The US generally kept one carrier at "Yankee Station" in the Gulf of Tonkin, east of Da Nang and Hue, near the border between North and South Vietnam. This was officially "Point Yankee". The US kept at least one carrier in this vicinity from 1964 to 1973, to carry out bombing raids in North Vietnam and close air support of troops ashore.
There was a corresponding "Dixie Station" off the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam, where the US kept an additional carrier in the early years of the war.
Just about all the carriers in the US fleet were "on Yankee Station" at some point during the war. The US had 22 carriers during this era and all but the John F. Kennedy were in Task Force 77, of the US 7th Fleet on Yankee Station at one time or another.
Currently the US has 11 of the 22 aircraft carriers in the world. Eight other navies operate a total of 11.
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From 1964-73 the US Navy had 23 operational aircraft carriers, and 21 of them were assigned at one time or another to Task Force 77 (the strike force of the US 7th Fleet) and operated at Yankee Station, off North Vietnam.
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Fleet carriers; Enterprise, Hancock, Coral Sea, and Midway. Midway is probably the most famous, as it had a South Viet Air Force O-1 Bird Dog land on it's decks; the first time in aerial history that such a plane had landed upon the decks of a carrier at sea. The "Bird Dog" is preserved at a museum in Florida and the Midway is preserved in California as a museum.
The Bird Dog was a US Army artillery observation airplane, whose mission was replaced by helicopters in the Vietnam War.
Unfortunately, the USS Coral Sea was scrapped (recycled). The Battle of the Coral Sea was naval histories first clash of aircraft carriers (WWII).
Nearly all US carriers (over 20 of them) rotated thru either Yankee or Dixie station (North & South Vietnam Coastlines) during the war.
Although probably not used officially during the war, the "Blue Water Navy" was the opposite of the actual existing USN BROWN WATER NAVY of the Vietnam War. The Brown Water Navy was the US Navy's "Riverine Forces" (Swift Boats, Monitors, Alpha boats, PBRs, etc.). The Blue Water Navy was the (Real Navy?) aircraft carriers, battleship (USS New Jersey), heavy & light cruisers, and destroyers providing naval gunfire support from the gunline.
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Fleet Aircraft Carriers. (Fleet Carriers are a navy's largest carrier).
That's how the Marines got their men, in some cases. The Navy and Air Force could draft men too; but during Vietnam they didn't have to, there was a waiting list to join the Navy & Air Force.
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