16 AUG 1943
Newport News, VA commissioned
Commissioned under Captain Thomas L. Sprague. Shakedown training follows in the Chesapeake and Caribbean before returning to Norfolk.
Pacific Theater · 1943–1945
War chart & ship’s log — CV‑11, Essex‑class
Chronological · compiled from Naval History & Heritage Command (DANFS) and Navy records
Commissioned under Captain Thomas L. Sprague. Shakedown training follows in the Chesapeake and Caribbean before returning to Norfolk.
Sails for the Pacific via the Panama Canal, bound for San Francisco and, from there, Pearl Harbor.
Arrives to join the fast carrier task forces of the Pacific Fleet.
Strikes northeastern Kwajalein and strafes Ennuebing Island as Marines land, during the drive on the Marshalls.
During Operation Hailstone, a Japanese aerial torpedo strikes the starboard quarter 15 ft below the waterline, flooding compartments and jamming the rudder. 11 sailors killed. The crew rigs an improvised sail from hatch covers to help steer.
Limps into Pearl Harbor for emergency repairs before the crossing home.
Rudder and hull repaired; returns to fighting condition after nearly three months in the yard.
Strikes Peleliu’s airfields ahead of the Marine landing there.
Raids Japanese airfields as carrier strikes push into the southern Philippines.
Continues strikes against island bases through the central Philippines.
Back on station off Peleliu, supporting the Marines still fighting ashore.
Covers General MacArthur’s return — flies support for the Leyte landings.
An Intrepid scout spots Admiral Kurita’s Center Force, led by the super-battleship Yamato. Her airmen help sink the battleship Musashi and damage Yamato, Nagato, Haruna, and Myoko.
Strikes Admiral Ozawa’s decoy Northern Force, helping sink the light carrier Zuiho and a destroyer, and damaging fleet carrier Zuikaku.
After strikes on Clark Field, a kamikaze crashes into a port gun tub — 10 killed, 6 wounded.
Two kamikazes crash into the carrier in quick succession, killing 6 officers and 59 sailors. Damage control restores flight operations within two hours.
Sails home for repairs after the November attacks — her third trip to a West Coast yard in under a year.
Rejoins the fast carrier force staging for the final assault on Japan.
Strikes home-island airfields; a twin-engine bomber explodes 50 ft off the bow, starting hangar-deck fires that are quickly brought under control.
Planes damage 16 Japanese warships at anchor in the Inland Sea, including the battleship Yamato and carrier Amagi.
Pre-invasion strikes against Okinawa and the surrounding Ryukyus.
Flies support missions as the Okinawa invasion begins.
A Japanese plane dives into the flight deck — 8 killed, 21 wounded. Flight operations resume within three hours.
Her fourth return to a West Coast yard since commissioning — and her last of the war.
Strikes the isolated Japanese garrison, bypassed since 1943.
Arrives to stage for further operations. On the 15th, orders arrive to cease offensive action — Japan has surrendered.
Supports the Allied occupation of the Japanese home islands.
Arrives on the West Coast. Her war is over.