VS-41

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= Sea Control Squadron 41


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dates= 1960
country= United States
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branch= United States Navy
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role= Fleet Replacement Squadron
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garrison= Naval Air Station North Island
garrison_label= Former Homeport
equipment= S-3 Viking
equipment_label= Former Aircraft
nickname= "Shamrocks"
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Sea Control Squadron 41 (VS-41) is a training squadron of the United States Navy for crews of anti-submarine aircraft. The squadron was commissioned on 30 June 1960 as an "anti-submarine squadron" . The squadron was nicknamed "Shamrocks" and based at the Naval Air Station North Island, California (USA).VS-41 was originally activated in 1960 to train the crews of Grumman S-2 "Tracker" anti-submarine aircraft stationed on the U.S. West Coast. Two squadrons equipped with the "Tracker" were based each on the anti-submarine carriers (CVS) of the Essex-class to counter the threat of the large Soviet submarine fleet. In the mid-1970 both the CVS-carriers and the S-2 "Tracker" were phased out.

On 20 February 1974 VS-41 received the successor of the "Tracker", the Lockheed S-3A "Viking". The "Viking"-squadrons were now integrated into the former "Attack Carrier Air Wing"s, which became "Carrier Air Wing"s. During the latter half of the 1980s VS-41 was equipped with the upgraded S-3B. With the diminishing submarine threat after the end of the Cold War VS-41 was redesignated as a "sea control squadron" on 1 October 1993. In 1994 the squadron became responsible for the training of all U.S. Navy S-3 squadrons.

The training included working with the computer systems that processed information generated by acoustic and non-acoustic target sensor systems, like Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) and ESM systems suites. Identified targets should then be destroyed with conventionals bombs, cluster bombs, rocktes, AGM-84 Harpoon or AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles, Mark 46 torpedoes, or Mark 54 depth bombs. The "Viking" could also drop mines. Additionally, all S-3B aircraft were equipped to carrying an inflight refueling "buddy" store.

VS-41 flys in excess of 10,000 hours per year, qualifying approximately 50 fleet pilots and 80 tactical coordinators (TACCO). From 1960 to 2008, the training squadron has logged more than 347,000 flight hours, made more than 48,000 carrier landings, and has trained more than 35,000 personnel.

External links

* [http://www.vs41.navy.mil/ Old US Navy VS-41 website]
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/navy/vs-41.htm VS-41 history on globalsecurity.org]
* [http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=24886 USN press release on the decommissioning of VS-41]