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US Aircraft Carriers in World War II - CV-1 thru CV-8
Intro |  Operations |  Pre-war Carriers |  Essex Class |  Independence Class |  Images

Below are details on the first eight Fleet Carriers commissioned by the US Navy in World War II. These Carriers held the line until the first of the Essex Class carriers was commissioned in December 1942.

US Fleet Carriers
CARRIER STATS OPERATIONS
USS Langley (CV-1)
    1922 - 1942

Commissioned: 20 March 1922

Fate: scuttled 27 February 1942 by her escorting destroyers after being damaged by Japanese aircraft

Flight deck length (feet): 523
Speed (knots): 14
Compliment: 410
Air group size: 30

U.S. Navy's first aircraft carrier. Named in honor of aviation pioneer Samuel Pierpont Langley. Converted from the collier USS Jupiter. Converted to a seaplane tender (AV-3) in 1937.

USS Langley supported seaplane patrols and provided aircraft transportation services.
USS Lexington (CV-2)
    1927 - 1942

Commissioned December 1927

Fate: torpedoed 8 May 1942 by destroyer USS Phelps after being damaged at Battle of Coral Sea

Flight deck length: 866
Speed: 33.3
Compliment: 2,122
Air group size: 90

First U.S. aircraft carrier to be lost in World War II.

Wake Island Relief attempt
   (Dec 1941)
Mandates Raid
New Guinea Raid
   (Mar 1942)
Battle of Coral Sea
   (May 1942)
USS Saratoga (CV-3)     1927 - 1946

Commissioned: November 1927

Fate: sunk 25 July 1946 during the atomic bomb tests at Bikini, in the Marshall Islands

Flight deck length: 866
Speed: 33.3
Compliment: 2,122
Air group size: 90

  
USS Ranger (CV-4)     1934 - 1947

Commissioned: June 1934

Fate: scrapped February 1947

Flight deck length: 709
Speed: 29.3
Compliment: 1,788
Air group size: 76

  
USS Yorktown (CV-5)     1937 - 1942

Commissioned: 30 September 1937

Fate: received substantial damaged by Japanese carrier plans on June 4th during the battle of Midway; torpedoed and sunk 7 June 1942 by Japanese submarine I-168

Flight deck length: 802
Speed 32.5:
Compliment: 1,890
Air group size: 90

  
USS Enterprise (CV-6)     1938 - 1958

Commissioned: May 1938

Fate: scrapped September 1958

Flight deck length: 802
Speed 32.5:
Compliment: 1,890
Air group size: 90

  
USS Wasp (CV-7)
    1940 - 1942

Commissioned: April 1940

Fate: torpedoed 15 September 1942 by the Japanese submarine I-19; torpedoed and sunk from an escorting destroyer on same day

Flight deck length: 727
Speed: 29.5
Compliment: 2,167
Air group size: 84

  
USS Hornet (CV-8)     1941 - 1942

Commissioned: October 1941

Fate: lost 27 October 1942 after being badly damaged on 26 October 1942 during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

Flight deck length: 802
Speed 32.5:
Compliment: 1,890
Air group size: 90

  




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