Comments

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  Tony K. Hill July 14, 2011 at 9:16am

  I made two cruises while attached to VF-31 ((1975-1979)). I will always have fond memories of those years.
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  gerald w hargis July 14, 2011 at 9:00am

  hey robert
  i was on the sara wih va-105 about the same time as you. i remember the incident you are talking about a little. seems like it started in the mess hall when someone thru a tray at someone else.i think we went thru about three days of gq before things finally calmed down all this was during a time of extreme racial tensions.there were lots of rumors about what had happened don't really know which were true. ship did a good job getting things calmed down pretty quickly.
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  Robert Walker July 13, 2011 at 9:13pm

  Hello fellow ship mates.   I joined the Sara in Mayport, Fl in 71.   I was a cook. work from main galley,bake shop, supply break out.  I made one med cruise and the westpac.  I left the SARA  in late 74.  Some good memories some bad.  I am Looking for anyone that remembers the up rising we had on the westpac.
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  gerald w hargis May 29, 2011 at 8:54am

  happy memorial day all. i was with sara in 72 and 75 with va 105. good times looking back on it. for anyone interested i noticed ancestry.com has scanned a lot of cruise books onto their site i found both my cruise books on there. brought back a lot of memories.
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  Skip Brehm April 20, 2011 at 1:28pm

  Made Med cruise aboard 1974/1975 with VF-31.
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  Joel Darby April 9, 2011 at 12:17pm

  I was aboard the Sara with VF-31 from 1960 to 1962
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  David P. Proctor February 1, 2011 at 11:52am

  I went aboard Sara straight from bootcamp in '73 and stayed until '77. I was in R-Div. Pipe Shop and the Door & Hatch shop for a short time. I had a bad attitude most of the time and didn't see the light until a year after my discharge. I rejoined the navy and tried to do a little better, finishing out twenty years.
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  Tim Gulliford May 4, 2010 at 6:40pm

  I received this Sad news by email:
  
  AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR SARATOGA VETERANS, DONORS AND SUPPORTERS*
  
  *NEW DIRECTION FOR OUR AIRCRAFT CARRIER PROJECT
  Saratoga is no longer available for donation, but a new opportunity has opened up*
  
  Over the past several weeks, the leadership of the USS Saratoga Association and Saratoga Museum Foundation leadership have become aware of the Navy's increasing reluctance to donate Saratoga as a family attraction and education center. In recent months, the Navy has expressed concerns about the condition of ships on lengthy donation holds. In November, NAVSEA made a surprise announcement, offering the newer USS John F Kennedy for donation.
  
  I am saddened to report that our fears about Saratoga have been realized. The Secretary of the Navy has notified Congress of the Navy's intent to remove Saratoga from donation status. Plans have been put in motion to scrap the ship instead of making it available as a public attraction, thus ending this phase of our non-profit effort.
  ________________________________________________________
  
  There is much more in the email but you could read more at the Saratoga museum page. One needs to question the R.I. organization on their efforts as they lost the Russian sub to the scrap yard because of the lack of funds and effort to save her once she started to take on water. After a year of being 'sunk' they did not have the means to rebuild her back to museum status. *The sub was sunk from one of the Hurricanes about a year ago.
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  Gregory Scott Burcham December 14, 2009 at 11:51pm

  I joined the Sara crew just as she came out of the Service Life Extension Program... Went through workups and made the 84 Med Cruise. I was on the Carl Vinson before the Sara, the Vinson was new and had no soul... I look back on my time on CV-60 with great fondness...
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  CHARLES W HORTON JR December 1, 2009 at 7:02pm

  I saw the history of the carrier class that this carrier came from in a museum set-up in Bremerton Wa. The torpedo that destroyed this carrier was in a case there.