Kearsarge (CVA 33) - Naval Cruise Book

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as did her predecessor, but she carried her name proudly. As a member of the Great White Fleet during its around the world cruise, she helped to display the rising might of the young nation in keeping with Theodore Roosevelt's policy of Talk softly... but carry a big stick. During the First World War, the KEARSARGE was employed in anti- submarine work. At the end of that contiict, her iob as a man-of-war completed, she was converted to a crane ship. As the world's largest sea-going crane, she further proved her usefulness in numerous, though unglamorous, iobs, one of which was assisting in the raising of the doomed submarine SQUALUS. Shortly after the commencement of World War ll, she sailed from the East Coast to lend her efforts in the monumental task of salvaging the wreckage of the American Navy's battle fleet from the mud of Pearl Harbor. When Japanese carrier based aircraft opened hostilities in World War Il with the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, they destroyed or heavily damaged every ship of the U.S. Navy's battle line. Naval avia- tion was the only remaining force capable of dealing with the threat of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The aircraft carrier, by default, became the offensive arm of the Pacific Fleet, the spearhead that would lead the advance across the ocean. But the early defeats, and even the successes, in the early days of the war pointed out the need for more and better ships from which to base the Navy's planes. Experience in combat was showing the Navy the strength and weakness factors of the current type carriers. Lessons about what charac-

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l i i P 1 M LR , -. 'tv' Qia- I ' ':.3 ' I 1 I i 1 5 i 4 i l l i i l l l i QI: J in tect the KEARSARGES vulnerable boiler rooms, where a hit could mean disaster, he had the anchor chain strung out along the amidships portion of his ship's sides. The battle lasted sixty-five minutes, with the ALABAMA expending more than twice as much ammunition as did the KEARSARGE. But the combination of the make-shift armor plating and the deadly accuracy ofthe KEARSARGE gunners took their toll-the most suc- -Ll cessaful commerce raider of the Civil War was destroyed. ln recognition of the outstanding record of the first KEARSARGE, the Secretary of the Navy asked for and received permission from Congress to make an exception to the standing rule that battleships be named after states of the Union. BB-5 was designated U.S.S. KEARSARGE. Launched in 1898, she came too late for the Spanish- American War and never saw battle -i i I i

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teristics were required of aircraft carriers were learned-'fthe hard way M-at Coral Sea and Midway. Using this information, naval experts form- ulated ideas for a new and more powerful class of carrier. One of this class would carry the name of a proud ship whose grimy crane even then was laboring at the rusting hulks in Pearl Harbor. Back in Washington naval architects assembled the information gleaned from wartime experience and set to work designing the Essex class carrier. I came into being as a result of those plans. I am the product of years of work by men and women from all walks of life, people who utilized the fabulous resources of my country. From the forests of Oregon and Georgia to the iron ranges of the Great Lakes, from the chemical plants of the Gulf Coast to the coal fields of the Appalachians, I am a mirror of my country. But, more important I reflect the ability and energy of people through- out the land. Stenographers and typists, welders and riveters scrap dealers and steel workrs, damage control experts and electronics techm cians these and countless others played Indispensable roles in the massive lob of making me an entity Through their efforts I was made re than a ship I became an embodiment of the skill determination, and resourcefulness of America the 5th of May I945 s down the ways at the New York Naval Shipyard But I was far from being completed I was helpless and weak no engines no guns, no aircraft the skeleton the framework f what would come to be a powerful instrument of American sea power Tiny tugboats nudged me through the water to the clutter of the fitting out pier It was there that I would rest for half a year as workmen and technicians swarmed over me to in stall mules and miles of electrical circuits pipelines and tubing Ifelt