployments to the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. From 8 to 13 October 1973, Task Group 60.1 with Independence, Task Force 60.2 with Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Task Forces 61/62 with Guadalcanal were alerted for possible evacuation contingencies in the Middle East as a result of the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Arab states and Israel. Independence operated off the island of Crete.
  In the summer of 1974, Independence departed Norfolk for yet another 'Med Cruise', operating with CTG 60.1 and CVW-7. Relieving Franklin D. Roosevelt, Independence and Saratoga continued the tradition of steaming the Mediterranean while being shadowed by Soviet aircraft and ships. On 8 September 1974, sailors were introduced to the new concept of terrorism when a bomb exploded in the cargo compartment of TWA Flight 841 high above. Steaming to the crash site, Independence and other ships spent two days retrieving the remains of the ill-fated jetliner, her crew, and passengers.
  On 20 June 1979, Lieutenant Donna L. Spruill became the first female Navy pilot to carrier qualify in a fixed-wing aircraft. Lieutenant Spruill piloted a C-1A Trader to an arrested landing aboard Independence.
caption: Independence (foreground) operating with HMS Ark Royal in the North Atlantic in 1971
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