![]() USS Tarawa underway in December 1952
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History | |
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Name | Tarawa |
Namesake | Battle of Tarawa |
Builder | Norfolk Naval Shipyard |
Laid down | 1 March 1944 |
Launched | 12 May 1945 |
Commissioned | 8 December 1945 |
Decommissioned | 30 June 1949 |
Recommissioned | 3 February 1951 |
Decommissioned | 13 May 1960 |
Reclassified |
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Stricken | 1 June 1967 |
Fate | Scrapped, 3 October 1968 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Essex-class aircraft carrier |
Displacement | 27,100 long tons (27,500 t) standard |
Length | 888 feet (271 m) overall |
Beam | 93 feet (28 m) |
Draft | 28 feet 7 inches (8.71 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph) |
Complement | 3448 officers and enlisted |
Armament | |
Armor |
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Aircraft carried | 90–100 aircraft |
USS Tarawa (CV/CVA/CVS-40, AVT-12) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during and shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the first US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the bloody 1943 Battle of Tarawa. Tarawa was commissioned in December 1945, too late to serve in World War II. After serving a short time in the Far East, she was decommissioned in 1949. She was soon recommissioned after the Korean War began, serving in the Atlantic as a replacement for carriers sent to Korea. In the early 1950s, she was redesignated an attack carrier (CVA) and then an antisubmarine warfare carrier (CVS). Except for one tour in the Far East, she spent her entire second career operating in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Consequently, Tarawa was the only ship of her class to never see combat action.
Unlike many of her sisters, Tarawa received no major modernizations, and thus throughout her career retained the classic appearance of a World War II Essex-class ship. She was decommissioned in 1960, and while in reserve was redesignated an aircraft transport (AVT). She was sold for scrap in 1968.
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