Intrepid (CVS 11) - Naval Cruise Book

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.' ' hm ig' k 'lk' ,N ,,. . . Todays Fighting I sports hurricane bow and angled deck raised a sign next to her, This Fighting Lady has a date in Tokyo - DON'T MAKE HER LATE! Returning to duty in July, she received at Eniwetok on August 15, 1945 the message to cease offensive operations . World War II was over! On September 2, 1945, Intrepid was one of the long line of ships steaming into Tokyo Bay- this Fighting Lady had kept her date! For the scoreboard, her three Air Groups accounted for 309 planes shot down, 495 dam- aged, 69 ships sunk and probably sank or dam- aged 215 enemy ships. ' Later she was placed out of commission and in reserve at Mare Island, California. Early in 1950 INTREPID was ordered out of reserve and sent via the Panama Canal to the Newport News Shipyard for modernization. She was commis- sioned an attack carrier CCVA-113 in June of 1954 and joined the fleet in October. Since then the INTREPID has operated with the Second Fleet off the eastern coast of the Americas and with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediter- ranean Sea. She has participated in both national and NATO exercises aimed at improving the Free World's defense readiness and good will lT!1'0g1'Q11T1 of the fleet. From 1957 to 1962 she has VlSltQCl Brussels, Belgium: Bridgetown and Barbadoes, British West Indies, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Cannes, Frances, Athens, Corfu and Rhodes Greece, Augusta Bay, Fuimicino, Genoa, Livorno, Naples and Palermo, Italy, Rotterdam, Holland, Oslo, Norway, Lisbon, Portugal, Barce- lona and Palma, Spain, and several cities in the United States other than her home port. INTREPID was known as the 4'Mighty I until her now arch-rival, the USS INDEPEND- ENCE, was commissioned. The 'iInde took over that title, which was soon abandoned in favor of Big I. Meanwhile, INTREPID,S Commanding Officer in 1959, Captain Edward Cobb Outlaw, claimed for the ship the title she holds today: The Fighting I. In April of 1962, INTREPID's attack carrier designator QCVAJ will be terminated. During the years that lay before her as Anti Submarine Warfare CCVSD carrier, she will uphold the out- standing tradition that the Fighting I has re- peatedly made for herself, the Navy, and above all the country she gallantly fought for ever since that commissioning day on August 16, 1943 when Captain Sprague took the first command and said Entrusted to us today is a fine ship. She has been honestly and skillfully built. It is now up to us. There is much work ahead . . . many prob- lems to solve before INTREPID will be ready. With your cooperation, loyalty and attention to duty, we will get on with that job. In April 1962 she will change from the Old- est and the Bestf' to the Latest and the Best .

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-f , F ,., Q , A f A ' 1.7 ' .. A . 'J , ' ,. ,.,,4:'. 'i ' q..- ' -it '.x-'i...-fu.. I ' - 'T ' A MJ If I X 'H 14' 3 455 I-.4-9: ... I l World War II saw fourth Intrepid in plenty of action, here she steams toward Western Pacific in 1943 INTREPID joined the Central Pacific For- ces in December 1943, for the lVIarshall Islands and the attack on Kwajelein Atoll. I-Ier courage- ous fliers, Air Group Six, bombed and strafed that atoll in support of the lVIarine assault forces. During her second combat operation against the island of Truk in the central Carolinas, this formidable fighting lady sustained her first trauma of the war when hit by an enemy torpedo. It tore a huge gash in her hull, rendering it neces- sary for her to steer out of the operation by scrws only. The hit jammed the rudder hard to port. Days later a sail of hatch covers and can- vas was rigged on the forcastle to enable her to steer an eratic course to Pearl Harbor for badly needed repairs. The INTREPID further en- hanced her reputation by being the only aircraft carrier in history underway utilizing a sail. In October 1944, with Air Group Eighteen embarked, during the battle of Leyte Gulf, IN- TREPID suffered her first air attack hit. One of the first Kamikaze thrusts of the war found its target on a port gun tub of INTREPID. Again in November, while participating in air strikes against Luzon, two more Jap suicide planes dove into her flight deck, once again she limped into Pearl Harbor and later to San Francisco for ma- jor repairs. With Air Group Ten now on board, IN- TREPID embarked for Okinawa in February of 1945. Beginning in April, her planes flew an ex- tended series of support missions at Okinawa and other islands in the area. At this time she suffered her fourth Kamikaze hit opening a huge hole in the flight deck with a bomb exploding in the hangar bay. Her experienced fire fighting crews extinguished raging flames in a record 51 minutes. However the attack took its toll in heavy damage sending the MIGHTY I once again to San Francisco for repairs. There the workers

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