USS Tarawa (CV-40)
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The USS Tarawa (CV-40) (also CVA-40, CVS-40) was an aircraft carrier in the United States Navy . She belonged to the Essex class and was in service from 1945 to 1960.
The keel of the Tarawa was laid on March 1, 1944 in the Norfolk Navy Yard ; the launch took place on May 12, 1945 under the auspices of the wife of Lieutenant General Julian C. Smith , who commanded the 2nd Marine Division on Tarawa . On December 8, 1945, the Tarawa was put into service under the command of Captain Alvin Ingersoll Malstrom .
Between 1946 and 1948, the Tarawa was part of the US Pacific Fleet until it circled the earth westward from September 28, 1948 to February 21, 1949. After a shipyard time in Norfolk, Virginia (USA), the carrier was decommissioned on June 30, 1949. In the wake of the Korean War , however , the Tarawa was put back into service on February 3, 1951.
In 1952 and 1953 the Tarawa operated in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; In 1954 the carrier made a mission to the Pacific. After its reclassification to the anti-submarine carrier (anti-submarine carrier) CVS-40 on January 10, 1955, the carrier operated mostly in the Atlantic.
In August and September 1958, the Tarawa was the flagship of Task Force 88, which carried out three secret atomic bomb tests at high altitudes (up to 540 km) near the Gough Islands in the South Atlantic on behalf of the Defense Nuclear Agency as part of Operation Argus . An Air Force MSQ-1A radar and other missile tracking devices were aboard the Tarawa . In addition, 19 Grumman S2Fs of the VS-32 "Maulers" squadron were on board to collect scientific data, take photos and carry out observation missions during take-offs. The eight Sikorsky HSS-1 Seabat helicopters of the HS-5 “Nightdippers” squadron were used to transport goods and people within Task Force 88.
However, since the Tarawa had not been modernized , unlike other Essex- class ships , she was decommissioned on May 13, 1960.
After being mothballed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA), the ship was removed from the US Navy's list of ships ( Naval Vessel Register ) on June 1, 1967 . On October 3, 1968, the Tarawa was finally sold to the Boston Metals Corporation , Baltimore , for scrapping .
In 1973 another US Navy ship was named Tarawa : the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa (LHA-1) , the first unit of the Tarawa class .
