a forgotten OCEAN sentinel
These pages are dedicated to remembering the story of the US Navy's first purpose-built land-based patrol bomber conceived and designed at the dawn of the US entry into World War II. Missing the war in the Pacific, the first P2V-1 Neptunes would not enter fleet service until 1946-1947. The Lockheed P2V Neptune would serve with distinction in Fleet and Reserve Patrol Squadrons for the next 30 years.
Beginning in 1962, the Neptune was phased out of front-line service in favor of the newer and more capable Lockheed P-3 Orion based on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner. By 1970 the last of the Neptunes in the US Navy would be assigned to reserve squadrons with the very last examples being withdrawn and stricken off charge by 1978. By 1980 the last DP-2H would make its final flight to Davis-Monthan, ending the era of the Neptune in US miliary service.
By 2025, 45 years after the Neptune was retired, the long serving P-3 Orion has been largely replaced by the Boeing P-8 Poseidon. Like the Orion before it, derived from a commercial design, the civilian Boeing 737-800 airliner.
Neptune to Orion to Poseidon, the Navy's God of the Sea Legacy lives on.
lockheed sp-2e neptune
lockheed p-3c orion
Boeing P-8 Poseidon
Patrol Squadron 65 History with the Neptune
Following the Pueblo Call up in 1968, Naval Air Reserve underwent a major reorganization. This reorganization included the establishment of twelve land-based antisubmarine patrol squadrons. The reserve squadrons formed were structured along the lines of regular Navy squadrons with nearly identical organization and manning levels. The reorganization concept was known as 12/2/1. There were 12 VP squadrons under two commands, Commander Fleet Air Reserve Wings Atlantic and Commander Fleet Air Reserve Wings Pacific, under the control of one central authority, Commander Naval Air Reserve.
Patrol Squadron 65, the “Tridents” was established at NAS Los Alamitos, CA, on November 16, 1970. VP-65 was formed from the personnel and assets of seven smaller units already in existence at NAS Los Alamitos including VP-65L1-L3, VP-22L7, VP-19L4, VP-6L5, and VP-40L6. With the closure of NAS Los Alamitos, VP-65 moved its base of operation north to NARTU Pt. Mugu, operating 12 Lockheed SP-2H Neptunes.
VP-65 performed a variety of functions, including maintaining combat crew readiness in preparation for any contingency that would require it to mobilize to augment Fleet forces. It also provided operational assistance to regular Naval forces during drill weekends and annual training periods. VP-65 aircrews have operated in support of naval forces in the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Eastern and Western Pacific Ocean, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America. It was during this time that VP-65 won the Noel Davis Battle “E” award in 1972, presented by the Department of the Navy to the most efficient aviation patrol squadron of the United States Naval Reserve.
In October 1974 BuAer 141234, the squadron’s last SP-2H was officially transferred to the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola, FL where is remains on display to this day. The squadron then transitioned to the Lockheed P-3A Orion aircraft in January 1975. VP-65 was disestablished on 4 March 2006, after 35 years of service.
Nicknamed the "Tridents" The squadron’s first insignia was approved by CNO on 18 August 1971. The central character of the design was a faceless winged man (Neptune) poised with a trident over a surfaced submarine.