{"id":45256,"date":"2020-06-04T17:42:36","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T17:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/06\/04\/fair-winds-and-following-seas-to-the-navys-p-3c\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:53:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:53:34","slug":"fair-winds-and-following-seas-to-the-navys-p-3c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2020\/06\/04\/fair-winds-and-following-seas-to-the-navys-p-3c\/","title":{"rendered":"Fair winds and following seas to the Navy\u2019s P-3C"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The U.S. Navy\u2019s P-3C Orion<\/a> patrol aircraft fleet retired from active duty last month after nearly 60 years in service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the replacement P-8 Poseidon now taking on the mission for the Navy\u2019s patrol squadrons, the Orion fleet are free to collect their shadow boxes and muse among themselves about how today\u2019s land-based, long-range, anti-submarine warfare patrol aircraft have it easier than they did back in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This long-planned transition away from the P-3C was completed in mid-May, when Patrol Squadron 40<\/a> at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, turned in its last Orion, according to a Navy release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last of the active-duty P-3Cs, aircraft 162776, was delivered to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While technically a sub hunter, the old workhorse flew missions during the Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, the campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, as well as countless other intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations over the decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\t