USS Princeton (CVL-23)

USS Princeton off the coast of Seattle, Washington
History
United States
Name:	USS Princeton
Builder:	New York Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down:	2 June 1941
Launched:	18 October 1942
Commissioned:	25 February 1943
Fate:	Scuttled being severely damaged by Japanese air attack on 24 October 1944 in the Battle of Leyte Gulf
General characteristics
Class and type:	Independence-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	13,000 tons
Length:	622.5 ft (189.7 m)
Beam:	71.5 ft (21.8 m) (waterline) 109.2 ft (33.3 m) (extreme)
Draft:	26 ft (7.9 m)
Speed:	31 knots
Complement:	1,569 officers and men
Armament:	22 × Bofors 40 mm guns 16 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons
Aircraft carried:	45

The fourth USS Princeton (CVL-23) was a United States Navy Independence-class light aircraft carrier active in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. She was launched in 1942 and lost at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944.

The ship was laid down as the Cleveland-class light cruiser Tallahassee (CL-61) by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, 2 June 1941. She was reclassified as the Independence-class light aircraft carrier CVL-23 on 16 February 1942, renamed Princeton 31 March 1942, launched 18 October 1942, sponsored by Margaret Dodds (wife of Princeton University president Harold Dodds), and commissioned at Philadelphia 25 February 1943, Capt. George R. Henderson in command.

Following shakedown in the Caribbean, and reclassification to CVL-23 on 15 July 1943, Princeton, with Air Group 23 embarked, got underway for the Pacific. Arriving at Pearl Harbor 9 August, she sortied with TF 11 on the 25th and headed for Baker Island. There she served as flagship, TG 11.2 and provided air cover during the occupation of the island and the construction of an airfield there, 1–14 September. During that time her planes downed Japanese Emily reconnaissance planes and, more importantly, furnished the fleet with photographs of them.