b'U . S .M i l i t a r ytered around the deployment of long-range bombers. Correctly, President Harry S. Truman and the Navy De-partment planned Americas first fleet of six super-car-riers, larger and faster than any World War II era car-rier, and capable of launching jet bomber aircraft that could execute a nuclear attack. Funding was approved for FY1949, and the keel was already laid for the USS United States when the entire project was scrapped un-der pressure from the Air Force, which demanded ex-clusivity in the business of air-launched nuclear attacks.Undeterred from his goal to proliferate the nuclear de-terrent at sea, which would vastly extend the U.S. abil-ity to strike potential enemies within days, anywhereAbove: The U.S. Navys newest basic training aircraft, the T-54A, a converted King Air 260, arrives at NASCC, spring 2024; Below: Inside the onearth,Trumandeployednuclear-armedbomberscockpit of the T-54A, which is outfitted with advanced avionics and tech; Bottom/Left: The Navys first Black female fighter pilot, Lt. JG Made-aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1950. Theline Swegle, who completed jet training at NAS Kingsville; Bottom/Right: Americas newest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, in sea trials.Roosevelt was the first carrier to undergo the SB110 conversion from World War II-era Naval aviation, to the post-war world of jet air power. The next great step in this evolution was not centered on nuclear weapons, but on nuclear power. The USS Long Beach, a guided missilecruiser,wasthenavysfirstnuclear-powered warship, commissioned in the spring of 1961. Just a few months later, naval warfareand in effect, all warfare for all timeswould forever change with the commis-sion of the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the worlds first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Her eight 2nd-gener-ation nuclear reactors delivered propulsion and ships power with a range of 50 years at sea, before refueling. The strategic advantage of being able to wage war or defend the homeland or its alliesindefinitely and any-whereis unmatched by any world military.Over the Korean War in the 1950s, and the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 70s, the majority of U.S. air power was projected from its carrier fleet, which was evolving into all-nuclear-powered super-carriers protected and supported by a growing armada of destroyers, cruisers and nuclear-powered submarinestogether known as a carrier battle group, now called a carrier strike group. In November 1959, the Navys first nuclear-powered, nuclear-armedsubmarineenteredservice,theUSS GeorgeWashington(SSBN-598),fulfillingPresident Trumans vision of what would become Americas nu-clear triad, the ability to launch nuclear weapons from the ground, the air, and the sea.Naval Air Training Command operates at five Naval Air StationsPensacola and Whiting Field, both in Flor-ida, Meridian, Mississippi, and Kingsville and Corpus Christi, Texas, to where the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) was transferred in 1972. In any given year, depending on the need for pilots, about a third of all Navy flying hours will be logged by the training com-mandover 350,000in over 700 aircraft. About 2,500 new Navy pilots, flight officers, and crew are graduat-ed annually, which is less than a quarter of what was needed during World War II. Only Navy pilots train in South Texas; flight crews are trained elsewhere.106THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE TheCoastalBend.com'