page_title: Operation Formation Star
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Formation Star / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Hancock (CVA-19) leaves Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (USA), en route to Vietnam after a change of command ceremony for Commander, U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. John S. McCain relieved Adm. Ulysses S. Grant Sharp on 31 July 1968. Hancock was deployed to Vietnam from 18 July 1968 to 3 March 1969.
context_page_description: Operation Formation Star was the code name for the emergency re-deployment of U.S. Seventh Fleet warships to the Sea of Japan off the eastern coast of North Korea following that country's seizure of the USS Pueblo in international waters on 23 January 1968.
  This surge deployment was the largest build-up of U.S. naval forces around the Korean Peninsula since the end of the Korean War, but Operation Formation Star placed considerable strain on the Seventh Fleet's support for the Vietnam War, particularly its aircraft carrier operations at Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Tet Offensive. Operation Formation Star was executed in conjunction with Operation Combat Fox, a surge deployment of additional land-based combat aircraft squadrons to the U.S. Fifth Air Force in the Far East, as well as a limited call-up of U.S.-based units of the Naval Reserve, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard to active duty.
  Although a wide range of military options were considered, the Johnson Administration elected to resolve the Pueblo crisis diplomatically, with Operation Formation Star helping to provide a "measured show of force" during the Pueblo crisis.
context_section_description: Although a wide range of military options were considered, the Johnson administration elected to resolve the Pueblo crisis diplomatically.  However, the periodic rotation of U.S. aircraft carrier task forces to Defender Station off the North Korean coast provided additional leverage to American negotiators in talks to repatriate the crew of the Pueblo.  For example, the early December 1968 deployment of the attack aircraft carrier Hancock (pictured) and its escorts to the Sea of Japan was timed to remind the North Korean government of the prospect of increased U.S. naval operations in the region following the bombing ceasefire over North Vietnam on 1 November 1968. This deployment of the Hancock task group was also prompted by the Uljin–Samcheok landings, the unsuccessful North Korean attempt to establish anti-government guerrilla camps in the Taebaek Mountains that took place on 30 October 1968.
  Following an apology, a written admission by the United States that Pueblo had been spying, and an assurance that the U.S. would not spy on North Korea in the future, the North Korean government released the 82 remaining Pueblo crew members at the North Korean border with South Korea on 23 December 1968, just over 11 months after the Pueblo had been initially seized.
  Although unrelated to Operation Formation Star, the six U.S. Naval Air Reserve (NAR) combat squadrons called up during the Pueblo crisis remained on active duty through September 1968. This Pueblo Incident reserve call-up revealed pervasive readiness and systemic short-comings within the NAR command infrastructure. This situation prompted sweeping reforms of the Naval Air Reserve to better reflect the operational and readiness requirements of the active-duty naval aviation arm of the United States Navy.  In 1970, the NAR initiated a major re-organization that integrated existing NAR carrier-based combat squadrons into two reserve carrier air wings (CVWR-20 and CVWR-30) and two reserve anti-submarine carrier air wings  (CVSGR-70 and CVSGR-80), as well as comparable re-grouping of existing land-based NAR patrol (VP) and transport (VR) squadrons.
caption: USS Hancock (CVA-19)
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