USS Intrepid (CVA-11)

USS Intrepid (CV-11) in the Philippine Sea, November 1944
History
Name:	Intrepid
Builder:	Newport News Shipbuilding
Laid down:	1 December 1941
Launched:	26 April 1943
Commissioned:	16 August 1943
Decommissioned:	22 March 1947
Recommissioned:	9 February 1952
Decommissioned:	9 April 1952
Recommissioned:	18 June 1954
Decommissioned:	15 March 1974
Reclassified:	CVA-11 on 1 October 1952 CVS-11 on 8 December 1961
Struck:	23 February 1982
Nickname(s):	"Fighting I", "Dry I"
Status:	Museum ship at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Essex-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	As built: 27,100 tons standard 36,380 tons full load
Length:	As built: 820 feet (250 m) waterline 872 feet (266 m) overall
Beam:	As built: 93 feet (28 m) waterline 147 feet 6 inches (45 m) overall
Draft:	As built: 28 feet 5 inches (8.66 m) light 34 feet 2 inches (10.41 m) full load
Decks:	3
Propulsion:	As designed: 8 × boilers 565 psi (3,900 kPa) 850 °F (450 °C) 4 × Westinghouse geared steam turbines 4 × shafts 150,000 shp (110 MW)
Speed:	33 knots (61 km/h)
Range:	20,000 nautical miles (37,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement:	As built: 2,600 officers and enlisted
Armament:	As built: 4 × twin 5 inch (127 mm) 38 caliber guns 4 × single 5 inch (127 mm) 38 caliber guns 8 × quadruple 40 mm 56 caliber guns 46 × single 20 mm 78 caliber guns
Armor:	As built: 2.5 to 4 inch (60 to 100 mm) belt 1.5 inch (40 mm) hangar and protectice decks 4 inch (100 mm) bulkheads 1.5 inch (40 mm) STS top and sides of pilot house 2.5 inch (60 mm) top of steering gear
Aircraft carried:	As built: 90–100 aircraft 1 × deck-edge elevator 2 × centerline elevators

USS Intrepid
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Intrepid functioning as the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City.
Location	Intrepid Square, New York City
Coordinates	40°45′53″N 74°00′04″W / 40.7648°N 74.0010°W / 40.7648; -74.0010Coordinates: 40°45′53″N 74°00′04″W / 40.7648°N 74.0010°W / 40.7648; -74.0010
Built	1941
Architect	Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock
NRHP Reference #	86000082
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	14 January 1986
Designated NHL	14 January 1986

USS Intrepid (CV/CVA/CVS-11), also known as The Fighting "I", is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, most notably the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career, she served mainly in the Atlantic, but also participated in the Vietnam War. Her notable achievements include being the recovery ship for a Mercury and a Gemini space mission. Because of her prominent role in battle, she was nicknamed "the Fighting I", while her frequent bad luck and time spent in dry dock for repairs—she was torpedoed once and hit by four separate Japanese kamikaze aircraft—earned her the nicknames "Decrepit" and "the Dry I". Decommissioned in 1974, in 1982 Intrepid became the foundation of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.

Intrepid was launched on 26 April 1943 by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, the fifth Essex-class aircraft carrier to be launched. She was sponsored by the wife of Vice Admiral John H. Hoover. On 16 August 1943, she was commissioned with Captain Thomas L. Sprague in command before heading to the Caribbean for shakedown and training.Intrepid's motto upon setting sail was "In Mare In Coelo", which means "On the sea, in the sky", "In the sea in Heaven", or "On the sea and in the air".