Tarawa (CV 40) - Naval Cruise Book

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The FOUR 0 HE U.S.S. TARAWA CCV-401, one of the Navyls potent new 27,000-ton aircraft carriers and sister ship of the EssEX, YoRKTowN, SHANGRI-LA and PRINCETON, was named for the epic battle of the Central Pacific in which the Second Marine Division vanquished the pick of Japanese fighting men in the Hercest combat in the 168-year history of the United States Marine Corps. First Navy ship so named, the TARAWA was built in Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, and launched in the Elizabeth River on May 12, 1945. Commissioning ceremonies were held at Portsmouth, December 8, 1945. It was appropriate that the Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, chose Mrs. Julian C. Smith, wife of the Marine General who commanded during the furious 76 hours of fighting on Tarawa atoll, to sponsor the vessel. Major General Smith is now Commanding General of the Department of the Pacific with headquarters in San Francisco, California. In a speech at the launching of the TARAWA, General Smith said: 'flt is eminently fitting that this great ship should be named for an operation which marked the turning point of the war in the Pacific and began a new era of amphibious warfare. The same battle fiag that went ashore with the Marines at Tarawa on November 20, 1943, has been presented to the new carrier. The colors, under which 786 Marine and Naval medical personnel died, were hauled down from a riven coconut palm on February 13, 1944, by a picked color guard of men who had taken part in the assault and who had come into the Marine Corps from all sections of the United States. 5 The ship was also presented with a polished bronze plate engraved with makeshift tools in the field by a Marine corporal. The Plaque was mounted on a section of armor plate from a captured Japanese tank. It bears the inscription: C'Plate from japanese Tank Destroyed at Tarawa, 20-22 November 1943. Presented to U.S.S. TARAwA. The engraving was laboriously done with tools improvised from steel files, frequently sharpened and tempered. Captain Alvin Ingersoll Malstrom, USN, was designated Prospective Commanding Ofiicer of the TARAWA at the time of the launching. The big carrier, although nominally a sister ship of the other ESSEX class carriers, has been given improvements in design and equipment that sets her apart. The vessel is 856 feet in overall length, 110 feet extreme beam and 24 feet draft. Fully loaded the TARAWA will displace more than 34,000 tons and this immense bulk can be driven at a top speed of more than 30 knots by her turbines. The TARAWA can carry 80 planes and is equipped to launch and land recently developed jet- propelled aircraft. To operate the ship! man and service the aircraft, the TARAWA will carry approxi- mately 2,500 men. Heavily armed, the TARAWA carries twin and single-mount five-inch guns, quadruple 40 millimeter and twin 20 millimeter anti-aircraft weapons. Profiting from the lessons learned in the Pacific carrier war the ship has new improved facilities for the stowage and handling of bombs and rockets.