Naval History Blog

 At daybreak on 24 October 1944, as Japanese navy forces approached the Philippines from the north and west, Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman’s Task Group 38.3 was operating more than a hundred miles east of central Luzon. With other elements of Admiral William F. Halsey’s Third Fleet, TG38.3 had spent the last several days pounding enemy targets ashore in support of the Leyte invasion operation. This morning Sherman’s four carriers, ESSEX (CV 9), LEXINGTON (CV 16), PRINCETON (CVL 23), and LANGLEY (CVL 27), had sent off fighters for self-protection and other planes on search missions. Still more aircraft were on deck, ready for attack missions.

Though the Japanese had sent out many aircraft to strike the Third Fleet, most were shot down or driven away. However one “Judy” dive bomber made it through and at 0938 planted a 250-kilogram bomb on PRINCETON’s flight deck, somewhat aft of amidships. It exploded in the crew’s galley after passing through the hangar, in which were parked six TBM bombers, each with full gasoline tanks and a torpedo. In its passage the bomb struck one of these planes, which was almost immediately ablaze. The carrier’s firefighting sprinklers did not activate and the entire hangar space was quickly engulfed, while smoke penetrated compartments below. PRINCETON was still underway, but at 1002 a heavy explosion rocked the after part of the hangar. This blast was followed by three more, which heaved up the flight deck, blew out both aircraft elevators, and quickly made much of the ship uninhabitable.

With all but emergency generator power gone, and much of her crew abandoning ship, PRINCETON now depended on the light cruisers BIRMINGHAM (CL 62) and RENO (CL 96), plus the destroyers IRWIN (DD 794) and MORRISON (DD 560), to help fight her fires. While alongside, MORRISON’s superstructure was seriously damaged when she became entangled in PRINCETON’s projecting structures. After more than three hours’ work, with the remaining fires almost under control, a report of approaching enemy forces forced the other ships to pull away. By the time they returned, PRINCETON was again burning vigorously, heating a bomb storage space near her after hangar. At 1523, as BIRMINGHAM came alongside, these bombs detonated violently, blowing off the carrier’s stern, showering the cruiser’s topsides with fragments, and killing hundreds of men. There was now no hope that PRINCETON could be saved. Her remaining crewmen were taken off and IRWIN attempted to scuttle her with torpedoes and gunfire, but with no success. Finally, RENO was called in to finish the job. One of her torpedoes hit near the burning ship’s forward bomb magazine and PRINCETON disappeared in a tremendous explosion. She was the first U.S. fleet carrier sunk in more than two years, and the last lost during the Pacific War.

On 1 October 1990 the carrier INDEPENDENCE (CV 62) transited the Strait of Hormuz en route to the Arabian Gulf. The following day she conducted flight operations in the Gulf, becoming the first carrier to do so since CONSTELLATION (CV 64) had operated there in 1974.

INDEPENDENCE (CV 62) left the Gulf on 4 October, following three days of sailing in its confined and shallow waters. A Pentagon spokesman said that the aircraft carrier had successfully completed her mission, which was “to demonstrate to our friends and allies in the region that it is possible to put a carrier in the Gulf and carry out operations.”

September 25th, 1961

Commissioning of USS Enterprise (CVN-65)

        Fifty years ago USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was commissioned.  The biggest ship in the world at the time, Enterprise was certainly unique.  However, as  an article in the May 1961 issue of Proceedings noted, the name of such a unique ship was hardly new.  Instead, Enterprise inherited in its name a rich Naval history with origins in the Revolutionary War and notable achievements in various Naval battles.  The article, compiled from Navy Department releases, relates the unique & varied history of a name shared by eight different ships:

        The first Enterprise was a 70-ton sloop which originally belonged to the British and cruised on Lake Champlain to supply their posts in Canada.  After the capture of Fort Ticonderoga by the Americans on 10 May 1775, she became the object of desire in the mind of Benedict Arnold, who realized he would not have control of Lake Champlain until her capture.   Read the rest of this entry »

This month, the Navy Memorial cut the ribbon on its new exhibit “The Art of Naval Aviation” in support of the nationwide celebration of the Centennial of Naval Aviation.

To commemorate the Centennial, NavyTV features one of the most comprehensive (and expensive) films made by the U.S. Navy: “Hook Down, Wheels Down.” This 57-minute film covers the history and development of the aircraft carrier through interviews with many of the men who were instrumental in these ships’ history.Produced in 1974, “Hook Down, Wheels Down” is one of the most comprehensive (and expensive) films made by the U.S. Navy about the history and development of the U.S. aircraft carrier.

First hand accounts from pilots, gunners and navigators, stunning aerial footage; it’s a history lesson and tribute to the men who flew the planes and the men who caught them.  From WW2 ships and single engine fighter planes to nuclear powered carriers and sleek jets, it’s all here!

USS Kitty Hawk’s (CV 63) fourteenth deployment in early 1984 found her at the center of a great deal of activity. During the joint United States/Republic of Korea Exercise Team Spirit 84-1, Kitty Hawk’s Battle Group Bravo encountered numerous Soviet forces during the eight-day event. Reconnaissance aircraft overflew the group 43 times while six Soviet surface units and one submarine made an appearance.

It was the submarine, however, that had a lasting impact on the ship and its cruise. At 2207 on 21 March the submarine surfaced and collided with the carrier. The captain and starboard lookout both saw the silhouette of a sub without navigation lights moving away from the ship. Two SH-3H helicopters inspected the sub without noting any apparent damage, but a large piece of the submarine’s screw had broken off in Kitty Hawk’s hull.

The submarine was believed to be a Victor-I class attack boat, tentatively identified as K-314 (610). During the exercise it had been tracked and “killed” more than fifteen times after it was spotted on the surface fifty miles in front of the battle group.

The collision occurred despite the Incidents at Sea agreement that SECNAV John Warner and Admiral Sergei Gorshkov had signed in 1972. This agreement, designed to uphold the United States’ long cherished belief in freedom of the seas and prevent dangerous and hostile collisions at sea, was ignored in this instance. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral James Watkins reflected, “The reason behind the Soviet submarine captain’s slip in judgment is the only mystery here. He showed uncharacteristically poor seamanship in not staying clear of Kitty Hawk. That should cause concern in Moscow.”

In commemoration of the Centennial of Naval Aviation kick-off event in San Diego this week, NavyTV has dug up from the archives a great video about the USS Intrepid (CV-11), the legendary aircraft carrier, which served this nation from WWII through the height of the Cold War. After being decommissioned in 1974, the Intrepid became the foundation of the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City in 1982. Watch The Story of the USS Intrepid here on NavyTV.

On 16 January 1930 the aircraft carrier Lexington (CV 2) completed thirty days of providing electrical power to the city of Tacoma, Washington, during a city-wide power shortage caused by drought at the area’s hydroelectric generation facilities. Like some other capital ships of that era, Lexington’s turbines produced electricity to operate the shaft motors, but didn’t turn the shafts themselves as on most steam-driven ships then and now. The ship therefore had great electrical generation capacity that made her ideal for this task. Lexington provided power twelve hours a day between 17 December 1929 and 16 January 1930, ultimately totaling more than 4.25 million kilowatt hours.

On 12 January 1953, the first test landings occurred on USS Antietam’s new angled flight deck. Angling the axis of an aircraft carrier’s landing area slightly off the axis of the ship allows longer landing length (important for the first shipboard jets), affords simultaneous takeoffs and recovery, and ensures that a landing aircraft that misses the arresting gear won’t then plow into parked or launching aircraft. This British idea was originally tested by repainting the landing areas on axial-deck carriers, and the results were good enough that the U.S. Navy installed the first true angled deck on Antietam (CV 36) in the fall of 1952. Over the next four days several aircraft models landed on and took off from the angled deck under various conditions and began proving the value of an innovation that has been a part of U.S. aircraft carrier design ever since.