Writing the Book

In our last installment of 'TWW' we shared a photo showing a Lockheed P2V Neptune from US Navy Patrol Squadron Eight and mentioned that said squadron was part of Task Group ALFA when the photo was taken.

Also mentioned was that Task Group ALFA was at the time writing the book on modern combined anti-submarine warfare operations. In other words, they were using all available assets, surface ships, attack subs, and carrier-borne aircraft as well as land-based birds all as one big cooperative team in developing effective tactics and techniques for sub-hunting.

So then, here's a look at those assets... Task Group ALFA, circa 1959.

US Navy photo

Here's the Navy's caption for this photo:

"Formation portrait of the Atlantic Fleet anti-submarine group's ships and aircraft, taken during exercises in 1959 with Secretary of the Navy William B. Franke embarked. Ships include the group flagship, USS Valley Forge (CVS-45) in center, two submarines, and seven destroyers. Identifiable among the latter are USS Eaton (DDE-510) at left front, USS Beale (DDE-471) following Eaton, USS Waller (DDE-466) in the center foreground, and USS Conway (DDE-507) at right front. Aircraft overhead include two four-plane formations of S2F Trackers and three HSS-1 Seabat helicopters from the Valley Forge air group, plus one shore-based P2V Neptune."


Fade to Black...