Kearsarge (CVS 33) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 6 text:

KEARSARGE HISTORY On November 5, 1861, Ellen Stanton, daughter of a U. S. Congressman, christened a 1031- ton sloop of war, the USS KEARSARGE, after the name of a beautiful mountain in New Hamp- shire. In the ensuing century, three ships have borne the illustrious name, each in its own time adding to the Navy ' s proud tradition. KEARSARGE first saw action during the latter stages of the Civil War outside the harbor at Cherbourg, France, after having successfully lured the notorious blockage-running Confed- erate Ship ALABAMA out to sea. In a bitterly contested battle lasting 65 minutes, the ALA- BAMA expended 370 rounds of ammunition while the KEARSARGE fired only 173 rounds. KEARSARGE ' S first shot proved most accurate ol all. however, arid the ALABAMA was sunk. More than 17 years after the first KEARSARGE was lost in heavy seas in the Caribbean, a battleship was designated by Act of Congress to carry on the name. Commissioned in 1898. she weighed 11525 tons and had a compliment of 39 officers and 618 enlisted men. Her arma- ment included four 3-inch guns, four 8-inch breechloading rifles, twenty 6-pounders, one Gat- ling gun, and one field piece. In combination with a top speed of 16 knots, her firepower made the second KEARSARGE the pride of the Navy. KEARSARGE was part of the Great White Fleet which sailed around the world in 1908. The battleship saw duty in the First World War, when she auriously anticipated the third KEAR- SARGE by spending most of her time searching for submarines. After the war, she became a The fi i ( SS KEARSARGE; the hymning of a pr,md iradilit

Page 5 text:

USS KEARSARGE (CVS-33) 1966 WESTERN PACIFIC CRUISE

Page 7 text:

I SSKE IRS tRGE II Twenty-six knots and the pride oj the Fleet training ship, and then was converted to the Navy ' s Craneship No. 1, performing salvage work at Pearl Harbor during World War II. In 1946 the third KEARSARGE was commissioned. On August 29. 1947, lor the first time for a carrier at sea, the KEARSARGE catapult launched a jet-propelled aircraft, ushering in an entire new era of carrier operations. In June of 1950 she began conversion from the ESSEX class to the ORISKANY class carrier, and was recommissioned in 1952 in time to be combat tested off the coast of Korea in early 1953. KEARSARGE toured Oriental waters in 1954 and 1955. and aided in the evacuation of the Nationalist Chinese who were fleeing the Communist threatened Tachen Islands. In 1956 the MIGHTY KAY, as she had become known acquired her hurricane bow and an- gled flight deck, and on October 1. 1958, she was redesignated C S an antisubmarine air- traft carrier, her new mission being to hunt, discover, and kill enemy submarines. In 1959 KEARSARGE deployed on her sixth Far-East cruise, and on her seventh in 1961. This was followed by an overhaul, from which she emerged the most modern anti- submarine carrier in the fleet. Her new capabilities were brought into play in Oc- tober of 1962 in her recovery of Navy Cdr.