Independence-class aircraft carrier

Last updated

USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) underway at sea on 23 January 1944 (80-G-212798).jpg
USS San Jacinto on a training cruise off the east coast in 1944
Class overview
Builders New York Shipbuilding
Operators
Succeeded by Saipan class
Built1941–1943
In commission1943–1989
Completed9
Lost1
Retired8
General characteristics
Type Light aircraft carrier
Displacement11,000 tons (standard), 14,220 design, 15,100 design full load
Length
Beam
  • 71 ft 6 in (21.8 m) hull
  • 109 ft 2 in (33.3 m) over flight deck and projections
Draught26 ft
Propulsion
  • steam turbines, 4 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 565 PSI (850 F)
  • four propellers
  • 100,000 horsepower (75 MW)
Speed31.5 knot (36 mph 58 km/h) maximum
Range13,000 nautical miles (24,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement140 officer, 1,321 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems
SC radar
Armament26 × Bofors 40 mm guns (2 quad, 8 dual, 16 single, 10 Mk 51 directors)
Aircraft carried

The Independence-class aircraft carriers were a class of light carriers built for the United States Navy that served during World War II.

Contents

Development

USS Princeton Aft view of USS Princeton (CV-23) underway on 28 March 1943 (19-N-42904).jpg
USS Princeton
USS Belleau Wood USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) off the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 18 April 1943 (19-N-43702).jpg
USS Belleau Wood
USS Cowpens USS Cowpens (CVL-25) at sea on 31 August 1944.jpg
USS Cowpens
USS Monterey USS Monterey (CVL-26) at anchor in Ulithi Atoll on 24 November 1944.jpg
USS Monterey

Adapted from the design for the Cleveland-class light cruisers, this class of ship resulted from the interest of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in naval air power. With war looming, Roosevelt, a former Assistant Secretary of the Navy, noted no new fleet aircraft carriers were expected to be completed before 1944. [1] He proposed to convert some of the many cruisers then under construction to carriers. Studies of cruiser-size aircraft carriers had shown the type had serious limitations, and on 13 October 1941, the General Board of the United States Navy replied that such a conversion showed too many compromises to be effective.

Undeterred, President Roosevelt ordered another study. On 25 October 1941, the Navy's Bureau of Ships reported that aircraft carriers converted from cruiser hulls would be of lesser capability, but available much sooner. [2] After the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the need for more carriers became urgent. The Navy accelerated construction of the 34,000-ton Essex-class aircraft carriers, but these large ships could not be finished quickly. The Cleveland-class light cruisers then under construction were adopted for this purpose.

Plans developed for this conversion showed much more promise than expected. Nine light cruisers were reordered as carriers in the first half of 1942. The Independence-class design had a relatively short and narrow flight deck and hangar, with a small island superstructure. The hangar, flight deck, and island represented a significant increase in the ship's topside weight. To compensate for this, blisters were added to the original cruiser hull, which increased the original beam by 5 feet (1.5 m). Ships of this class carried a small air group – only about 30 aircraft. This was originally set to consist of nine fighters, nine scout bombers, and nine torpedo bombers, but later revised to about two dozen fighters and nine torpedo bombers.

These were limited-capability ships, whose principal virtue was near-term availability. Their limited size made for seakeeping difficulties in the many typhoons of the Pacific, and their small flight decks led to a high aircraft accident rate. However, being based on a light cruiser, they were fast ships, much faster than the Casablanca-class escort carriers. The cruiser hull and engineering allowed them the speed necessary to operate with the main fleet carrier task groups. Their names followed the US Navy's policy of naming aircraft carriers after historic navy ships (Independence) or historic battles (Cowpens).

Service

Birmingham attempts to fight fires aboard Princeton during Battle of Leyte Gulf USS Birmingham comes alongside the burning USS Princeton.jpg
Birmingham attempts to fight fires aboard Princeton during Battle of Leyte Gulf

Completed in the course of 1943, and coming into service with the first eight of the Essex-class carriers, the nine Independence-class ships made up a vital component of the Fast Carrier Task Force, which carried the Navy's offensive through the central and western Pacific from November 1943 through August 1945. Eight of these carriers participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, which effectively ended Japan's carrier air power. The light carriers provided 40 percent of the Fast Carrier Task Force's fighters and 36 percent of the torpedo bombers. The protection on these carriers was modest, and munitions often had to be stowed at the hangar level, a factor that contributed greatly to the loss of Princeton in October 1944.

Ships in class

The nine ships of the Independence class were all converted from Cleveland-class light cruisers building at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard, Camden, New Jersey. Initially classified as "aircraft carriers" (CV), all were re-designated "small aircraft carriers" (CVL) on 15 July 1943 while four ships were still under construction.

List of Independence-class aircraft carriers
Ship NameHull No.BuilderLaid DownLaunchedCommissionedDecommissionedFate
Independence (ex-Amsterdam)CVL-22 New York Shipbuilding Corporation 1 May 194122 August 194214 January 194328 August 1946Used as target in Operation Crossroads, 1946; Scuttled  off San Francisco , 1951
Princeton (ex-Tallahassee)CVL-232 June 194118 October 194225 February 1943Scuttled following air attack, 24 October 1944
Belleau Wood (ex-New Haven)CVL-2411 August 19416 December 194231 March 194313 January 1947Transferred to France as Bois Belleau, 1953
Cowpens (ex-Huntington)CVL-2517 November 194117 January 194328 May 194313 January 1947Broken up at Portland, 1960
Monterey (ex-Dayton)CVL-2629 December 194128 February 194317 June 194311  February 1947Broken up at Philadelphia, 1971
15 September 195016 January 1956
Langley (ex-Fargo, ex-Crown Point)CVL-2711 April 194222 May 194331 August 194311 February 1947Transferred to France as La Fayette, 1951
Cabot (ex-Wilmington)CVL-2816 March 19424 April 194324 July 194311 February 1947Transferred to Spain as Dédalo, 1967
27 October 194821 January 1955
Bataan (ex-Buffalo)CVL-2931 August 19421 August 194317 November 194311 February 1947Broken up at San Francisco, 1961
13 May 19509 April 1954
San Jacinto (ex-Newark, ex-Reprisal)CVL-3026 October 194226 September 194315 November 19431  March 1947Broken up at Los Angeles, 1971
Spanish Navy aircraft carrier Dedalo R-01 (ex USS Cabot CVL-28) in 1988. Spanish aircraft carrier Dedalo (R01) underway in the Mediterranean Sea, 1 June 1988 (6430233).jpg
Spanish Navy aircraft carrier Dédalo R-01 (ex USS Cabot CVL-28) in 1988.

Disposal

Side by side comparisons: two fleet carriers from the outbreak of the war, USS Saratoga and USS Enterprise, moored near the Essex-class USS Hornet. Beyond the Hornet is moored the Independence-class USS San Jacinto. USS Saratoga (CV-3), USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Hornet (CV-12) and USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) docked at Alameda in September 1945 (80-G-701512).jpg
Side by side comparisons: two fleet carriers from the outbreak of the war, USS Saratoga and USS Enterprise, moored near the Essex-class USS Hornet. Beyond the Hornet is moored the Independence-class USS San Jacinto.

There was little margin for growth, as the ships' post-war careers showed. Independence was expended as an atomic bomb target, and the rest were laid up in 1947. Five returned to service in 1948–53, two with the French Navy. Two were used as training carriers, while Bataan saw Korean War combat duty with Marine Corps air groups. She and Cabot received anti-submarine warfare modernizations in the early 1950s, emerging with two funnels instead of the original four. All but the French ships were decommissioned in 1954–56 and were reclassified as aircraft transports in 1959. Cabot got a new lease on life in 1967, when she became the Spanish Navy's carrier Dédalo, serving until 1989 (in Spanish service, she was the first carrier to regularly deploy the Harrier jump jet). Despite efforts to preserve her, Cabot was scrapped at Brownsville in 1999–2003. Preservation efforts continued until the hull was half scrapped.[ citation needed ]

See also

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Independence class aircraft carrier at Wikimedia Commons

Related Research Articles

The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier, also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slower type of aircraft carrier used by the Royal Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, the United States Navy, the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II. They were typically half the length and a third the displacement of larger fleet carriers, more-lightly armed and armored, and carried fewer planes. Escort carriers were most often built upon a commercial ship hull, so they were cheaper and could be built quickly. This was their principal advantage as they could be completed in greater numbers as a stop-gap when fleet carriers were scarce. However, the lack of protection made escort carriers particularly vulnerable, and several were sunk with great loss of life. The light carrier was a similar concept to the escort carrier in most respects, but was fast enough to operate alongside fleet carriers.

USS <i>Langley</i> (CVL-27) Independence-class aircraft carrier of the US Navy in service 1943-1947

USS Langley (CVL-27) was an Independence-class light aircraft carrier that served the United States Navy from 1943 to 1947, and French Navy as La Fayette from 1951 to 1963.

USS <i>Independence</i> (CVL-22) Independence-class light aircraft carrier of the US Navy

USS Independence (CVL-22) was a United States Navy light aircraft carrier. The lead ship of her class, she served during World War II.

USS <i>Lake Champlain</i> (CV-39) Essex-class aircraft carrier of the US Navy

USS Lake Champlain (CV/CVA/CVS-39) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. She was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812.

USS <i>Cowpens</i> (CVL-25) Independence-class light aircraft carrier of the US Navy

USS Cowpens (CV-25/CVL-25/AVT-1), nicknamed The Mighty Moo, was an 11,000-ton Independence-class light aircraft carrier that served the United States Navy from 1943 to 1947.

USS <i>Monterey</i> (CVL-26) Independence-class light aircraft carrier of the US Navy

USS Monterey (CVL-26) was an Independence-class light aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, in service during World War II and used in training for several years thereafter.

USS <i>Cabot</i> (CVL-28) Independence-class light aircraft carrier of the US Navy

USS Cabot (CVL-28/AVT-3) was an Independence-class light aircraft carrier in the United States Navy, the second ship to carry the name, after the explorer John Cabot. Cabot was commissioned in 1943 and served until 1947. She was recommissioned as a training carrier from 1948 to 1955. From 1967 to 1989, she served in Spain as Dédalo. After attempts to preserve her failed, she was scrapped in 2002.

USS <i>San Jacinto</i> (CVL-30) Independence-class light aircraft carrier of the US Navy

USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) of the United States Navy was an Independence-class light aircraft carrier that served during World War II. She was named for the Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution. Future U.S. President George H. W. Bush served aboard the ship during World War II.

Three ships of the United States Navy have been named Cabot, after the explorer John Cabot.

1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier 1940s class of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy

The 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier, commonly referred to as the British Light Fleet Carrier, was a light aircraft carrier design created by the Royal Navy during the Second World War, and used by eight naval forces between 1944 and 2001. They were designed and constructed by civilian shipyards to serve as an intermediate step between the expensive, full-size fleet aircraft carriers and the less expensive but limited-capability escort carriers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York Shipbuilding Corporation</span> US shipbuilding company

The New York Shipbuilding Corporation was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United States Coast Guard, and other maritime concerns. At its peak during World War II, NYSB was the largest and most productive shipyard in the world. Its best-known vessels include the destroyer USS Reuben James (DD-245), the cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35), the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), the nuclear-powered cargo ship NS Savannah, and a quartet of cargo-passenger liners nicknamed the 4 Aces.

<i>Tiger</i>-class cruiser Class of British light cruisers

The Tiger class were a class of three British warships of the 20th century and the last all-gun cruisers of the Royal Navy. Construction of three Minotaur-class cruisers began during World War II but, due to post-war austerity, the Korean War and focus on the Royal Air Force over the surface fleet, the hulls remained unfinished. Against a background of changing priorities and financial constraints, approval to complete them to a modified design was given in November 1954 and the three ships – Tiger, Lion and Blake – entered service from March 1959.

<i>Baltimore</i>-class cruiser Class of US Navy heavy cruisers

The Baltimore-class heavy cruisers were a class of heavy cruisers in the United States Navy commissioned during and shortly after World War II. Fourteen Baltimores were completed, more than any other class of heavy cruiser, along with another three ships of the Oregon City sub-class. The Baltimores also were the first cruisers in the US Navy to be designed without the limitations of the London Naval Treaty.

<i>Cleveland</i>-class cruiser Class of light cruisers of the United States Navy

The Cleveland class was a group of light cruisers built for the United States Navy during World War II. They were the most numerous class of light cruisers ever built. Fifty-two were ordered, and 36 were completed, 27 as cruisers and nine as the Independence class of light aircraft carriers. They were deactivated within a few years after the end of the war, but six were converted into missile ships, and some of these served into the 1970s. One ship of the class remains as a museum ship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-submarine warfare carrier</span> Type of small aircraft carrier

An anti-submarine warfare carrier is a type of small aircraft carrier whose primary role is as the nucleus of an anti-submarine warfare hunter-killer group. This type of ship came into existence during the Cold War as a development of the escort carriers used in the ASW role in the North Atlantic during World War II.

<i>Saipan</i>-class aircraft carrier Light aircraft carrier class of the US Navy

The Saipan-class aircraft carriers were a class of two light carriers Saipan (CVL-48) and Wright (CVL-49) built for the United States Navy during World War II. Like the nine Independence-class light carriers, they were based on cruiser hulls. However, they differed from the earlier light carriers in that they were built from the keel up as carriers, and were based on heavy rather than light cruiser hulls. Completed too late for the war, they served as carriers until the mid-1950s, then were converted into a command ship (Wright) and a major communications relay ship (Saipan) in the late 1950s, and served in those roles until 1970. They were both scrapped in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline for aircraft carrier service</span>

Aircraft carriers have their origins during the days of World War I. The earliest experiments consisted of fitting temporary "flying off" platforms to the gun turrets of the warships of several nations, notably the United States and the United Kingdom. The first ship to be modified with a permanent flight deck was the battlecruiser HMS Furious, which initially had a single flying-off deck forward of the original superstructure. Subsequently, she was modified with a separate "landing on" deck aft and later with a full flush deck. Other ships, often liners, were modified to have full flush flight decks, HMS Argus being the first to have such modification begun. Those first faltering steps gave little indication of just how important the aircraft carrier was to prove to be. During the inter-war years, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States built up significant carrier fleets so that by the beginning of World War II, they had 18 carriers between them. The 1940 Battle of Taranto and 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor in retrospect showed the world that the aircraft carrier was to be the most important ship in the modern fleet. Today, aircraft carriers are the capital ships of the navies they serve in, and in the case of modern US "supercarriers", they embark an air group that is effectively a small air force.

<i>Essex</i>-class aircraft carrier 1940s class of aircraft carrier of the United States Navy

The Essex class is a retired class of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. The 20th century's most numerous class of capital ship, the class consisted of 24 vessels, which came in "short-hull" and "long-hull" versions. Thirty-two ships were ordered, but as World War II wound down, six were canceled before construction, and two were canceled after construction had begun. Fourteen saw combat during World War II. None were lost to enemy action, though several sustained crippling damage due to kamikaze attacks. Essex-class carriers were the backbone of the U.S. Navy from mid-1943 and, with the three Midway-class carriers added just after the war, continued to be the heart of U.S. naval strength until supercarriers joined the fleet in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Several of the carriers were rebuilt to handle heavier and faster aircraft of the early jet age, and some served until well after the Vietnam War. Of the 24 ships in the class, four – Yorktown, Hornet, Lexington, and Intrepid – have been preserved as museum ships.

References

  1. Friedman, Norman U.S. Aircraft Carriers United States Naval Institute (1983) ISBN   0-87021-739-9 pp. 412–413
  2. Friedman, p. 182

Bibliography