Filmed at sea with the Sixth Fleet in the late 1950s, A FORCE FOR PEACE shows the aircraft carrier USS Randolph and its air arm, including A-1H Skyraiders and jet fighters. This print is slightly incomplete and missing the main title and a portion of the ending.

The film begins in Norfolk as the crew says goodbye and departs for the Mediterranean and duty in Europe. At 4:54, the Captain addresses the ship’s complement and discusses the importance of a strong presence in the Med, to protect world peace. At 6:11, the USS Forrestal’s aircraft welcome the Randolph as it approaches Gibraltar. Dignitaries from the Royal Navy board the ship at 7:50. Life aboard the aircraft carrier is shown with various routines. At 11;40, FJ-2 Fury jet aircraft are prepared for launch and spotted on the flight deck. Aircraft launch is seen at the 13:45 mark, with Piasecki HUP-1 rescue helicopter standing by to pick up crewmen if they have to ditch.

Sixth Fleet ASW exercises are seen at the 16 minute mark, with a hunter killer group being assembled. An amphibious landing exercise is seen at the 16:30 mark, working with British commandoes and Italian troops. A Regulus missile is seen being launched at the 17:00 Mark from the cruiser USS Los Angeles. Sidewinder missiles are seen being test flown at 23:30.

Resupply at sea is seen at the 20:00 mark, including transport of crew between ships. A delivery aircraft arrives on the carrier at 20:30. Church services are seen at 21:00. Night operations are seen at 22:00.

USS Randolph (CV/CVA/CVS-15) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The second US Navy ship to bear the name, she was named for Peyton Randolph, president of the First Continental Congress. Randolph was commissioned in October 1944, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning three battle stars. Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career she operated exclusively in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Caribbean. In the early 1960s she served as the recovery ship for two Project Mercury space missions, including John Glenn’s historic first orbital flight.

She was decommissioned in 1969 and sold for scrap in 1975.

On 14 July 1956, Randolph again steamed east for a seven-month tour of duty with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. When Israel, Britain, and France invaded the United Arab Republic in October of that year, Randolph stood ready. Operating near the Suez Canal, her aircraft provided air cover and surface and air reconnaissance for the evacuation of U.S. nationals from Alexandria. She returned to the United States on 19 February 1957.

After a few months operating off the East Coast, Randolph deployed to the Mediterranean again on 1 July 1957. Between August and December, as political turmoil in Syria threatened to further disturb the already turbulent Mideast, she patrolled the eastern Mediterranean. Back in the United States on 24 February 1958, the flattop made her 5th Mediterranean deployment from 2 September 1958 – 12 March 1959.

The Piasecki H-25 Army Mule/HUP Retriever was a compact single radial engine, twin overlapping tandem rotor utility helicopter developed by the Piasecki Helicopter Corporation of Morton, Pennsylvania during the late 1940s and produced during the early 1950s. The company changed its name in the 1956 to Vertol Aircraft Corporation and subsequently was bought by Boeing Aircraft Company in 1960, and became Boeing-Vertol.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com