USS ''Independence'' (CVL-22) (also CV-22) was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

light aircraft carrier. The

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of her

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

, she served during World War II. Converted from the hull of a Cleveland-class light cruiser, she was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation and commissioned in January 1943. She took part in the attacks on Rabaul and Tarawa before being torpedoed by Japanese aircraft, necessitating repairs in San Francisco from January to July 1944. After repairs, she launched many strikes against targets in Luzon and Okinawa. ''Independence'' was part of the carrier group that sank the remnants of the Japanese Mobile Fleet in the Battle of Leyte Gulf and several other Japanese ships in the Surigao Strait. Until the surrender of Japan, she was assigned to strike duties against targets in the Philippines and Japan. She finished her operational duty off the coast of Japan supporting occupation forces until being assigned to return American veterans back to the United States as part of

Operation Magic Carpet Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II operation by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and Asian theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships ...

. ''Independence'' was later used as a target during the

Operation Crossroads Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...

atomic bomb tests. After being transported back to Pearl Harbor and San Francisco for study, she was later sunk near the Farallon Islands.

Construction and deployment

Begun as

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...

''Amsterdam'', CL-59, she was launched as CV-22 on 22 August 1942 by

New York Shipbuilding Corporation The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United ...

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

, sponsored by Mrs. Dorothy Warner, wife of Rawleigh Warner, Sr, Chairman of Pure Oil Co., and commissioned 14 January 1943. The first of a new class of carriers converted from

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

hulls, ''Independence'' conducted shakedown training in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. She then steamed through the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

to join the Pacific Fleet, arriving at

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

on 3 July 1943. ''Independence'' got underway for

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

14 July, and after two weeks of training exercises sailed with carriers and for a raid on

Marcus Island , also known as Marcus Island, is an isolated Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located some southeast of Tokyo and east of the closest Japanese island, South Iwo Jima of the Ogasawara Islands, and nearly on a straight l ...

. Aircraft from the carrier force struck on 1 September and destroyed over 70 percent of the installations on the island. The carrier began her next operation, a similar strike against

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...

5 to 6 October as CVL-22, having been redesignated 15 July 1943.

Rabaul and Gilbert Islands strikes

''Independence'' sailed from Pearl Harbor for

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region o ...

on 21 October. During an ensuing carrier attack on

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...

on 11 November, the ship's gunners scored their first success – six

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese aircraft shot down. After this operation, the carrier refueled at Espiritu Santo, headed for the

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...

, and conducted pre-landing strikes on

Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

es, one of which hit the carrier's starboard quarter. Seriously damaged, the ship steamed to

Funafuti Funafuti is the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. It has a population of 6,320 people (2017 census), and so it has more people than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with approximately 60% of the population. It consists of a narrow sweep of la ...

on 23 November for emergency repairs. ''Independence'' returned to San Francisco 2 January 1944 for more permanent repairs.

Refitting and training for night operations

The now-veteran carrier returned to Pearl Harbor 3 July 1944. During her repair period, the ship had been fitted with an additional catapult, and upon her arrival in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

an waters, ''Independence'' began training for night carrier operations embarking the specially trained

night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...

and torpedo units of Night Air Group 41 (NAG-41) in August. She continued this pioneering work 24 to 29 August out of

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...

. The ship sailed with a large task group 29 August to take part in the

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

operation and the

Battle of Peleliu The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II by the US military, was fought between the United States and Japan during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign of World War II, from September 15 to November 27, 1944, on the island of ...

, aimed at securing bases for the final assault on the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in October. ''Independence'' provided night reconnaissance and night

combat air patrol Combat air patrol (CAP) is a type of flying mission for fighter aircraft. A combat air patrol is an aircraft patrol provided over an objective area, over the force protected, over the critical area of a combat zone, or over an air defense area, ...

for

Task Force 38 The Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38 when assigned to Third Fleet, TF 58 when assigned to Fifth Fleet), was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific War from January 1944 through the end of the war in August 1945. The tas ...

during this operation.

Philippines

In September the

fast carrier task force The Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38 when assigned to Third Fleet, TF 58 when assigned to Fifth Fleet), was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific War from January 1944 through the end of the war in August 1945. The task ...

regularly pounded the Philippines in preparation for the invasion. When no Japanese counterattacks developed in this period, ''Independence'' shifted to regular daytime operations, striking targets on

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

. After replenishment at

Ulithi Ulithi ( yap, Wulthiy, , or ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap. Overview Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest i ...

in early October, the great force sortied 6 October for

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

. In the days that followed the carriers struck Okinawa, Formosa, and the Philippines. Japanese air counterattacks were repulsed, with ''Independence'' providing day strike groups in addition to night fighters and reconnaissance aircraft for defensive protection. As the carrier groups steamed east of the Philippines 23 October, it became apparent, as Admiral Carney later recalled, that "something on a grand scale was underfoot." And indeed it was, as the Japanese fleet moved in a three-pronged effort to turn back the American beachhead on

Leyte Gulf Leyte Gulf is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the south of the bay is Mindanao ...

. Aircraft from ''Independence''s Task Group 38.2, under Rear Admiral

Bogan Bogan ( ) is Australian slang for a person whose speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour are considered unrefined or unsophisticated. Depending on the context, the term can be pejorative or self-deprecating. The prevalence of the term bogan ...

, spotted Kurita's striking force in the

Sibuyan Sea The Sibuyan Sea is a small sea in the Philippines that separates the Visayas from the northern Philippine island of Luzon. It is bounded by the island of Panay to the south, Mindoro to the west, Masbate to the east, and to the north Marinduque ...

24 October and the carriers launched a series of attacks. Aircraft from ''Independence'' and other ships sank the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

and disabled a cruiser. That evening Admiral Halsey made the decision to turn Task Force 38 northward in search of Admiral Ozawa's carrier group. ''Independence''s night search aircraft made contact and shadowed the Japanese ships until dawn 26 October, when the carriers launched an attack. In this second part of the great

Battle for Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf ( fil, Labanan sa golpo ng Leyte, lit=Battle of Leyte gulf; ) was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was fo ...

, all four Japanese carriers were sunk. Meanwhile, American heavy ships had won a victory in Surigao Strait; and a light carrier force had outfought the remainder of Kurita's ships in the

Battle off Samar The Battle off Samar was the centermost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the largest naval battles in history, which took place in the Philippine Sea off Samar Island, in the Philippines on October 25, 1944. It was the only major a ...

; ''Independence'' also assisted TF38 in the destruction of Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa's diversion fleet off Cape Engaño. After the battle, which virtually spelled the end of the Japanese Navy as a major threat, ''Independence'' continued to provide search aircraft and night fighter protection for TF 38 in strikes on the Philippines. ''Independence'' returned to Ulithi for long-delayed rest and replenishment 9 to 14 November, but soon got underway to operate off the Philippines on night attacks and defensive operations. This phase continued until 30 December 1944, when the task force sortied from Ulithi once more and moved northward. From 3 to 9 January 1945 the carriers supported the

Lingayen Lingayen, officially the Municipality of Lingayen ( pag, Baley na Lingayen; ilo, Ili ti Lingayen; tgl, Bayan ng Lingayen), is a 1st class municipality of the Philippines, municipality and capital of the Philippine Province, province of Pangasi ...

landings on

, after which Halsey took his fleet on a foray into the South China Sea. In the days that followed the aircraft struck at air bases on Formosa and on the coasts of

Indo-China Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. These operations in support of the Philippines campaign marked the end of the carrier's night operations, and she sailed 30 January 1945 for repairs at Pearl Harbor.

Okinawa

''Independence'' returned to Ulithi 13 March 1945 and got underway next day for operations against Okinawa. She carried out pre-invasion strikes 30 to 31 March, and after the assault 1 April remained off the island supplying

and

strike aircraft An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pres ...

. Her aircraft shot down numerous enemy aircraft during the desperate Japanese attacks on the invasion force. ''Independence'' remained off Okinawa until 10 June when she sailed for Leyte. During July and August the carrier took part in the final carrier strikes against Japan itself. After the end of the war 15 August, ''Independence'' aircraft continued surveillance flights over the mainland locating

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

camps and covered the landings of

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

occupation troops. The ship departed

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

22 September 1945, arriving at San Francisco via Saipan and

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

31 October.

Operation Crossroads

''Independence'' joined the

fleet beginning 15 November 1945, transporting veterans back to the United States until arriving at San Francisco once more 28 January 1946. Assigned as a target vessel for the

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

tests, she was placed within one half mile of ground zero for the 1 July explosion. The veteran ship did not sink (though her funnels and island were crumpled by the blast), and after taking part in another explosion on 25 July was taken to

Kwajalein Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...

and decommissioned 28 August 1946.

Sinking and wreck

The highly radioactive hull was later moved to Pearl Harbor and then San Francisco for further tests. She was finally

scuttled Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...

near the Farallon Islands off the coast of California on 29 January 1951, by packing two torpedoes in her hull. Controversy has subsequently arisen about the sinking of ''Independence,'' as it is claimed that she was loaded with barrels of radioactive waste at the time of her sinking, and that the waste has subsequently contaminated the wildlife refuge and commercial fisheries associated with the Farallon Islands. However, in 2015, it was considered that "any public health risk was small", as might be expected after this period of time. In 2009 the position of the wreck of ''Independence'' in of water in the

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) is a federally protected marine area offshore of California's Big Sur and central coast in the United States. It is the largest US national marine sanctuary and has a shoreline length of ...

off the Farallon Islands at approximately was confirmed via deep-water multibeam sonar survey conducted from the . In March 2015, scientists and technicians of the U.S.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

(NOAA) embarked aboard the sanctuary vessel R/V ''Fulmar'' used the

autonomous underwater vehicle An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includ ...

'' Echo Ranger'' to make a survey of the wreck, employing the Echoscope three-dimensional imaging

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

to make a series of images of her. The ship is resting upright with a slight list to starboard and most of the

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopte ...

intact, although there are gaping holes in the flight deck leading to the

hangar deck A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

below it. No signs of radioactive contamination were detected, although the barrels of waste are still visible inside the hangar deck, and some have rusted open. A NOAA spokesman described the wreck as "amazingly intact." In 2016, a mission led by

James P. Delgado James Preston Delgado (born January 11, 1958) is a maritime archaeologist, historian, maritime preservation expert, author, television host, and explorer. Delgado is a maritime archaeologist who has spent over four decades in underwater explora ...

, deep sea

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, and partnered with the Ocean Exploration Trust and the

, brought investigators closer to the wreckage than ever before. Using robotic exploration vehicles, the team surveyed the USS ''Independence'' for the first time since she sank 65 years ago, streaming footage online. While investigating the wreckage, researchers found evidence of at least one existing

Grumman Hellcat The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier Grumman F4F Wildcat, F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United St ...

plane as well as the partial remains of an SB2C-4 Helldiver, and 40-mm and 20-mm anti-aircraft weaponry.

Honors and awards

''Independence'' received eight

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

s for

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

service.

References

External links

USS ''Independence'' CVL-22 Reunion Group homepage

USS Independence CVL-22 Reunion Group, Inc. Veteran's Website

USS Independence CVL-22 Website

at Nine Sisters Light Carrier Historical Documentary Project
video of ship, taken by "Nautilus Live"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Independence (CVL-22) Independence-class aircraft carriers Ships built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation 1942 ships World War II aircraft carriers of the United States Military in the San Francisco Bay Area Ships sunk as targets Ships involved in Operation Crossroads Maritime incidents in 1951