Hancock (CVA 19) - Naval Cruise Book

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The carrier in tin- itorj ia the I S5. II N« O K if I ' M. - this ii written, ii ia the moat modern carriei in the Pa » t • « Fleet: n aweso m e, magnificent cirj I ated — sensitive, fast, versatile and potent Bearing i Ii • - name t the first lignei of the Declare- don i Independence, t li«- Hai has carved . proud wake through ilf - •.!- I carriei history. Mthough not I.iiiik bed Until the latter | art oi World War 1 1 — J .iini.tr 24, ' the participated in tli - last bidet Pacific battles around the Philippines, Okinawa, l« » Jima. and Japan itself. Hei planea battered enenrj airfields, industrial installations, merchant and naval vessela and militarj forces. The last Japanese aircraft i l»- destroyed . c.rld W.ir II waa downed ! .1 Hancock pilot Hei t t-il battle score itruction • ! 733 Japanese planes, IT warships and . ' 51 merchant ord foi which the -lup became known .1- the Fightin H a nn a h . k did not escape these . liona uns sthed. W bile prot iding • lose aii support to the Tenth Innj on Okinawa, a low-flying Kamikaze slipped through the curtain | a i r ,|,.|. m formation guna and crashed on Hannah ' a plane-cluttered Bighl deck, turning it into a holocaust More than eight) Hancock aailori were killed 01 injured, and the damage sustained necessitated a trip t Pearl Harbot foi repairs. 8

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of man ' s will to survive, to strike. This is a part of that story. During World War I the air plane was first used only for reconnaissance. It is said that the pilots used to wave to one another as they passed on their way to scout the enemy ' s lines. It is also said that one day a pilot — it is not clear whether he was allied or enemy — hap- pened to he carrying a revolver in his helt. When the other pilot waved, the man with the revolver fired. The age of air warfare was born. Air power has come a long, spectacular way since that time. It is now the most important factor in our armament. The Navv, always alert to new ideas and possibilities, saw in the airplane a new weapon of seapower. If a way could be found to carry many planes aboard a ship, aircraft would add an- other powerful weapon to augment the Navy ' s striking power. The airplane could deliver a blow much farther than the Navy ' s biggest guns ; and if enough planes could be imple- mented, a heavier blow could be struck. Again the instinct to survive, to kill or be killed, needled man ' s mind into exercising his creative power. Many days and several vears passed until the answer was found — the aircraft carrier, the Navy ' s mobile air base. To the Navy fighter or divebomber or photo plane, the carrier both gives and receives its life as an effective machine. Far into enemy waters, the plane that has lost its carrier is itself lost, for the two are inseparable. The story of a strike is the story of a carrier and its aircraft. Pace 7

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After the cessation of hostilities, the Hancock was assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet where she remained in mothballs for seven years — a well earned rest. Following her recommissioning in 1954, the Hancock spent a year testing and perfecting her new steam catapults which were installed during her modernization period. The Hancock was the first American ship to be fitted with this equipment. In April, 1956, after her first peacetime Far Eastern cruise, the Hancock entered the drydock at San Francisco Naval Shipyard. Here shipyard workers and a skeleton crew of Hancock sailors completed the modifications begun two years earlier at Puget Sound when she was designated the first of the Hancock class. When her screws again churned blue salt water into white foam, she was equipped with an angled deck, hur- ricane bow, a mirror landing system, and a multitude of electronic and special weapons improvements that made her the newest, toughest carrier in the Pacific. The Hancock returned to active duty on November 16. 1956 and after a period of under- way training, she embarked for the Orient on 6 April 1957. Once again the steel leviathan prowled the open sea; a symbol of power and might discouraging aggressive movements in eastern waters. If called upon, the Hancock could and would strike, with annihilating force. Page 9