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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 97618:  USS Wright with SNJ aircraft on deck.

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

USS Wright (CVL-49, later AVT-7 and CC-2), 1947-1980.

USS Wright, a 14,500-ton Saipan class small aircraft carrier, was built at Camden, New Jersey. Commissioned in February 1947, she spent most of her time through 1950 serving as a training carrier out of Pensacola, Florida, with occasional diversions to anti-submarine warfare operations and other duties. In January-March 1951, the ship made the first of four overseas deployments, this one with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Following more than a year of anti-submarine exercises and other training activities off the U.S. east coast, Wright crossed the Atlantic again in August 1952 to take part in NATO Operation "Mainbrace" in northern European waters. She made a final Mediterranean deployment in February-May 1953.

In April 1954, Wright passed through the Panama Canal to join the Pacific Fleet. She operated in the Far East with the Seventh Fleet, carrying a Marine Corps attack squadron, during May-October 1954. The next year she participated in the nuclear weapons test Operation "Wigwam", then began inactivation preparations. USS Wright decommissioned at Bremerton, Washington, in March 1956. While in reserve, she was redesignated an aircraft transport (AVT-7) in May 1959. In March 1962, she entered the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to begin conversion to a command ship. Reclassified CC-2 in September of that year and recommissioned in May 1963, her remaining active service took place as USS Wright (CC-2).

This page features all of our views of USS Wright (CVL-49), and provides a link to views of her after she became a command ship (CC-2).

For images of this ship after she was converted to a command ship, see:

  • USS Wright (CC-2).

    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 #: 80-G-195684

    USS Wright (CVL-49)


    Photographed on 1 May 1947.

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

    Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 530 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: NH 97618

    USS Wright (CVL-49)


    Operating on training duty, with six SNJ "Texan" aircraft on deck lined up for takeoff, circa the later 1940s or early 1950s.
    The photo's original caption reads "The stage is set for the final scene of Basic Training: the flight students will qualify six carrier landings in SNJ 'Texans' and the curtain will descend on the graduation finale."

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

    Online Image: 113KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 97615

    USS Wright (CVL-49)


    Photographed circa the mid-1950s, with AD and F4U type aircraft parked on her flight deck.

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

    Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 595 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 97616

    USS Wright (CVL-49)


    Photographed circa the mid-1950s, with a deckload of AD "Skyraider" aircraft, automobiles and ship's boats.

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

    Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 97617

    USS Wright (CVL-49)


    Underway circa the mid-1950s, with about eighteen U.S. Marine Corps AD "Skyraider" aircraft parked on her flight deck.

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

    Online Image: 106KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 62399

    USS Wright (CVL-49)


    Lieutenant James waves a Texas flag from the cockpit of his F6F "Hellcat" fighter, after landing on board the Wright, about 9 August 1948.

    Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 75KB; 595 x 765 pixels

     

    For images of this ship after she was converted to a command ship, see:

  • USS Wright (CC-2).


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


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 3 June 2001
    Link added 27 October 2001