This photo is from the back cover of BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19) WELCOME ABOARD 1972 under Captain Speer and it looks like a tinted beige copy of the back cover in the BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19) WELCOME ABOARD 1971 under Captain Carroll. My memory has this photo being taken in the North Atlantic, of the coast of Norfolk, as we rondevu with our sister ship, Mount Whitney (LCC-20), for the first and apparently last time as we steamed to Blue Ridge's first homeport, San Diego, via the Strait of Magellan. If my memory is correct, this was the first time BR went to flight quarters, to receive the chopper from Mount Whitney (notice swabbies prepping the flight deck).
<p>My memory may have failed me on this pic, I don't remember there being a flight deck operation during BR's first Insurv trial, but this pic is virtually identical in operations under way (flight deck prepping) from a different angle with a pic of BR's first Insurv Trial. Once I get the Philly yard publication up on BR's WikiMedia Commons, I will provide that link. In any event, it just may be BR's first chopper operation.
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Ridge_First_Insurv_in_Philly_Shipyard_BEACON_Pub_page_1_of_2.jpg" title="File:Blue Ridge First Insurv in Philly Shipyard BEACON Pub page 1 of 2.jpg">File:Blue_Ridge_First_Insurv_in_Philly_Shipyard_BEACON_Pub_page_1_of_2.jpg</a>
</p><p>In late January, she conducted her first INSURV in the North Atlantic, after transiting the Delaware River, from and return to Philly. [4]
</p><p>Source: <a class="external free" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Blue_Ridge_(LCC-19)&amp;oldid=611915045">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Blue_Ridge_(LCC-19)&amp;oldid=611915045</a>
</p>
Welcome Aboard USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) 1972 page 06 of 06.jpg
Back cover of USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19) WELCOME ABOARD 1972, at  Welcome Aboard USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) 1972 page 06 of 06.jpg
uss blue ridge lcc-19