NOT everyone served in WW II - ORISKANY was launched in 1945, suspended
incomplete in 1947 and laid up, recomm in 1950 and finished in six months
with around the clock work; she made her first deployment in 1951 to the
Mediterranean Sea (6th Fleet) to relieve other CV's for du in Korea.
ORISKANY was completed to the modified SCB-27A with more powerful cats,
enlarged island, all 5in guns on the gallery deck and completed with 3in
50cal AA guns vice the standard suite of 40mm guns; her appearance as
completed can be seen at:
http://www.theeaglesnest.com/USS-Oriskany-CVA-34/pics.html She would be the
prototype for the conversion of the other ESSEX-class floating military
vehicles that would remain in service; all would be modified with an anled
deck and hurricane bow under SCB125. SCB-27A would be with hydraulic cats,
SCB-27C would retrofitted with steam cats and bridle catchers as
reclassified as CVA's where the former would be the hunter-killer CVS's;
later as the newer CVA's came on line and the orig CVS's were
decommissioned, some of the SCB-27C CVA's were reclassed as CVS's.
It was too bad about FRANKLIN and BUNKER HILL, when they were rebuilt at the
end of the war, of all the non-modified CV's they happened to be in the best
shape. Franklin was rebuilt entirely (less island) from the main deck
(hangar deck) up; BUNKER HILL was similarly rebuilt.
YORKWTOWN CVS-10 is docked near Charleston, SC
INTEPID CVS-11 is docked at New York
HORNET CVS-12 is docked at the deactivated NAS Alameda, CA (San Fran)
LEXINGTON AVT-16 is docked in Corpus Chrisie, TX
ORISKANY CV-34 is tied up in Beaumont TX awaiting scrapping
All others already scrapped.
To the degree of modernization, three did serve "unmodernized" into the 60's
- BOXER (CV-21)as LPH-4 until 1969; PRINCETON (CV-37) AS LPH-5 until 1970;
and VALLEY FORGE (CV-45) as LPH-8 until 1971. The conversion meant the loss
of half of the engineering plant and part of the hangar deck and former
engineering spaced converted to carry green equipment (Marine).
ANTIETAM (CV-36) was the U.S. test bed for the British developed angled deck
and was "modified" accordingly with it, but was not "modernized." She was
the navy's training carrier out of Pensacola and operated with her 5in gun
battery still in mothballs.
Likewise, LAKE CHAMPLAIN (CV-39) received on the SCB-27A and not the angled
deck of the SCB-125 - she was the last axial deck carrier in U.S. service.
REPRISAL (CV-35) was launched 52% complete in 1945 to clear slip, used in
explosive tests and scrapped in 1949. IWO JIMA (CV-46) was scrapped on her
own ways.
-----Original Message-----
From: EdLortz@aol.com [mailto:EdLortz@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, July 07, 2000 11:24 PM
To: mil-veh@skylee.com
Subject: Re: [MV] Essex Class Carriers
EVERY ONE of the 26 Essex's operated either in WWII or after except the 2
cancelled. Cursory study indicates that 18 commissioned during WWII, 11
served in Korea, almost all served during Vietnam, and the 26 were divided
as
follows:
Two - cancelled in the last days of the war, never completed (#35
Reprisal & #46 Iwo Jima)
Two - Franklin (#13) & Bunker Hill (#17) were so badly damaged in battle
they never returned to service after limping home.
Three - served unmodernized at least into the 60's.
Sixteen - various degrees of modernization, some to anti-submarine
carriers, served into the 60's & 70's, with a couple lasting into the early
80's, several supporting space missions.
Three - converted to helicopter assault ships, served at least into the
60's.
Most had decommissioned by the mid 70's. A notable exception is the
Lexington (#16), which served until about '92 as a training carrier.
<< The Essex's were WW2 carriers even though some were launched after
hostilities ended. Some were taken for a joy ride and then mothballed. >>
===Mil-Veh is a member-supported mailing list===
To unsubscribe, send e-mail to: <mil-veh-off@skylee.com>
To switch to the DIGEST mode, send e-mail to <mil-veh-digest@skylee.com>
To reach a human, contact <help@skylee.com>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Aug 07 2000 - 22:15:56 PDT