USS Independence (CVL-22)
_underway_in_early_1943.jpg) USS Independence (CVL-22) |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | light aircraft carrier |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | May 1, 1941 |
| Launch | August 22, 1942 |
| 1. Period of service |
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|
| period of service |
January 14, 1943 - August 28, 1946 |
| Whereabouts | Sunk as a target ship, 1951 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
13,000 ts |
| length |
189.7 m |
| width |
21.8 m (waterline) |
| Draft |
7.9 m |
| crew |
1,569 |
| drive |
4 steam boilers |
| speed |
31.6 kn (~ 59 km / h) |
| Armament |
April 1943: |
| Planes |
24 F6F "Hellcat" , 9 TBF "Avenger" |
| Callsign |
November - Zulu - Bravo - Foxtrot |
| Tactical name: |
CUPID |
| Nickname: |
"The Mighty I" or "Evil I" |
The USS Independence (CVL-22) (originally CV-22 ) was a light aircraft carrier and lead ship of her class , made from converted Cleveland- class cruiser hulls . It was the fourth ship with that name in the United States Navy . The ship performed its service in the Pacific theater of the Second World War and covered a distance of approx. 199,000 nautical miles (~ 368,550 km) until it was decommissioned. Fighter planes stationed on Independence shot down 101 Japanese planes during the war and, in addition to nine merchant ships, were able to record the sinking of the cruiser Oyoda . Damage to the battleships Nagato and Haruna , the heavy cruiser Tone and the aircraft carrier Ryūhō were also on the account of Independence .
technology
More about the technology can be found in the article on the class under Independence class
The Independence was around 190 meters long and 33 meters wide and, with an operational displacement of 13,000 tn.l. a draft of almost eight meters. Her hull was based on that of the Cleveland- class cruiser and had to be widened due to the more massive superstructure, which it was hoped would significantly reduce the top-heaviness . Despite all the constructive measures, this could never be fully compensated. Although it was only a little larger than the escort aircraft carrier as an Independence-class carrier , it mainly differed from the escort aircraft carriers by its powerful propulsion system, which meant that its range of applications was similar to that of the large fleet aircraft carriers . The 73.5 MW strong machinery taken over by the cruisers drove four propellers and brought the ship to a top speed of 31.6 knots .
The rectangular flight deck common at the time was approximately 174 meters long and 22.3 meters wide and had two deck elevators and a catapult . The island had to be kept small for reasons of stability, so that a single, integrated chimney was dispensed with and four smaller ones were attached separately instead. This striking structure only accommodated the navigating bridge , while the operations center was located below the flight deck. The board squadron was during their active service mainly of two dozen F6F Hellcat -Jagdflugzeugen and nine torpedo bombers of the type Grumman Avenger .
In the course of the war were long wave - radars SK and SC-2 , as well as the SG - microwave -Radar installed on the ship. Mounted on the island and on an additional mast between two of the chimneys, these devices enabled early warnings up to 180 km away. Independence's defensive armament consisted of two 12.7 cm L / 38 multi-purpose guns, 18 40 mm L / 60 and four 20 mm L / 70 automatic cannons mounted on the bow and stern . The multi-purpose guns were removed after two months, as they were insufficient for the purpose. The anti-aircraft armament consisted of 40 mm and 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, the number of which varied continuously during the war. In 1944, the 40 mm quadruple flak installed on the fuselage and stern was retrofitted with the Mk 51 fire control system , which could target aircraft up to 3.5 km away and thus fight them more effectively.
commitment
Construction and commissioning
The ship was originally commissioned as a light cruiser Amsterdam (CL-59) in June 1940 and laid down on May 1, 1941 at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden , New Jersey . After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent entry of the United States into World War II , there was a shortage of aircraft carriers in the US Navy. As a result, in January 1942 a plan that had been drawn up before the war was put into practice, according to which the existing cruiser hulls were to be converted into aircraft carriers. On January 10, 1942, the finished hull of the Amsterdam was chosen to be converted to the carrier.
After months of intensive renovation, the ship was christened and launched as Independence (registration number CV-22 ) by Mrs. Rawleigh Warner on August 22nd . When the last construction work was completed, it was transferred to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and, after further refitting, was put into active service there on January 14, 1943 as the first carrier of the Independence class.
Baptism of fire
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After completing the last test and training runs in the Caribbean , the Independence moved via the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean, where it arrived in San Francisco on July 3rd . On the 14th of the month she was relocated to Pearl Harbor and, like her sister ships Princeton , Belleau Wood , Cowpens and Monterey, which were already on duty , the next day it was re-registered as a light aircraft carrier (ID CVL ). After completing another two-week training trip, the Independence was ordered to her first combat mission in Rear Admiral Pownall's Task Force 15 of the US Pacific Fleet . In early September, Independence warplanes , along with those of the new fleet carriers Essex (CV-9) and Yorktown (CV-10), carried out a two-day air strike against Marcus Island that destroyed 70% of Japanese facilities. Air strikes on Wake and the return to Hawaii followed on October 5th and 6th . On October 21, the Independence drove to Espiritu Santo , where it met with another carrier association and on November 11 attacked the Japanese naval base in Rabaul . In the subsequent Japanese counter-attack, the gunmen of the Independence were able to record their first six kills of enemy fighter planes. After storing fuel, ammunition and provisions, the ship drove to the Gilbert Islands to take part in Operation Galvanic , which took place shortly afterwards .
From November 18, 1943, their carrier aircraft launched attacks against Japanese positions on Tarawa Atoll. At around 5:58 pm on November 20, 15 enemy "Betty" torpedo bombers appeared . Despite heavy anti-aircraft fire in which seven bombers could be shot down, the Japanese managed to hit the ship with a torpedo on the starboard side. In addition to a massive water ingress, three of the four propeller shafts were destroyed, causing the speed to drop to a slow four knots. Heavily damaged, the aircraft carrier reached Funafuti three days later , where necessary makeshift repairs were carried out to enable the passage to the shipyard in San Francisco, where it arrived on January 2, 1944.
Task Force 38
After a 24-week stay in the dry dock , during which, in addition to repairs to the propulsion system, modernization measures such as the installation of a second aircraft catapult , were carried out, the Independence arrived in Pearl Harbor on July 3rd. Over the next few weeks, the ship's crew trained in combat operations at night together with Carrier Air Group 41 (Night) CVG-41 (N), the US Navy's first night aircraft squadron. Further maneuvers were carried out towards the end of August on Eniwetok , which was captured only six months earlier as part of Operation Catchpole .
The Independence was subordinated to Rear Admiral Bogan's Task Group 38.2, which left Eniwetok on August 29 for the Palau Islands . This fleet unit also included the fleet aircraft carriers Bunker Hill (CV-17), Intrepid (CV-11), Hancock (CV-19), the sister ship Cabot (CVL-28), the battleships Iowa (BB-61) and New Jersey ( BB-62), as well as the cruisers San Diego (CL-53) and Vincennes (CL-64). Their warplanes flew air strikes against Japanese positions on the islands of Peleliu and Angaur , as well as on the Philippines, among others . During this time, the Independence's CVG-41 (N) flew nightly combat air patrol missions, which, however, could be terminated due to the success. After adding fuel, ammunition and provisions to the Karolinen Atoll Ulithi in early October, the fleet went to Okinawa , Formosa and Luzon to attack enemy targets. Towards the end of the month, TG 38.2 gathered east of the Philippines island of Leyte to support the invasion there. On October 24, reconnaissance aircraft sighted a Japanese fleet under Admiral Kurita in the Sibuyan Sea. On the same day, the Japanese battleship Musashi was sunk , in which carrier aircraft from Independence were also involved.
On the same evening, Admiral Halsey moved all heavy units of his 3rd US fleet out of the Leyte Gulf to counteract a Japanese carrier and battleship fleet under Admiral Ozawa advancing from the north . With its night-time combat aircraft, the Independence made a significant contribution to the sinking of four enemy aircraft carriers. The three-day Battle of Leyte Gulf was the final naval battle between aircraft carriers of the war and ended in a hard-won victory for the Allies.
The Independence returned to Ulithi on November 9th for a well-deserved and all too often postponed break. But this only stayed until the 14th of the month, as their carrier aircraft were needed for night operations over the embattled Philippines. In early January 1945, the ship supported the landings on the main island of Luzon in the Gulf of Lingayén and participated in air strikes on Formosa and strategic targets on the Japanese-occupied Chinese mainland and French Indochina (including Cam Ranh Bay ). After completing these missions, the Independence returned from the South China Sea to Pearl Harbor on January 30, which also meant the end of CVG-41 (N).
After a stay in the shipyard, the light aircraft carrier returned to Ulithi Atoll on March 13th. Towards the end of the month, their carrier aircraft launched attacks against enemy positions on the Ryūkyū Island of Okinawa and supported Operation Iceberg , which began on April 1 , to invade this island. The Independence remained in this area until June 10th and was able to shoot down several Kamikaze planes, which constantly attacked the US fleet.
After supplies were replenished in Leyte, the Independence took part in air raids on the main Japanese islands. After the ceasefire on August 15, the carrier aircraft flew daily patrols to locate and map prisoner-of-war camps , among other things , and from August 28, secured the landings of US soldiers in Sagami Bay off Tokyo.
post war period
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Independence left Tokyo on September 22nd and reached San Francisco via Saipan and Guam on October 31st. There, the ship was converted for the upcoming Magic Carpet voyages and, from November 15, transported US soldiers from the former theaters of war in the Pacific back to the United States. After the transport trips were completed on January 28, 1946, the light aircraft carrier was finally chosen as a test object for the upcoming nuclear bomb tests on Bikini Atoll .
Operation Crossroads ' Able test on July 1 , in which an atomic bomb with an explosive force of 23 kilotons of TNT (equivalent to the Nagasaki bomb ) detonated 158 m above sea level, survived the deserted Independence , although it was only half a mile from Explosion center anchored away. The subsequent Baker test (July 25), in which an atomic bomb with the same explosive power exploded at a depth of 27 m, could not harm the light aircraft carrier. The aircraft carrier Saratoga (CV-3) and the battleship Arkansas (BB-33) sank during this test . The highly radioactively contaminated ship was towed to Kwajalein for investigation , where it was taken out of active service on August 28 . After further investigations in Pearl Harbor and San Francisco, the type ship of the Independence class was sunk as a target ship in the Farallon Islands, 32 km west of San Francisco .
According to a report published by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1980 , between 1946 and 1970, 47,500 containers and steel drums containing radioactive waste were sunk in the vicinity of the Farallon Islands, which is responsible for the fishery and the Farallon National Wildlife and Wilderness Refuge, which has existed since 1969 with approx. Load 14,500 Ci . The Independence is said to have been loaded with radioactively contaminated waste from the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory before it was sunk . This San Francisco-based laboratory was commissioned with the decontamination of ships contaminated during the nuclear bomb tests.
In 2015 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration carried out investigations on the wreck of the USS Independence.
USS Independence Awards
The ship's awards include the
- American Campaign Medal
- Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with eight battle stars
- Marcus Island (Aug 31, 1943)
- Rabaul (Nov 11, 1943)
- Gilbert Islands (Nov 19-20, 1943)
- West Carolina (Sep 6 to Oct 14, 1944)
- Leyte (Oct to Dec 1944)
- Luzon (Jan 1945)
- Okinawa (Mar 1.7 to Jun 11, 1945)
- 3rd U.S. Fleet (Admiral Halsey; Jul 10 to Aug 15, 1945)
- World War II Victory Medal
- Navy Occupation Service Medal with Asia clasp
- Philippine Presidential Unit Citation
- Philippine Liberation Medal
Commanding officers of the USS Independence
| Rank | Surname | Beginning of the appointment | End of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Captain | George R. Fairlamb, Jr. | January 14, 1943 | September 27, 1943 |
| Captain | RL Johnson | September 27, 1943 | July 26, 1944 |
| Captain | EC Ewen | July 26, 1944 | March 6, 1945 |
| Captain | Nolan M. Kindell | March 6, 1945 | August 1946 |
Additional information
See also
- USS Independence , for other ships of the same name
- List of historical aircraft carriers
- List of US Navy aircraft carriers
literature
- Stefan Terzibaschitsch : US Navy aircraft carrier - fleet aircraft carrier / escort aircraft carrier . 3. Edition. Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 2001, ISBN 3-7637-6200-0 .
Web links
- USS Independence CVL-22 Reunion Group homepage
- Navy photographs of Independence (CVL-22). Archived from the original on March 12, 2014 ; accessed on March 23, 2020 .
- USS Independence CVL-22 Reunion Group, Inc. Veteran's website
- USS Independence at Nine Sisters Light Carrier Historical Documentary Project . Archived from the original onDecember 29, 2013; accessed on March 23, 2020.
Footnotes
- ↑ CVL Radio & Flag Call Signals. In: www.ninesisters.com. Archived from the original on May 8, 2013 ; Retrieved February 24, 2008 .
- ↑ USS INDEPENDENCE CVL-22 REUNION GROUP, INC. Retrieved September 7, 2007 .
- ↑ Owen Gault: Saga of The SUNDOWNERS: The Independence-Class Light Carriers . 2005, p. 5 ( [1] [accessed September 7, 2007]).
- ↑ History - Stats. Retrieved September 19, 2007 .
- ^ US Environmental Protection Agency: Radioactive waste dumping off the coast of California . 1980, p. 5 ( PDF; 412 kB ( memento of April 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) [accessed on September 19, 2007]). Radioactive waste dumping off the coast of California ( Memento from April 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Underwater archeology: Radiant legacy on the ground diepresse.com
- ↑ wired.com: What Scientists Learned Mapping a Sunken Aircraft Carrier
- ↑ James P. Delgado, et al .: Initial Archaeological Survey of the ex-USS Independence (CVL-22). Journal of Maritime Archeology (2016), 11: 9-24, doi: 10.1007 / s11457-016-9152-9 .
