USS Wright (CVL-49) - Service With 7th Fleet

Service With 7th Fleet

Wright was overhauled at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard from 31 July to 21 November 1953 and then conducted refresher training in Cuban waters from 4 January to 16 February 1954. Next, after departing Davisville, Rhode Island, on 5 April, Wright sailed for the Far East—via the Panama Canal, San Diego, California, and Pearl Harbor—and reached Yokosuka, Japan, on 28 May. The carrier, with Marine Attack Squadron 211 embarked, operated with the 7th Fleet off both coasts of Korea and also off Okinawa before she visited Hong Kong from 24 to 30 September. Departing Yokosuka on 15 October, Wright arrived at San Diego on the last day of October and entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard where she remained until 23 February 1955.

At that point, Wright was attached to CarDiv 17, Pacific Fleet, and operated locally out of San Diego until 3 May, when she put to sea as part of TG 7.3—formed around the flagship Mount McKinley—for the atomic test, Operation Wigwam, carried out in Pacific waters. Returning to the West Coast on 20 May, Wright subsequently cruised to Pearl Harbor briefly before she entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 14 July to commence preparation for inactivation. After shifting to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, on 17 October, for the final phase of preservation for inactivation, Wright was decommissioned at Puget Sound on 15 March 1956 and assigned to the Bremerton group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet.