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Photo # NH 96946:  USS Valley Forge in the Pacific, circa 1962-63

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIP TYPES -- FLEET AIRCRAFT CARRIERS --

Essex/Ticonderoga Class Aircraft Carriers --
Miscellanous Configurations

Nine Essex and Ticonderoga class aircraft carriers were untouched by the extensive SCB-27 and SCB-125 modernizations of the 1950s. Franklin and Bunker Hill, the two unmodernized Essexes, had received massive battle damage repairs late in World War II and saw no further significant active service. However, six of the seven Ticonderogas, with the three larger Midways, largely carried the Navy's carrier force through the later 1940s and the Korean War era, providing time for the rebuilding programs to bring forth more capable ships.

By the mid-1950s, time had largely passed the unmodernized carriers by. Incapable of handling modern aircraft types and no longer required to fill out the contemporary Navy force structure, five of them, Franklin, Bunker Hill, Leyte, Tarawa and Philippine Sea were reclassified as aircraft transports (AVT) in May 1959. They were held in reserve against the prospect that a really big overseas conflict would require fast, spacious ships to lift urgently-needed military aircraft to the war zone, as had been the case in both World War II and the Korean War. During the 1960s, however, aerial refueling made possible swift overseas deployment of nearly all tactical airplanes, greatly reducing the need for ships to fulfill this special mission.

Beginning in 1952 Antietam, another of the Ticonderogas, served as test ship for the revolutionary angled flight deck. Modifications required for this role were essentially superficial. She retained the relatively light flight deck structure, older catapults and other features of the other unmodernized ships. Antietam was employed into the early 1960s as training carrier, a job for which her new flight deck configuration made her quite suitable until a more-capable ship became available.

The three remaining Ticonderogas, Boxer, Princeton and Valley Forge became amphibious assault ships (LPH). U.S. Marines and their helicopters now constituted their "main battery". Fast and roomy, though not particularly economical, they offered some capabilities that were not available even in the new LPHs that joined the fleet between 1961 and 1970. During the Vietnam war build-up, these big ships also were employed as aircraft transports for Army and Marine Corps helicopters and small airplanes, which could not use aerial refueling to deploy overseas.

Modifications for other special missionss were also considered. Among these were fast logistics ships, especially high-capability amphibious warfare vessels and mobile space rocket launching ships, which could put military satellites into orbits not originally accessible from launch sites in the United States. Though all these schemes had merit, costs and the availability of alternative means ensured that they not were pursued.

This page features limited pictorial coverage of Essex/Ticonderoga class aircraft carriers in miscellanous configurations.

For more views of Essex and Ticonderoga class aircraft carriers, see:

  • Essex class; and
  • Ticonderoga class.

    For coverage of other classes of U.S. Navy fleet aircraft carriers, see: Fleet Aircraft Carriers -- Overview and Special Image Selection.

    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 97364

    USS Antietam (CVA-36)


    Conducting flight operations in the Virginia Capes area on 14 January 1953, "to obtain a critical evaluation of the operational suitability of canted flight decks as a primary means of operating carrier aircraft" (quoted from the original caption).
    Antietam had just returned to service following installation of the then-experimental angled ("canted") flight deck. A F9F "Panther" jet fighter has just left the angled deck, just forward of her midships elevator. Other planes (all jet fighters) parked on deck include F9F "Cougars" (forward), F2H "Banshees" and an FJ "Fury" (immediately forward of the ship's island).

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

    Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     
    Photo #: KN-4834 (Color)

    USS Antietam (CVS-36)

    Operating training aircraft, 19 April 1961.
    Planes on deck include T2J "Buckeyes" amidships and forward and AD "Skyraiders" parked aft.
    Note "dayglo" paint on the aircraft and "mothballed" 5"/38 guns in the carriers port side sponsons.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

    Online Image: 129KB; 740 x 600 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-KN-4834

     
    Photo #: NH 73454

    USS Princeton (LPH-5)


    Photographed after her 1961 "FRAM" modernization, with UH-34 helicopters on her flight deck.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 131KB; 740 x 620 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 96946

    USS Valley Forge (LPH-8)


    Underway in the Pacific Ocean, circa 1962-63, prior to her "FRAM II" overhaul. She has fifteen UH-34 helicopters spotted in take-off positions on her flight deck.
    Photo was received by "All Hands" magazine on 22 July 1963.

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

    Online Image: 138KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 97285

    USS Boxer (LPH-4)


    At Mayport, Florida, in August 1965, just prior to departing for Vietnam with elements of the Army's First Cavalry Division on board. She carried 1200 personnel, 205 helicopters and 6 OV-1 airplanes to the combat zone.
    Aircraft on her flight deck include 6 OV-1 (dark colored-forward); 4 CH-54 (white-just forward of island); 56 CH-47 (dark colored-amidships and aft) and 36 UH-1 (white-amidships and forward). The remaining 109 helicopters are presumably stowed on Boxer's hangar deck.

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

    Online Image: 146KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: KN-2961

    Satellite Launching Ship


    Concept artwork, depicting an Essex or Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier converted for launching space satellites into orbits not readily accessible from launch sites in the United States.
    The rocket shown is an "Atlas" type.
    Image was received by the Naval Photographic Center on 12 December 1961.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

    Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 580 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-KN-2961.
    Though reproductions of this photo from the Naval Historical Center's collections are available in black & white only, those from the National Archives should be available in color.

     

    For more views of Essex and Ticonderoga class aircraft carriers, see:

  • Essex class; and
  • Ticonderoga class.

    For coverage of other classes of U.S. Navy fleet aircraft carriers, see: Fleet Aircraft Carriers -- Overview and Special Image Selection.


    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 28 October 2001