Princeton (LPH 5) - Naval Cruise Book

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AND LEGEND PRINCETON and her first air group aboard was a Re- serve Air Group from Seattle. It was during Korea that Princeton catapults launched jet fighters with bomb loads for the 1st time in Naval history, and it was also from Princeton's deck that the torpedo strike against the Hwachon Dam complex in cen- tral Korea was launched. In January 1954, Princeton was redesignated as CVS-37, an anti-submarine carrier, and in March 1959 she added still another designation to the list of the ones already held and became known as LPH-5, an amphibious assault carrier. THIRD PRINCETON The third Princeton was a composite gunboat of 1,000 tons with six guns and was referred to as Gunboat Number 13. She was built in 1897 at Camden, New Jersey, and was commissioned one month after the outbreak of the war with Spain. She saw immediate duty in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, sailing for the Philippines by way of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean. She remained in the Philippines until 1903 when she reported back to the Pacific Coast for Operations. From 1911 to 1915 she was a station ship at Tutuila, Samoa, then upon returning to San Francisco, she operated on the Pacific Coast until 1919 when she was sold. FOURTH PRINCETON Named after the Revolutionary War Battle of Princeton and designated CVL-23. Built in Camden, New J ersey, commissioned in 1943 and sponsored by Mrs. Harold Dodds, wife of the President of Princeton University. Was one of nine ships converted to an aircraft carrier from a cruiser hull and saw almost continuous action in the Pacific until she was sunk during the Battle for Leyte Gulf in October 1944. It was during this battle that Captain John Hoskins, who had just reported aboard as prospective commanding officer, was injured and lost the lower part of his right leg. Captain Hoskins was later to become the first Commanding Officer of the present USS Princeton.

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Since World War II there has developed a new doctrine of amphibious Warfare, the concept of vertical envelopment coupled with an assault from the sea. The employment of this concept is the mission of the PRINCETON. She is designated an LPH fAmphibious Assault Carrierj and is commonly referred to as a Landing Platform-Helicopter. In an amphibious op- eration, she launches helicopters for transporting troops to an assault area. The technique used for such assaults has been aptly named uVertical Envelopmentf' What is Vertical En- velopment, and how is it used? The term is applied to the system of landing assault troops against enemy held territories using helicopters as the ship-to-shore movement vehicles. What are the advantages of this technique? Firstg the fact that the Navy and Marines possess such a capability forces an enemy to disperse more widely, thus spreading his defense thinner. The shock effect of a helicopter landing is enormous and ideally should 'impose complete tactical surprise upon the defenders. Secondg an enemy defending a shore must prepare himself to meet an attack from any direction, since vertical envelopment, as the name implies is not re- stricted by unfavorable beaches or surf conditions and may be employed rapidly in attacks on the enemy's rear or flank. This in effect greatly enlarges our tacti- cal perimeter and completely eliminates the uone front handicap resulting from a waterborne assault. The enemy defenders in the beach area are constantly confronted with the danger of complete encirclement and subsequent annihilation.