Kearsarge (CVS 33) - Naval Cruise Book

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I 4 ,Ill ..-.Q-3 ' J P 3 A F ' ' ' 'ff' Q attack on 7 December, 1941, she was towed to Pearl Harbor, where, 43 years after her launching, she still gave a full measure ol service to her country in salvage work. She was the largest crane ship afloat. and the gallant old lady was still on aclgi-se duty at the end of the Korean conflict. in 1955 she was decommissioned and sold to the Bethlehem Steel Company's Patapsco Scrap Corporation, thus ending fifty-five years of 'ifuififol service. officers and 618 men. She was a first class battleship displacing 11,525 tons and was the sister ship of the USS KENTUCKY. KEARSARGE had a main battery of four 13 inch guns, four 8 inch breech loading rifles, four gatling guns and one field piece, combined with a top speed of 16 knots, which made her the pride of the Navy. To emphasize the strength of the United States at that time, President Theodore Roosevelt sent the KEARSARGE around the world in 1908 as part of the Great White Fleet. The ship was later changed to a second class battleship after searching for German Submarines in the First World War. At the age of 20, the second KEARSARGE was still in use by the Navy. At the end of World War 0ne, she was converted to a crane ship, capable of lifting 250 tons, and as such, she helped raise the Submarine SUUALUS, which had sunk off the coast of New Hampshire. After the Japanese '-are i ...-4 '- 1: ' When Congress met in 1942, 'th a giant, new Essex class carrie: the proud name and tradition rr? ,ftp be numbered CV-33. The ' received her flag and commissio, 1946 at the New York Naval Shipj, were made, the watch was main truck and the USS KEAlfi:l.i. joined the Fleet. immediately after commissioeif. carrier stood out of New Yoi.. Roads, Virginia. She arrived ther' 1946, and carried out depermin, and compass calibrating. Upon 1 these operations she turned hee the South and sailed into ting the commissioning pennant first.. authorized io take on EARSARGE iihty Kay March. Speeches and finally . to the ' CV-33+ 'he new 1 Hampton . 50 April. mgoussing. vffletion of toward ,ir-warmed waters of the British West Indies 1 There. in the waters of Guantanamo Be trained A-gunnery exercises gener- -emergency repairs -eman overi everything that a crew must knoat to be worthy of her ancestry name. Born of the necessities of war her early years during a period oi of the Navy. The American people. after four years of war, relaxe forward to peace and prosperity ing years. From 1946 to 1950 l . papa, she A Quarters fire as 5 f proved industrious she served we-einphasis exhausted wifi looked the com- TZARSARGE patrolled the Atlantic. The uneav' DUSVW lleriod had changed into the cold war, economic Q

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A picturesque peak in the Southeastern ranges of the White Mountains of New Hamp- shire is called Mount KEARSARGE. The name was tzrkeu from the Abnaki lndian Tribal Lan- guage arid means heaven There are many moiiir-.pi freaks of greater height and grandeur utry but none can detract from the urrounding the name KEARSARGE ie KEARSARGE was destined to play American History and it all began little girl by the name She was the daughter f ites Representative and had been the beauty along the rar J the summit of the mountain 0 r 1861 she was given the privilege ning a warship in the Portsmouth She christened it the M NT MOUNT KEARSARGE was a one first warships to have boilers and 3 400 horsepower engines with an if 7 large guns The entire comple first KEARSARGE was 163 officers 9lune 1864 Captain i 14 19' 1 opponent The battle lasted 65 minutes with the ,nav Department on the 30th anniversary of the battle between the Alabama and KEARSARGE. lil 00' 2. , - tradij- H ' . ' lli-' 'fi .. ' ' 3 UI: g ' . . V . ff! . . in L and of a ' ' of -f' Elleii .ion o a u Unit ' 4 Q imp: with t 'I lean i ' ' . n - R 4 5 A 51+ 0, , ' - A V f of H. . . 1 , li R ,V i X - EL. Na .4 . . ,, UU A 1 ug . V . i . g ,fu gg. ' the liirty-one ton Sloop-o-war. She was . g' irig U out 1 ' ' ' . V 7- .i f 1' --r-s' sew es..r, . i--v'-s. if' . M-Z' Sm- 'NI . . V Viu- A ,x I gr ...I u , arri A Y . ' - ' ' ' me .ue ' ' anti 1 play, 1 . , ' Ralph . ' S911 ' ' I ' Al.. of Cifg . Wie fee the K . X. in tow open a dr her rg the i .iii been .kipper of the Confederate Cruiser .ailed out of Cherbourg on the coast to accept the challenge offered by .rim Winslow of the KEARSARGE. ati finally caught up with the Con- :uckade runner after waiting outside for five days. fito neutral water with the KEARSARGE . Captain Winslow turned his ship enemy. Although the Alabama if a broadside, the ending was of t nature. The KEARSARGE and tclied the Alabama slip beneath After the Confederate cruiser had s-:Leu to accurate fire from her KEARSARGE expending 173 rounds of ammu- nition compared to the Alabama's 370. Upon receiving the news of the Confederate ship, the New York Chamber of Commerce sent a letter of thanks to the KEARSARGE and a reward of 525,000 which was distributed among the crew for sending this pest of the ocean to her merited doom. On 10 February, 1894, wiiile under the command of CDR Uscar F. Hyerman, the first KEARSARGE had the misfortune to wreck on the treacherous Roncador Reef, located off the East Coast of Nicaragua. However, her colors were saved and presented to the Navy The naval career of the first KEARSARGE was so outstanding that the Secretary of the Navy, Hilary A. Herbert, urged President Grover Cleveland that a battleship be designated KEARSARGE, although this plan violated the general policy of naming this class vessel for states. By an act of Congress, the USS KEARSARGE was officially named in 1895 and commissioned in 1898. This was the only exception to this rule. The second KEARSARGE was sponsored by Mrs. Herbert Winslow, the wife of the only surviving son of the Captain of the first KEARSARGE and had a complement of 39

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r pressures crrrrlrrrrreri. and on 16 lune, 1950, ittrrrrsrrrrcr rirrfr .Waslrrngtorr 'lfllllfti nlst Arrrry rr if 38tlr para r had errrllr vlhrclr t r nr it rrr,. , IlTllll'i'rii ffor rr car' is .-,-,X rr l.r.r it The fir? islanrz sii ,,,F.,, rrrrq mir welt mi. an .fiiafr ru, r BUL1 . Uprz tPa r IDU' S01 r' urrr rr core 3111, 1 rl rg, in 1 is as firt' i' Q: fl to 315. r, tr FE' li' Tacrre: 1 Air Lrforrg aww' ' r Nei alll 1' 1 r r rrrrrrissioned at Bremerton, concurrently, the commu- rrrea swarmed across the rrtlr Korea, The red war rrrrg drawn-out battle in r-fy was morally obligated QYGE was needed, and she fre two-year conversion to an Uriskany class rcevliftirrg was completed. try fore and aft of the been renroved. the forty- rc replaced by harder rrrore powerful catapults was ready to fight as fre atomic age. rrrrrd KEARSARGE off the rart of Task Force 77. rrrl bases in the Western rrrr the line for seven varies flew nearly 7,000 1 alrout 30 per day Q 1rorrrbs.2.8UUrockets. r millimeter ammunition 1 corrrrrrunist targets. ri :rgairr to the Ear East ,arrived in Hawaii just :igrrerl at Panmunjom. sire continued west rr: Sea and completed .rrrrwed its head in the A154 1955 cruise, he evacuation of the 1 embarked Carrier ,rrrrt missions, while fir lfleet evacuated rrrrrerr. and children r i 1 rrrr of progressive modernization, KEARSARGE was sent back to Bremerton again in 1956 to receive an angled deck and hurrricane bow. Once again one of the most modern carriers in the fleet. KEARSARGE deployed to the Far East in 1957 with Air Task Group Three em- barked. This was her last cruise as an attack carrier. Returning to San Diego in the spring of 1958, she spent the summer and fall con- ducting carrier qualifications. It was with a sense of sadness that she watched part of her well-trained crew depart for the Uriskany and other ships and then left her old home port of San Diego to steam north to her new home port of Long Beach as an Anti-Submarine support carrier. The future was challenging, however, and KEARSARGE spent four months at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard undergoing overhaul and conversion to a CVS. In lune of 1959, KEARSARGE emerged with new paint, a new mission, and a new crew. There were many new jobs to be learned, and steadily she learned them. Underway training was passed with flying colors. Captain Robert L. Townsend relieved Captain Willianr A. Dean, and the task of learning the ASW business began. ln September KEARSARGE left Long Beach for her sixth cruise to the Far East, but her first as USS KEARSARGE iCVS-331. Any story of a ship must of necessity be a story of her officers and men, for without them a ship is merely a cold steel hull. Thus an old and honorable story ends, and a promising new one begins with the following pages of this book. s.. -je.sQ.fTff is .,1m,u- 1 gl .-.V