Allied Warships

USS Intrepid (CV 11)

Aircraft Carrier of the Essex class


USS Intrepid as modified after the war.

NavyThe US Navy
TypeAircraft Carrier
ClassEssex 
PennantCV 11 
Built byNewport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. (Newport News, Virginia, U.S.A.) 
Ordered3 Jul 1940 
Laid down1 Dec 1941 
Launched26 Apr 1943 
Commissioned16 Aug 1943 
End service15 Mar 1974 
History

Decommissioned 22 March 1947.
Recommissioned 20 June 1954.
Decommissioned 15 March 1974.
Stricken 23 February 1982.
Preserved at the Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City.

USS Intrepid won fame in the Pacific in World War II as the "Fighting I." She survived numerous kamikaze and bomb hits. The carrier fought in the Battle for Leyte Gulf in October 1944. Her combat record includes the sinking of two Japanese battleships and numerous other vessels, as well as the destruction of more than 600 enemy aircraft.

Intrepid served three combat tours off Vietnam and twice as NASA Prime Recovery Ship for the manned space program.

She was decommissioned in 1974, but was assigned by Congress as the Bicentennial Exposition Ship at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1975-76. USS Intrepid embarked on her second career as a sea air space museum in New York City in 1982. On her flight deck are more than 30 aircraft representing all of the U.S. armed services as well as British, French and Soviet jet fighters. This collection features an A-12 blackbird flown by the CIA throughout the Cold War. Permanent and rotating exhibits on Intrepid's hangar deck depict the past, present and future of military technology. Other displays honor all who have served this nation in uniform. USS Intrepid is a National Historic Landmark.

 

Commands listed for USS Intrepid (CV 11)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

CommanderFromTo
1T/R.Adm. Thomas Lamison Sprague, USN16 Aug 194328 Mar 1944
2T/Capt. Richard Kenna Gaines, USN28 Mar 194419 May 1944
3T/R.Adm. William Dodge Sample, USN19 May 194430 May 1944
4T/R.Adm. Joseph Francis Bolger, USN30 May 194415 Feb 1945
5T/Capt. Giles Ezra Short, USN15 Feb 194531 Jan 1946

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Notable events involving Intrepid include:


12 Feb 1944
Task Force 58 departed Majuro Atoll for operation HAILSTONE, a raid against the Japanese base at Truk Atoll.

Task Force 58 was made up of the following ships;

Task Group 58.1
Aircraft carriers USS Enterprise (Capt. M.B. Gardner, USN), USS Yorktown (Capt. R.E. Jennings, USN), light carrier USS Belleau Wood (Capt. A.M. Pride, USN), light cruisers Santa Fé (Capt. J. Wright, USN), Mobile (Capt. C.J. Wheeler, USN), Biloxi (Capt. D.M. McGurl, USN), USS Oakland (Capt. W.K. Phillips, USN) and the destroyers USS Clarence K. Bronson (Lt.Cdr. J.C. McGoughran, USN), USS Cotten (Cdr. F.T. Sloat, USN), USS Dortch (Cdr. R.C. Young, USN), USS Gatling (Cdr. A.F. Richardson, USN), USS Healy (Cdr. J.C. Atkeson, USN), USS Cogswell (Cdr. H.T. Deutermann, USN), USS Caperton (Cdr. W.J. Miller, USN), USS Ingersoll (Cdr. A.C. Veasey, USN), USS Knapp (Cdr. F. Virden, USN).

Task Group 58.2
Aircraft carriers USS Essex (Capt. R.A. Ofstie, USN), USS Intrepid (Capt. T.L. Sprague, USN), light carrier USS Cabot (Capt. M.F. Schoeffel, USN), heavy cruisers USS Wichita (Capt J.J. Mahoney, USN), USS Baltimore (Capt. W.C. Calhoun, USN), heavy cruiser USS San Francisco (Capt. H.E. Overesch, USN), light cruiser USS San Diego (Capt. L.J. Hudson, USN), destroyers USS Owen (Cdr. R.W. Wood, USN), USS Miller (Cdr. T.H. Kobey, USN), USS The Sullivans (Cdr. K.M. Gentry, USN), USS Stephen Potter (Cdr. C.H. Crichton, USN), USS Hickox (Cdr. W.M. Sweetser, USN), USS Hunt (Cdr. H.A. Knoertzer, USN), USS Lewis Hancock (Cdr. C.H. Lyman, 3rd, USN), USS Stembel (Cdr. W.L. Tagg, USN) and USS Stack (Lt.Cdr. R.E. Wheeler, USN).

Task Group 58.3
Aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill (Capt. T.P. Jeter, USN), light carriers USS Monterey (Capt. L.T. Hundt, USN), USS Cowpens (Capt. R.P. McConnell, USN), battleships USS North Carolina (Capt. F.P. Thomas, USN), USS Massachusetts (Capt. T.D. Ruddock, Jr., USN), USS South Dakota (Capt. A.E. Smith, USN), USS Alabama (Capt. F.D. Kirtland, USN), USS Iowa (Capt. J.L. McCrea, USN), USS New Jersey (Capt. C.F. Holden, USN), heavy cruisers USS Minneapolis (Capt. R.W. Bates, USN), USS New Orleans (Capt. S.R. Shumaker, USN), destroyers USS Izard (Cdr. E.K. van Swearingen, USN), USS Charrette (Cdr. E.S. Karpe, USN), USS Conner (Cdr. W.E. Kaitner, USN), USS Bell (Cdr. L.C. Petross, USN), USS Burns (Cdr. D.T. Eller, USN), USS Bradford (Cdr. R.L. Morris, USN), USS Brown (Cdr. T.H. Copeman, USN), USS Cowell (Cdr. C.W. Parker, USN), USS Wilson (Lt.Cdr. C.K. Duncan, USN), USS Sterett (Lt.Cdr. F.J.L. Blouin, USN) and USS Lang (Cdr. H. Payson, Jr., USN).

Media links


Battle of Surigao Strait

Anthony P. Tully


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