Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 122 (VAW-122) was an aviation unit of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in service from 1 September 1967 to 31 March 1996. Originally nicknamed the "Hummer Gators" and later as "Steeljaws" was a U.S. Atlantic Coast Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron stationed at

NAS Norfolk Naval Station Norfolk is a United States Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, that is the headquarters and home port of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Forces Command. The installation occupies about of waterfront space and of pier and wharf space of the Hampt ...

. During its 30 years of existence, the squadron was deployed around the world and saw action from

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Desert Storm The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

, conducting operations from the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

to the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referr ...

Squadron History

1960s

Originally equipped with the E-2A Hawkeye, VAW-122 was first on the scene, establishing communications and directing fighter coverage for the

USS Liberty USS ''Liberty'' may refer to: *, was an American Revolutionary War ship *, was a transport ship launched in June 1918 and decommissioned in May 1919, and as USAT ''Liberty'', a United States Army transport ship sunk in 1942 *, was a ship strafed a ...

in the Mediterranean in June 1967 after the intelligence-gathering ship was attacked by Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats. During a 1968 deployment on board the USS America off

, VAW-122 crews assisted a

VF-33 Fighter Squadron 33 (VF-33) was an aviation unit of the United States Navy. Originally established on 11 October 1948 it was disestablished on 1 October 1993. It was the second U.S. Navy squadron to be designated VF-33. VF-33 History Korean War ...

F-4 Phantom The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bo ...

crew in downing a North Vietnamese

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nickn ...

fighter as well as controlling interdiction strikes against North Vietnam.

1970s

After a 1970 deployment to the Mediterranean during the Jordanian crisis with CVW-7 on board the USS Independence, VAW-122 upgraded to the somewhat more capable E-2B. The squadron's next two deployments to the Mediterranean returned its crews to international crises—the 1973

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...

and the 1974 Cyprus Crisis. In April 1975, VAW-122 upgraded to the definitive

E-2C Hawkeye The Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is an American all-weather, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable tactical Airborne early warning and control, airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. This twin-turboprop aircraft was designed and developed duri ...

. In 1978, the squadron rejoined after a Pacific deployment embarked in USS Kitty Hawk with

CVW-6 Carrier Air Wing Six (CVW-6) was a United States Navy aircraft carrier air wing whose operational history spans from the middle of World War II to the end of the Cold War. Established in 1943 as Carrier Air Group Seventeen (CVG-17), it would be ...

and over the next 13 years deployed to the Arabian Sea, Mediterranean, and North Atlantic on board the Independence and the

USS Forrestal USS ''Forrestal'' (CVA-59) (later CV-59, then AVT-59), was a supercarrier named after the first United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. Commissioned in 1955, she was the United States' first completed supercarrier, and was the lea ...

1980s

In 1982 VAW 122 deployed on board USS Independence and provided support to operations in Beirut, Lebanon. During the 1983 deployment, VAW-122 supported combat operations in Grenada and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

, then on its last combat carrier deployment in 1991, supported

Operation Provide Comfort Operation Provide Comfort and Provide Comfort II were military operations initiated by the United States and other Coalition nations of the Persian Gulf War, starting in April 1991, to defend Kurdish refugees fleeing their homes in northern I ...

over Iraq during and subsequent to Operation Desert Storm. Throughout its operational lifetime, VAW-122 participated in numerous

cold-war The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of Geopolitics, geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term ''Cold war (term), co ...

, North Atlantic, Mediterranean, African, Indian Ocean, Eastern European, and Middle Eastern operations, supported several NASA

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

launches, and devised a variety of original operational tactics and procedures including ABCCC missions.

1990s

VAW-122 made its first major counter-narcotic deployment as a squadron to the Caribbean and Central America in 1990, previously it had been smaller detachments of shorter duration beginning in 1983 with Operation Thunderbolt. In 1992 became permanently assigned to the role of counter-narcotic. By 1996, the unit had completed eight deployments in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific areas, conducting some missions deep over South or Central America, and far into the Pacific Ocean—and was credited with the seizure of more than 16 metric tons of illegal drugs. VAW-122 was disestablished at NAS Norfolk on 31 March 1996. Its drug-interdiction mission and aircraft were assumed by

VAW-77 Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 77 (VAW-77) "Nightwolves" was an aviation unit of the United States Navy Reserve based at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans from 1995 to 2013. It comprised the U.S. Navy's only fully dedicated ...

, stationed at NAS Atlanta.

Deployments

Deployments of the squadron

Squadron History

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

Deployments

Notes

References

See also