On the town
When the USS America sailed into Wellington in 1968, 5000 sailors were keen to have a good time. Ruby Macandrew reports.
It was a warm windless day in November when Vietnam War aircraft carrier the USS America made its way into Wellington Harbour, carrying 5000 cooped-up American sailors eager to explore a new port.
Bill Graves, 22 at the time, was one of those on the ship in 1968 working in the ‘‘catapult crew’’ launching the planes – including Phantoms and Vigilantes – used in air strikes during the war.
‘‘Our mission was to hook up the airplanes to the catapults, run and get out of the way to let them go.’’
The ship, a Kitty Hawk class supercarrier, left the state of Virginia in April embarking on a world tour by way of Vietnam.
At the end of its Vietnam deployment, the more than 300-metre-long ship set a course to Australia.
After a few days in Sydney, the decision was made to cruise across the Tasman for a few more days of exploring.
Upon its arrival to the capital, the impressive ship – about the length of three football fields – fired a 21-gun salute, which was answered by the New Zealand Artillery.
Too large to berth, the ship was forced to drop anchor in the harbour with its crew and keen sightseers ferried into the capital for some rest and relaxation.
Graves had fond memories of the two-day visit, which was less about rest, and more about blowing off some steam.
‘‘Each one of us would have had about $300 dollars in our pocket and nowhere to spend it ... that amount of money went a long way in 1968.’’
Along with his crewmates, Graves ventured up Mt Victoria in a taxi to see the city in its entirety and figure out what to do next.
‘‘It was absolutely beautiful so we decided to walk down. We were in our sailor suits so we were well recognised and somebody picked us up and gave us a lift.
‘‘Off the cuff, I asked them if there was somewhere we could go for some entertainment and they wrote down a name on a piece of paper and handed it to me . . . what I didn’t know at the time was that it was a private club.’’
While touted as a goodwill visit, Graves said, to many on the ship, it appeared to be a means to an end.
‘‘There was some rumour going around that they didn’t have any place for us to dock when we got back [to the US] so they said, ‘Why don’t you take another 10 days and take a tiki tour?’
‘‘They called it a goodwill visit but I think, realistically, the ship needed to get replenished . . . we didn’t have nuclear power, we were a conventional ship.’’
The visit wasn’t without its controversies, with some Kiwis opting to exercise their right to protest the Vietnam War by waving placards and stopping some of the crew to share their thoughts on the conflict.
The ship’s arrival was frontpage news, with its 5000 sailors creating quite the spectacle in the reasonably quiet capital city.
Fortunately, the city turned on the weather for the visitors with the ever-present wind dropping down for the duration of their stay.
‘‘It was an absolutely beautiful two days, I still remember how pretty it was,’’ Graves said.
One standout, albeit sombre, moment was when the ship passed the recent wreck of the Wahine.
‘‘You could just see the hull that was still protruding from the sea and there was a salvage ship beside it.’’
As part of the visit, members of the public were invited to hop on a ferry out to the ship for a tour, led by some of the sailors, including Graves.
‘‘When you’re in port, you’re given jobs to do and we were given groups of people to tour around the ship.’’
The short stop left a lasting impression on Graves, who emigrated with his wife in the 1970s first to Wellington before heading south to Christchurch.
He recalled a Kiwi colleague, decades after the visit, talking about the ship and how he had been toured around by the US sailors, showing just how small the world can be sometimes.