USS Leyte (CV-32)
_with_F9Fs.jpg) The Leyte in the early 1950s |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Order | March 23, 1943 |
| Keel laying | February 21, 1944 |
| Launch | August 23, 1945 |
| 1. Period of service |
|
| Commissioning | April 11, 1946 |
| Decommissioning | May 15, 1959 |
| Whereabouts | Wrecked in 1970 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
27,100 tons |
| length |
271 meters |
| width |
28 meters |
| Draft |
8.71 meters |
| crew |
3,448 |
| drive |
4 propellers, driven by 4 steam turbines; 150,000 hp |
| speed |
33 knots |
| Armament |
|
The USS Leyte (CV-32 / CVA-32 / CVS-32 / AVT-10) was the Essex class belonging aircraft carriers of the US Navy , which was made in April 1946 in service. After training missions in the Atlantic , the Caribbean and the Mediterranean in the first four years of service, the ship was involved in combat operations in the Korean War from 1950 , for which it received two Battle Stars . In 1952 the Leyte was converted for anti-submarine defense . The ship remained in service until May 1959 and then switched to the reserve fleet , where it was listed as an aircraft transporter until 1970. In September 1970 the Leyte went to Baltimore to be scrapped .
history
The Leyte was laid on February 21, 1944 at Newport News Shipbuilding as Crown Point and was launched on August 23, 1945 after it was still under construction on May 8, 1945 based on the sea and air battle in the Gulf of Leyte got her new name. The commissioning took place on April 11, 1946 under the command of Captain Henry F. MacComsey.
As a first mission, the Leyte accompanied the battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64) on a trip to South America in autumn 1946 . Subsequently, the ship completed training missions in the Caribbean from November. In 1948 the Leyte received helicopters for the first time with several Sikorsky S-51s and in the same year took part in the fleet exercise Operation Frigid in the North Atlantic . Then she was involved in the search for the Star Ariel in January 1949 . The ship was also used on three trips to the Mediterranean between April 1947 and August 1950.
After the outbreak of the Korean War, the Leyte was transferred to Sasebo in Japan on September 6, 1950 as part of Task Force 77 in support of the UNO troops , from where its aircraft flew missions against the North Korean troops. During this time, the VFA-32 air wing was stationed on board the ship. Part of this squadron was officer Jesse L. Brown, who died on December 4, 1950 in a mission and thus became the first African American pilot to be killed during the Korean War.
After further training missions in the Caribbean, the Leyte belonged to the United States Sixth Fleet from September 1951. In December 1951, the ship was for training missions in front of Hampton Roads , before it set out for another voyage to the Mediterranean in August 1952. From October 1, 1952, the Leyte was listed as an attack vehicle under the ID CVA-32 . After her arrival in Boston on February 16, 1953, the ship was temporarily withdrawn from service, but this was revoked on August 8. Under the designation CVS-32 , the Leyte was now listed as an aircraft carrier with a focus on anti-submarine defense.
During renovation work for the new area of operation, a fire broke out on board the ship in the port of Boston on the afternoon of October 16, 1953, which had been triggered by an explosion in the engine room. 37 people were killed and a further 28 injured. After a delay, the Leyte was finally put back into service on January 4, 1954.
After its re-commissioning, the ship went to the new Quonset Point base , where it served as the flagship of Carrier Division 18 from then on. From there it completed training missions on the American east coast and in the Caribbean for the next five years. In January 1959, the Leyte left Quonset Point to be prepared for inactivation in the New York Naval Shipyard . On May 15, 1959, the ship was officially decommissioned and on the same day re-registered as an aircraft transporter under the designation AVT-10 .
The Leyte spent the following eleven years in the reserve fleet before it was removed from the Naval Vessel Register and released for demolition in August 1970 . In September 1970, the ship arrived at the Boston Metals scrapping yard in Baltimore.
Web links
- Entry on Leyte on navsource.org (English)
- Entry on Leyte on navysite.de (English)
- Website about the Leyte (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Douglas E. Campbell: US Navy, US Marine Corps and MATS Aircraft Lost During the Korean War: 2017 Edition . Lulu Press Incorporated, Morrisville 2016, ISBN 978-1-365-47063-9 , 42.