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Photo #  NH 89281:  USS Hancock underway, Dec. 1944

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Hancock (CV-19, later CVA-19), 1944-1976

USS Hancock, a 27,100-ton Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier, was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. Commissioned in April 1944, she arrived in the Pacific the following summer and conducted her first combat operations during raids on the Ryukyus, Formosa and the Philippines in mid-October. Later in the month, Hancock's planes hit Japanese warships during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. During the remainder of 1944, she continued to attack targets in the Philippines area, despite receiving modest damage from a suicide plane on 25 November and from a typhoon in mid-December.

In January 1945, Hancock helped prepare for landings on Luzon and took part in Task Force 38's raid into the South China sea. A tragic aircraft accident on her flight deck killed 50 of her men and injured many more on 21 January, but did not prevent her from sending planes to attack Okinawa on the following day. The carrier hit targets in the Japanese home islands in February and March, plus lending aerial assistance to the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. On 20 March, Hancock was lightly damaged when a "Kamikaze" crashed nearby. She was much more seriously hurt by a suicide plane on 7 April, while supporting the Okinawa operation, suffering the loss of 62 crewmen killed and requiring shipyard repairs in the United States. Returning to the western Pacific in July and attacking Wake Island while en route, Hancock struck targets in Japan during the final weeks of World War II. After Japan's August 1945 capitulation, she supported initial occupation efforts, then went back to the U.S. in October. The rest of 1945 and the first four months of 1946 were mainly spent transportating men and aircraft.

Hancock was inactive from April 1946 until February 1954, when she recommissioned after receiving an SCB-27C modernization that fitted her to operate heavier, higher-performance aircraft. Among her new equipment was a pair of steam catapults, the first installed on a U.S. Navy carrier. Reclassified CVA-19, she deployed to the Far East in 1955-56, then was further modernized with an angled flight deck and enclosed bow. Back in service in late 1956, Hancock began nearly two decades of continuous Pacific Fleet operations, including frequent western Pacific cruises with the Seventh Fleet. From 1965 through 1972, she was a regular Vietnam War participant, making seven combat deployments. In April and May 1975, while on her final WestPac tour, she was one of the ships that conducted the evacuation of South Vietnam when that long-suffering country was overrun by North Vietnamese forces. Redesignated CV-19 in June 1975, Hancock decommissioned in late January 1976. She was sold for scrapping in August of that year.

This page features selected views of USS Hancock (CV-19, later CVA-19).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 89281

USS Hancock (CV-19)


Underway on 15 December 1944, during operations in the Philippines area.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 153KB; 740 x 640 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-1929-A (Color)

USS Hancock (CV-19)

Recovers a Grumman F6F "Hellcat" fighter, circa 1944.
The ship is painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 3a.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 118KB; 740 x 600 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-470280

USS Hancock (CV-19)


Recovering aircraft during operations in the South China Sea, January 1945. Three F6F "Hellcat" fighters are flying overhead as a TBM "Avenger" torpedo plane approaches at left.
Photographed from USS New Jersey (BB-62) by Lieutenant Commander Charles Fenno Jacobs, USNR.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 122KB; 680 x 675 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 97539

USS Hancock (CVA-19)


Underway at sea on 15 July 1957. She was then serving with the Seventh Fleet in the western Pacific.
There are seven FJ "Fury", ten F2H "Banshee" (two different models); two F7U "Cutlass", fifteen AD "Skyraider" and three AJ "Savage" aircraft on her flight deck.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 94312

USS Hancock (CVA-19)


In San Francisco Bay, California, in September 1957. Her crew is spelling out "Our Town" on her flight deck.

Courtesy of Robert M. Cieri, 1982.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 122KB; 740 x 575 pixels

 
Photo #: USN 1162018

USS Hancock (CVA-19)


Off San Diego, California, 11 February 1975, shortly before beginning her final deployment to the western Pacific.
There are twelve A-4 "Skyhawk" attack planes and one SH-3 helicopter on her flight deck.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

Online Image: 111KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-N-1162018.

 
Photo #: 80-G-281338

Carrier Raids on Formosa, October 1944


Crewmen on USS Hancock (CV-19) move rockets to planes, while preparing for strikes on Formosa, 12 October 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-289604

Carrier Raids on the Philippines, November 1944


Flight Deck Officer on USS Hancock (CV-19) waves the "take-off" flag at a SB2C "Helldiver" bomber, during strikes on Manila Bay, 25 November 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 610 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-328574

USS Hancock (CV-19)


Casualties are buried at sea on 9 April 1945. They were killed when Hancock was hit by a "Kamikaze" while operating off Okinawa on 7 April.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 104KB; 740 x 590 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: USN 1110178-B

USS Hancock (CVA-19)


Catapult crewmen position an A-4C "Skyhawk" attack plane for launch, 24 March 1965. The carrier was then operating in Southeast Asian waters.
Photographed by PH1 Jean Cote and PHC Robert Moeser.
This A-4C appears to be Bureau # 149508. Markings below the cockpit indicate that the plane's assigned pilot was Lieutenant Commander Olof M. Carlson.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-N-1110178-B.

 
Photo #: USN 1142095

USS Hancock (CVA-19)


A crewman wheels a cart loaded with three "Sidewinder" air-to-air guided missiles across the flight deck, during operations off Vietnam in April 1967. Hancock was then on her third Vietnam War deployment.
Photographed by PHC R.D. Moeser.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 610 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-N-1142095.

 
Photo #: NH 76187-KN (color)

Insignia of USS Hancock (CVA-19)

Jacket patch received in 1972.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 96KB; 685 x 675 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 20 March 2001
New image added 2 October 2003