POSTED ON 8.26.2016, POSTED BY: WKILLIAN@SMJUHSD.ORG. FINAL MISSION OF LTJG CARLETON P. MILLER. LTJG Carleton P. Miller was a Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) attached to Fighter Squadron 21 onboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CVA-61). On January 6, 1971, he launched with his pilot, LT Rinne, in their F-4J Phantom fighter aircraft for a night mission over North Vietnam. They returned to the ship about 4 AM for a radar controlled approach to landing. The Ranger was located in the Gulf of Tonkin approximately 70 miles east of the North Vietnamese city of Ron. At approximately 1 mile astern of the carrier, Rinne and Miller transitioned from the radar controlled approach to a visual approach. The aircraft hit the deck a bit high and "boltered" (missed catching an arresting wire). In this instance, the aircraft touched down farther forward on the deck than usual, and its nose began to roll off the forward edge of the deck. LT Rinne called for ejection. Men working on the deck definitely saw both parachutes enter the water ahead of the ship. LT Rinne was rescued by the Ranger's helicopter within a short time. Despite an extensive search by other helicopters and destroyers, they were unable to find any trace of LTJG Miller. [Taken from pownetwork.org]

This Sailor has an (IMO) Memory Of Headstone in Courts of the Missing, Honolulu, Hawaii

CVA-61 was named after "famous ships of the past" that had borne the name Ranger.

The first American Ranger was an 18-gun Continental Navy sloop, launched on 10 May 1777 by James K. Hackett, master shipbuilder, at Portsmouth, NH. Captain John Paul Jones in command.

Ranger vs. HMS Drake, 24 April 1778. Ranger captures the British sloop-of-war Drake, 20, Commander George Burdon, in an hour's action off Carrickfergus, Ireland.

Previous Rangers:

1. Continental Navy sloop.
2. An armed schooner.
3. A brigantine.
4. A steam-powered gunboat.
5. A steel-hulled patrol craft.
6. A wooden patrol craft.
7. A canceled battle cruiser, originally named Lexington.
8. A canceled battle cruiser, renamed Constitution.
9. The first American aircraft carrier designed and built as such from the keel up.