page_title: USS Ranger (CV-61)
section_title: 1990s
hierarchical_section_title: USS Ranger (CV-61) / Service / 1990s
caption_attribution_description: A port quarter view of the aircraft carrier USS RANGER (CV-61) approaching port at Yokosuka on its last visit to Japan. The RANGER is on its final deployment prior to decommissioning.
context_page_description: The seventh USS Ranger was the third of four Forrestal-class supercarriers built for the United States Navy in the 1950s. Although all four ships of the class were completed with angled decks, Ranger had the distinction of being the first US carrier built from the beginning as an angled-deck ship.
  Commissioned in 1957, she served extensively in the Pacific, especially the Vietnam War, for which she earned 13 battle stars. Near the end of her career, she also served in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf.
  Ranger appeared on television in The Six Million Dollar Man and Baa Baa Black Sheep, and in the films Top Gun, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Flight of the Intruder.
  Ranger was decommissioned in 1993, and was stored at Bremerton, Washington until March 2015. She was then moved to Brownsville for scrapping, which was completed in November 2017.
context_section_description: President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation on 16 January 1991 at 9 pm EST and announced that Operation Desert Storm had begun. The Navy launched 228 sorties from Ranger and Midway in the Persian Gulf, from Theodore Roosevelt en route to the Persian Gulf, and from John F. Kennedy, Saratoga, and America in the Red Sea. In addition, the Navy launched more than 100 Tomahawk missiles from nine ships in the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf.
  An A-6E Intruder from Ranger was shot down two miles off the Iraqi coast by antiaircraft artillery on 18 January 1991, after laying MK36 naval mines on a waterway linking the Iraqi naval base of Umm Qasr with the Persian Gulf. The pilot and the navigator/bombardier were killed.
  On 26 January, an EA-6B Prowler from Ranger spotted two large tankers in a waterway northeast of Bubiyan Island. Two of Ranger's A-6Es hit one of them with an AGM-123 Skipper missile on the starboard side.
  On 6 February, an F-14A Tomcat from VF-1, off Ranger downed an Iraqi Mi-8 Hip helicopter with an AIM-9M Sidewinder missile. At 9 pm EST on 27 February, President Bush declared Kuwait had been liberated and Operation Desert Storm would end at midnight.
  On 21 April 1992, in harmony with other World War II 50th-anniversary festivities, Ranger participated in the commemorative re-enactment of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, Japan. Two World War II-era B-25 bombers were craned on board, and over 1,500 guests (including national, local and military media) were embarked to witness the two vintage aircraft travel down Ranger' flight deck and take off. In June, Ranger made an historic port visit to Vancouver, British Columbia, in conjunction with her final phase of pre-deployment workups.
  Fully combat ready, Ranger began her 21st and final western Pacific and Indian Ocean deployment on 1 August 1992. On 18 August, she entered Yokosuka, for a six-day port visit and upkeep. Ranger entered the Persian Gulf on 14 September by transiting the Straits of Hormuz. The next day, Ranger relieved Independence in an unusual close-aboard ceremony and along with her embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing 2, immediately began flying patrol missions in support of the United Kingdom and United States-declared "No Fly" zone in southern Iraq: Operation Southern Watch.
  While in the Persian Gulf, former Cold War adversaries became at-sea partners as Ranger, British, and French naval forces joined with the Russian guided missile destroyer Admiral Vinogradov for an exercise involving communication, maneuvering, and signaling drills. During joint operations, a Russian Kamov Ka-27 "Helix" helicopter landed aboard Ranger. It was the first such landing on a US Navy aircraft carrier.
  Ranger left the Persian Gulf on 4 December 1992 and steamed at high speed to the coast of Somalia. Ranger played a significant role in the massive relief effort for starving Somalis in Operation Restore Hope. The Ranger/CVW-2 team provided photo and visual reconnaissance, airborne air traffic control, logistics support, and on-call close air support for Navy and Marine amphibious forces. Throughout Operations Southern Watch and Restore Hope, Ranger took 63 digital photographs which were sent by International Marine Satellite to the Navy Office of Information within hours of being taken. This was the first time digital pictures were successfully transmitted from a US Navy ship at sea.
  On 19 December 1992, Ranger was relieved on station by Kitty Hawk and began her last journey homeward to San Diego.
caption: Ranger's last visit to Japan, August 1992
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