Task Force 77 (United States Navy)

Pennsylvania left on 12 October in company with the battleships Mississippi, Tennessee, California, Maryland, and West Virginia, remaining under the command of Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf.

They arrived off Leyte on 18 October and took up bombardment positions; over the next four days, they covered Underwater Demolition Teams, beach reconnaissance operations, and minesweepers clearing the way for the landing force.

Between conflicts, Task Force 77 was held in readiness for supporting French operations during the siege of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, and off Formosa (now Taiwan) during the several Quemoy-Matsu Crises.

Beginning in 1964, COMCARDIV FIVE was permanently deployed to the Western Pacific and dual-hatted CTF 70/CTF 77, homeported at Naval Air Station Cubi Point in the Philippines.

[2] From the South China Sea, the Seventh Fleet's Attack Carrier Strike Force participated in Operations Rolling Thunder and Blue Tree in North Vietnam; the Barrel Roll, Steel Tiger, and Tiger Hound bombing and Yankee Team reconnaissance efforts in Laos; and the ground support mission in South Vietnam.

In this capacity, CTF 77 alternated embarkation as the Flag Staff aboard Midway, the aircraft carrier homeported in Japan since October 1973 as part of the Forward Deployed Naval Force (FDNF), and rotational Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers from NAS North Island and NAS Alameda, California deploying to the Western Pacific.

With the release of the American hostages in 1981, carrier presence off Gonzo Station decreased and CTF 77/CCG-5/CTF 70 returned again to its deterrence posture, primarily as it pertained to Soviet Navy operations in the Western Pacific.

On 1 November 1990, CTF 77, embarked aboard USS Midway, assumed the duties of the multi- aircraft carrier Battle Force Zulu on station in the North Arabian Sea.

On 15 November, CTF 77 held oversight of Operation Imminent Thunder, an eight-day combined amphibious landing exercise in northeastern Saudi Arabia which involved about 1,000 U.S. Marines, sixteen warships, and more than 1,100 aircraft.

Desert Storm officially ended 27 February, and Midway departed the Persian Gulf on 11 March 1991, disembarking CTF 77 in the Philippines as it returned to Yokosuka, Japan.