USS Kearsarge (CV-33)

Kearsarge before the Faith 7 recovery, 1963
History
United States
Name:	USS Kearsarge
Namesake:	USS Kearsarge (1861)
Builder:	New York Naval Shipyard
Laid down:	1 March 1944
Launched:	5 May 1945
Commissioned:	2 March 1946
Decommissioned:	16 June 1950
Recommissioned:	15 February 1952
Decommissioned:	13 February 1970
Reclassified:	CV to CVA 1952-02-15 CVA to CVS 1957 see SCB-27 and SCB-125 for conversion information
Fate:	Scrapped in 1974
General characteristics
Class and type:	Essex-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	As built: 27,100 tons standard
Length:	As built: 888 feet (271 m) overall
Beam:	As built: 93 feet (28 m) waterline
Draft:	As built: 28 feet 7 inches (8.71 m) light
Propulsion:	As designed: 8 × boilers 4 × Westinghouse geared steam turbines 4 × shafts 150,000 shp (110 MW)
Speed:	33 knots (61 km/h)
Complement:	3448 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 Bofors 40 mm guns 46 × single Oerlikon 20 mm cannons
Armor:	As built: 4 inch (100 mm) belt 2.5 inch (60 mm) hangar deck 1.5 inch (40 mm) protectice decks 1.5 inch (40 mm) conning tower
Aircraft carried:	As built: 90–100 aircraft

USS Kearsarge (CV/CVA/CVS-33) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the third US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for a Civil War-era steam sloop. Kearsarge was commissioned in March 1946. Modernized in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), she served in the Korean War, for which she earned two battle stars. In the late 1950s she was further modified to become an anti-submarine carrier (CVS). Kearsarge was the recovery ship for the last two manned Project Mercury space missions in 1962–1963. She completed her career serving in the Vietnam War, earning five battle stars.

She was decommissioned in 1970, and sold for scrap in 1974.

Kearsarge was one of the "long-hull" Essex-class ships. She was laid down on 1 March 1944 at the New York Navy Yard, and was launched on 5 May 1945, sponsored by Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch. Kearsarge commissioned on 2 March 1946, with Captain Francis J. McKenna in command.

Kearsarge arrived at her home port of Norfolk, Virginia on 21 April 1946, and for the next year engaged in training operations along the East Coast and Caribbean. She cleared Norfolk on 7 June 1947 on a midshipmen training cruise to the United Kingdom.

Upon her return to the United States in August, the carrier engaged in maneuvers for 10 months before departing Hampton Roads on 1 June 1948 for duty with the 6th Fleet. During her tour in the Mediterranean, units of the 6th Fleet were placed on alert to insure peace in the Middle East. Kearsarge returned to Quonset Point, Rhode Island on 2 October, and operated along the Atlantic Coast and the Caribbean until 27 January 1950, when she sailed for the West Coast. The carrier arrived Puget Sound Navy Yard on 23 February, and decommissioned there on 16 June 1950 for the SCB-27A modernization overhaul that would enable her to handle new jet aircraft.