USS ''Ticonderoga'' (CV/CVA/CVS-14) was one of 24 s built during
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 ...
for the
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 ...
. The ship was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named after the
capture of Fort Ticonderoga
The capture of Fort Ticonderoga occurred during the American Revolutionary War on May 10, 1775, when a small force of Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold surprised and captured the fort's small British garrison. ...
in the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. ''Ticonderoga'' was commissioned in May 1944, and served in several campaigns in the
Pacific Theater of Operations, earning five
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. Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). She was recommissioned too late to participate in the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, but was very active in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, earning three
Navy Unit Commendation
The Navy Unit Commendation (NUC) is a United States Navy unit award that was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 18 December 1944.
History
Navy and U.S. Marine Corps commands may recommend any Navy or Marine Co ...
s, one
Meritorious Unit Commendation
The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or s ...
, and 12 battle stars.
''Ticonderoga'' differed somewhat from the earlier ''Essex''-class ships in that she was longer to accommodate bow-mounted anti-aircraft guns. Most subsequent ''Essex''-class carriers were completed to this "long-hull" design and were referred to as the . At the end of her career, after a number of modifications, she was said to be in the ''Hancock'' class according to the Naval vessel register.
''Ticonderoga'' was decommissioned in 1973 and sold for scrap in 1975.
Construction and commissioning
The ship was laid down as ''Hancock'' on 1 February 1943 at
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...
, by the
Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.,
renamed ''Ticonderoga'' on 1 May 1943, and launched on 7 February 1944, sponsored by Miss Stephanie Sarah Pell. She was commissioned at the
Norfolk Navy Yard
The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility tha ...
on 8 May 1944,
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Dixie Kiefer in command.
Service history
![F6F Hellcats of VF-80 on USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) in June 1944](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/F6F_Hellcats_of_VF-80_on_USS_Ticonderoga_%28CV-14%29_in_June_1944.jpg)
''Ticonderoga'' remained at Norfolk for almost two months outfitting and embarking
Air Group 80. On 26 June 1944, the carrier shaped a course for the British West Indies. She conducted air operations and drills en route and reached
Port of Spain
Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...
, Trinidad, on 30 June. For the next 15 days, ''Ticonderoga'' trained intensively to weld her air group and crew into an efficient wartime team. She departed the West Indies on 16 July and headed back to Norfolk where she arrived on 22 July for post-shakedown repairs and alterations. On 30 August, the carrier headed for Panama. She transited 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 ...
on 4 September and steamed up the coast to
Naval Base San Diego
Naval Base San Diego, also known as 32nd Street Naval Station, is the second largest surface ship base of the United States Navy and is located in San Diego, California. Naval Base San Diego is the principal homeport of the Pacific Fleet, cons ...
the following day. On 13 September, the carrier moored at San Diego where she loaded provisions, fuel, aviation gas, and an additional 77 aircraft, as well as the
Marine Corps
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
aviation and defense units that went with them. On 19 September, she steamed for Hawaii where she arrived five days later.
''Ticonderoga'' remained at
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 ...
for almost a month. She and conducted experiments in the underway transfer of aviation
bomb
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...
s from
cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...
to aircraft carrier. Following those tests, she conducted air operations – day and night landing and antiaircraft defense drills – until 18 October, when she exited Pearl Harbor and headed for the western Pacific. After a brief stop at
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 ...
, ''Ticonderoga'' arrived 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 the Western Caroline Islands on 29 October. There she embarked
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
Arthur W. Radford, Commander,
Carrier Division 6, and joined
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 task ...
(TF 38) as a unit of Rear Admiral
Frederick C. Sherman
Frederick Carl Sherman (May 27, 1888 – July 27, 1957) was a highly decorated admiral of the United States Navy during World War II.
Early life
Sherman was born in Port Huron, Michigan on May 27, 1888. His grandfather, Loren Sherman, was the lo ...
's
Task Group 38.3 (TG 38.3).
[
]
World War II
Philippine campaign
The carrier sortied from Ulithi with TF 38 on 2 November 1944. She joined the other carriers as they resumed their extended air cover for the ground forces supporting the Battle of Leyte
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
. She launched her first air strike on the morning of 5 November. The aircraft of her air group spent the next two days pummeling enemy shipping near 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 ...
and air installations on that island. Her aircraft bombed and strafed the airfields at Zablan, Mandaluyong
Mandaluyong, officially the City of Mandaluyong ( fil, Lungsod ng Mandaluyong), is a first class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 425,758 people.
Loca ...
, and Pasig
Pasig, officially the City of Pasig ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people.
It is located along the ...
. They also joined those of other carriers in sinking the heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval Tr ...
. In addition, ''Ticonderoga'' pilots claimed six Japanese aircraft shot down and one destroyed on the ground, as well as 23 others damaged.
Around 16:00 on 5 November, the enemy attacked with a group of ''kamikaze
, officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
'' aircraft. Two of the suicide aircraft penetrated the American 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, ...
and antiaircraft fire to crash into the aircraft carrier . ''Ticonderoga'' emerged from that attack unscathed and claimed a tally of two splashes. On 6 November, the warship launched two fighter sweeps and two bombing strikes against the Luzon airfields and enemy shipping in the vicinity. Her airmen returned later that day claiming the destruction of 35 Japanese aircraft and attacks on six enemy ships in Manila Bay
Manila Bay ( fil, Look ng Maynila) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Phili ...
. After recovering her aircraft, the carrier retired to the east to resupply.
She refueled and received replacement aircraft on 7 November and then headed back to continue operating against enemy forces in the Philippines. Early on the morning of 11 November, her aircraft combined with others of TF 38 to attack a Japanese reinforcement convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
, just as it was preparing to enter Ormoc Bay
Ormoc Bay is a large bay in the island of Leyte in the Philippines. The bay is an extension of the Camotes Sea. The city of Ormoc lies at the head of the bay and exports rice, copra and sugar.
The World War II Battle of Ormoc Bay took place fr ...
from the Camotes Sea
The Camotes Sea is a small sea within the Philippine archipelago, situated between the Central Visayan and the Eastern Visayan regions. It separates Cebu from Leyte hence is bordered by Cebu to the west, Leyte to the east and north, and Bohol t ...
. Together, the aircraft accounted for all the enemy transports and four of the seven escorting destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s. On 12–13 November, ''Ticonderoga'' and her sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
s launched strikes at Luzon airfields and docks and shipping around Manila. This raid destroyed the 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 ...
, four destroyers, and seven merchant ships. At the conclusion of the raid, TF 38 retired eastward for refueling. ''Ticonderoga'' and the rest of TG 38.3, however, continued east to Ulithi where they arrived on 17 November to replenish, refuel, and rearm.
On 22 November, the aircraft carrier departed Ulithi once more and steamed back toward the Philippines. Three days later, she launched air strikes on central Luzon and adjacent waters. Her pilots sank the heavy cruiser , previously damaged 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 ...
. Later, they attacked an enemy convoy about southwest of ''Kumano'' in Dasol Bay
Dasol, officially the Municipality of Dasol ( pag, Baley na Dasol; ilo, Ili ti Dasol; tgl, Bayan ng Dasol), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 31,355 peo ...
. Of this convoy, cruiser ''Yasoshima'', a merchantman, and three landing ship
An amphibious warfare ship (or amphib) is an amphibious vehicle warship employed to land and support ground forces, such as marines, on enemy territory during an amphibious assault.
Specialized shipping can be divided into two types, most crud ...
s were sunk. ''Ticonderoga''s air group ended their day of destruction with an aerial battle which cost the Japanese 15 aircraft shot down and 11 destroyed on the ground.
While her air group fought the Japanese, ''Ticonderoga''s shipboard crew also went into action. Just after noon, a torpedo launched by an enemy aircraft broached in the wake of the light aircraft carrier , announcing the approach of an enemy air raid. ''Ticonderoga''s gunners manned their battle stations defending against both conventional and suicide attacks on the task group. Her sister ship was set afire when one of the ''kamikaze''s crashed into her. When a second suicide aircraft tried to attack the stricken carrier, ''Ticonderoga''s gunners joined those firing from other ships in shooting it down. That afternoon, while damage control parties worked on ''Essex'', ''Ticonderoga'' recovered aircrew which the damaged ''Essex'' and were unable to receive. The following day, TF 38 retired to the east.
TF 38 stood out of Ulithi again on 11 December and headed for the Philippines. ''Ticonderoga'' arrived at the launch point early in the afternoon of 13 December and sent her aircraft aloft to blanket Japanese airbases on Luzon while Army aircraft attacked those in the central Philippines. For three days, ''Ticonderoga'' airmen and their comrades launched airstrikes on enemy airfields. She withdrew on 16 December with the rest of TF 38 in search of a fueling rendezvous. While attempting to find calmer waters in which to refuel, TF 38 steamed directly through a violent, but unheralded, typhoon
A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...
. Though the storm cost Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
William Halsey
William Frederick "Bull" Halsey Jr. (October 30, 1882 – August 16, 1959) was an American United States Navy, Navy admiral during World War II. He is one of four officers to have attained the rank of five-star Fleet admiral (United States), f ...
's force three destroyers and over 800 lives, ''Ticonderoga'' and the other carriers managed to ride it out with a minimum of damage. Having survived the battle, ''Ticonderoga'' returned to Ulithi on 24 December.
Repairs occasioned by the typhoon kept TF 38 in the anchorage almost until the end of the month. The carriers did not return to sea until 30 December 1944 when they steamed north to hit Formosa
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territorie ...
and Luzon in preparation for the landings on the latter island at Lingayen Gulf
The Lingayen Gulf is a large gulf on northwestern Luzon in the Philippines, stretching . It is framed by the provinces of Pangasinan and La Union and sits between the Zambales Mountains and the Cordillera Central. The Agno River and the Balili ...
. Severe weather limited the Formosa strikes on 3–4 January 1945 but also hampered enemy operations. The warships fueled at sea on 5 January. Despite rough weather on 6 January, the strikes on Luzon airfields were carried out. That day, ''Ticonderoga''s airmen and their colleagues of the other air groups increased their score by another 32 enemy aircraft. 7 January brought more strikes on Luzon installations. After a fueling rendezvous on 8 January, ''Ticonderoga'' sped north at night to get into position to blanket Japanese airfields in the Ryūkyūs during the Lingayen assault the following morning. However, foul weather, the bugaboo of TF 38 during the winter of 1944 and 1945, forced TG 38.3 to abandon the strikes on the Ryūkyū airfields and join TG 38.2 in pounding Formosa.[
]
South China Sea combat
During the night of 9–10 January, TF 38 steamed through the Luzon Strait
The Luzon Strait (Tagalog: ''Kipot ng Luzon'', ) is the strait between Taiwan and Luzon island of the Philippines. The strait thereby connects the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea in the western Pacific Ocean.
This body of water is an im ...
and then headed generally southwest, diagonally across the South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...
. ''Ticonderoga'' provided combat air patrol coverage on 11 January and helped to bring down four enemy aircraft which attempted to snoop the formation. Otherwise, the carriers and their consorts proceeded uneventfully to a point some off the coast of Indochina
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 ...
. There, on 12 January, they launched their approximately 850 aircraft and made a series of anti-shipping sweeps during which they sank 44 ships, totaling over .
After recovering aircraft in the late afternoon, the carriers moved off to the northeast. Heavy weather hindered fueling operations on the 13th–14th and air reconnaissance failed to detect any worthwhile targets. On 15 January, fighters raided Japanese airfields on the Chinese coast while the carriers headed for a position from which to strike Hong Kong. The following morning, they launched anti-shipping bombing raids and fighter sweeps of air installations. Weather prevented air operations on 17 January and again made fueling difficult. It worsened the next day and stopped replenishment operations altogether, so that they were not finally concluded until 19 January. The force then took a course generally northward to retransit Luzon Strait via Balintang Channel.[
]
Attacks on South Japanese islands
The three task groups of TF 38 completed their transit during the night of 20–21 January. The next morning, aided by favorable flight conditions, their aircraft hit airfields on Formosa, in the Pescadores
The Penghu (, Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī, POJ: ''Phîⁿ-ô͘'' or ''Phêⁿ-ô͘'' ) or Pescadores Islands are an archipelago of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait, located approximately west from the main island of Taiwan, cov ...
, and at Sakishima Gunto
The (or 先島群島, ''Sakishima-guntō'') (Okinawan language, Okinawan: ''Sachishima'', Miyakoan language, Miyako: ''Saksїzїma'', Yaeyama language, Yaeyama: ''Sakїzїma'', Yonaguni language, Yonaguni: ''Satichima'') are an archipelago loca ...
. While it allowed American flight operations to continue through the day, it also allowed for Japanese ''kamikaze'' operations.
Just after noon, a single-engine Japanese aircraft scored a hit on ''Langley'' with a glide-bombing attack. Seconds later, a ''kamikaze'' swooped out of the clouds and plunged toward ''Ticonderoga''. The aircraft crashed through the ship's 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 helicopters ...
abreast of the No. 2 mount, and its bomb exploded just above her 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 ...
. Several aircraft stowed nearby erupted into flames and men were killed. While the crew were ordered into action to save the endangered carrier, Captain Kiefer conned his ship skilfully. First, he changed course to keep the wind from fanning the blaze. Then, he ordered magazines and other compartments flooded to prevent further explosions and to correct a 10° starboard list. Finally, he instructed the damage control party to continue flooding compartments on ''Ticonderoga''s port side which induced a 10° port list which dumped the fire overboard. Firefighter
A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...
s and aircraft handlers completed the dangerous job of dousing the flames and jettisoning burning aircraft.
Other ''kamikaze'' then assailed the carrier. Her antiaircraft gunners shot down three which all crashed into the sea, but a fourth aircraft struck the carrier's starboard side near the island. Its bomb set more aircraft on fire, riddled her flight deck, and injured or killed another 100 sailors, with Captain Kiefer one of the wounded. ''Ticonderoga''s crew continued their efforts and were spared further attacks. They brought her fires completely under control not long after 1400, and ''Ticonderoga'' retired.[
]
Repair and relaunch
The stricken carrier arrived at Ulithi on 24 January but remained there only long enough to move her wounded to hospital ship
A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones. ...
, to transfer her air group to , and to embark passengers bound for home. ''Ticonderoga'' cleared the lagoon on 28 January and headed for the U.S. The warship stopped briefly at Pearl Harbor ''en route'' to the Puget Sound Navy Yard
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted u ...
where she arrived on 15 February. Captain William Sinton assumed command in February 1945.
Her repairs were completed on 20 April, and she cleared Puget Sound the following day for the Alameda Naval Air Station
Naval Air Station Alameda (NAS Alameda) was a United States Navy Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay.
NAS Alameda had two runways: 13–31 measuring and 07-25 measuring . Two helicopter pads and a control tower wer ...
, Alameda, California
Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda (island), Alam ...
. After embarking passengers and aircraft bound for Hawaii, the carrier headed for Pearl Harbor where she arrived on 1 May. The next day, Air Group 87 came on board and, for the next week, trained in preparation for the carrier's return to combat. ''Ticonderoga'' stood out of Pearl Harbor and shaped a course for the western Pacific. ''En route'' to Ulithi, on 17 May, she launched her aircraft for what amounted to training strikes on Japanese-held Taroa
Taroa is an island in the east of Maloelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands. During World War II, it was the site of a major Japanese airfield (Taroa Airfield). The airfield was destroyed towards the end of World War II, and wreckage and remnants of ...
in the Marshalls
Marshalls is an American chain of off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico, and 61 stores in Canada. Mar ...
. On 22 May, the warship arrived in Ulithi and rejoined 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 tas ...
as an element of Rear Admiral Radford's TG 58.4.[
]
Preparing for the Japan campaign
Two days after her arrival, ''Ticonderoga'' sortied from Ulithi with TF 58 and headed north to spend the last weeks of the war in Japanese home waters. Three days out, Admiral Halsey relieved Admiral Raymond Spruance
Raymond Ames Spruance (July 3, 1886 – December 13, 1969) was a United States Navy admiral during World War II. He commanded U.S. naval forces during one of the most significant naval battles that took place in the Pacific Theatre: the Battle ...
, the 5th Fleet
The Fifth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It has been responsible for naval forces in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean since 1995 after a 48-year hiatus. It shares a commander and headq ...
reverted to 3rd Fleet, and TF 58 became TF 38 again for the duration. On 2–3 June, ''Ticonderoga'' fighters struck at airfields on Kyūshū
is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...
in an effort to neutralize the remnants of Japanese air power – particularly the ''kamikaze'' – and to relieve the pressure on American forces at 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 ...
. During the following two days, ''Ticonderoga'' rode out her second typhoon in less than six months and emerged relatively unscathed. She provided combat air patrol cover for 6 June refueling rendezvous, and four of her fighters intercepted and destroyed three Okinawa-bound ''kamikaze''s. That evening, she steamed off at high speed with TG 38.4 to conduct a fighter sweep of airfields on southern Kyūshū on 8 June. ''Ticonderoga''s aircraft then joined in the aerial bombardment of Minami Daito and Kita Daito islands before the carrier headed for Leyte where she arrived on the 13th.
During the two-week rest and replenishment period she enjoyed at Leyte, ''Ticonderoga'' changed task organizations from TG 38.4 to Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan
Gerald Francis Bogan (July 27, 1894June 8, 1973) was a United States Navy aviator and vice admiral who served in World War I and II.
Biography
Gerald Francis Bogan was born July 27, 1894, in Mackinac Island, Michigan to Dr. James H. Bogan (186 ...
's TG 38.3. On 1 July, under the flag of Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague
Clifton Albert Frederick "Ziggy" Sprague (January 8, 1896 – April 11, 1955) was a World War II-era officer in the United States Navy.
Biography
Sprague was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and attended the Roxbury Latin School. He entere ...
, she departed Leyte with TF 38 and headed north to resume raids on Japan. Two days later, a damaged reduction gear
A gear train is a mechanical system formed by mounting gears on a frame so the teeth of the gears engage.
Gear teeth are designed to ensure the pitch circles of engaging gears roll on each other without slipping, providing a smooth transmission ...
forced her into Apra Harbor
Apra Harbor, also called Port Apra, is a deep-water port on the western side of the United States territory of Guam. It is considered one of the best natural ports in the Pacific Ocean. The harbor is bounded by Cabras Island and the Glass Breakwa ...
, 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 ...
, for repairs. She remained there until the 19th when she steamed off to rejoin TF 38. On the 24th, her aircraft joined those of other fast carriers in striking ships in the Inland Sea and airfields at Nagoya
is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...
, Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
, and Miko
A , or shrine maiden,Groemer, 28. is a young priestess who works at a Shinto shrine. were once likely seen as shamans,Picken, 140. but are understood in modern Japanese culture to be an institutionalized role in daily life, trained to perform ...
.
During those raids, TF 38 aircraft found the sad remnants of the once-mighty Japanese Fleet
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
and bagged 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 ...
s , , and as well as an escort carrier
The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft ...
, , and two heavy cruisers. On 28 July, her aircraft directed their efforts toward the Kure Naval Base
was the second of four main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included the Inland Sea of Japan and the Pacific coasts of southern Honshū from Wakayama to Yamaguchi prefectures, eastern and northern Kyū ...
, where they pounded an aircraft carrier, three cruisers, a destroyer, and a submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
. She shifted her attention to the industrial area of central Honshū
, historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...
on 30 July, then to northern Honshū and Hokkaidō
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
on 9–10 August. The latter attacks thoroughly destroyed the marshaling area for a planned airborne suicide raid on the B-29
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fly ...
bases in the Marianas
The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...
. On 13–14 August, her aircraft returned to the Tokyo area and helped to subject the Japanese capital to another severe drubbing.
On the morning of 16 August, ''Ticonderoga'' launched another strike against Tokyo. During or just after that attack, word reached TF 38 to the effect that Japan had capitulated.
The shock of peace, though not so abrupt as that of war almost four years previously, took some getting used to. ''Ticonderoga'' and her sister ships remained on a full war footing. She continued patrols over Japanese territory and sent reconnaissance flights in search of camps containing 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 ...
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, 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 priso ...
so that air-dropped supplies could be rushed to them. On 6 September – four days after the formal surrender ceremony aboard – ''Ticonderoga'' entered Tokyo Bay
is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous a ...
.[
]
Post-war
Her arrival at Tokyo ended one phase of her career and began another. From Tokyo, she embarked homeward-bound to Bremerton Navy Yard in Puget Sound and was again put to sea on 20 October 1945. After a stop in Pearl Harbor in November to alter the carrier to accommodate additional passengers for the Operation Magic Carpet voyage, she steamed to Okinawa, Japan, to pick up servicemen and returned home with a Typhoon on her back reaching Alameda Navy Yard in Oakland, CA in December 1945. She disembarked her passengers and unloaded cargo before heading out to the Philippines at Samar to pick up another group of veterans. Leaving Philippines in early January 1946, she headed home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard outside of Seattle, WA delivering an estimated two to four thousand returning servicemen and unloading armaments and ammunition before entering the Bremerton Navy Yard to prepare for inactivation.
Almost a year later on 9 January 1947, ''Ticonderoga'' was placed out of commission and berthed with the Bremerton Group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet
The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the maintenance activity have changed several times, the basics are constant: keep the ships afloat and ...
.[
]
Redeployment in the Pacific
On 31 January 1952, ''Ticonderoga'' came out of reserve and went into reduced commission for the transit from Bremerton to New York. She departed Puget Sound on 27 February and reached New York on 1 April. Three days later, she was decommissioned at the New York Naval Shipyard
The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular ben ...
to begin the extensive SCB-27C conversion. During the ensuing 29 months, the carrier received numerous modifications – steam catapult
An aircraft catapult is a device used to allow aircraft to take off from a very limited amount of space, such as the deck of a vessel, but can also be installed on land-based runways in rare cases. It is now most commonly used on aircraft carrier ...
s to launch jets, a new nylon barricade, a new deck-edge elevator
An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...
and the latest electronic and fire control equipment
A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a ...
– necessary for her to become an integral unit of the fleet. On 11 September 1954, ''Ticonderoga'' was recommissioned at New York, Captain William A. "Bill" Schoech in command.
In January 1955, the carrier shifted to her new home port – Naval Station Norfolk
Naval Station Norfolk is a United States Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, that is the headquarters and home port of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Forces Command. The installation occupies about of waterfront space and of pier and wharf space of the Hamp ...
, Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
– where she arrived on the 6th. Over the next month, she conducted carrier qualifications with Air Group 6 in the Virginia Capes
The Virginia Capes are the two capes, Cape Charles to the north and Cape Henry to the south, that define the entrance to Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America.
In 1610, a supply ship learned of the famine at Jamestown when it l ...
operating area. On 3 February, she stood out of Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...
for shakedown near Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, after which she returned via Norfolk to New York for additional alterations. During the late summer, the warship resumed carrier qualifications in the Virginia Capes area.
She visited Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
over Labor Day weekend to participate in the International Air Show. To demonstrate the power of her new steam catapults, on three consecutive days she launched North American AJ-1 Savages while standing at anchor in the Delaware River. ''Ticonderoga'' next participated in tests of four new aircraft – the A4D-1 Skyhawk, F4D-1 Skyray
The Douglas F4D Skyray (later redesignated F-6 Skyray) is an American carrier-based fighter/ interceptor built by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Although it was in service for a relatively short time (1956–1964) and never entered combat, it w ...
, F7U Cutlass
The Vought F7U Cutlass is a United States Navy carrier-based jet fighter and fighter-bomber of the early Cold War era. It was a tailless aircraft for which aerodynamic data from projects of the German Arado and Messerschmitt companies, obtained ...
, and F3H-2N Demon. ''Ticonderoga'' then returned to normal operations along the East Coast until 4 November when she departed Naval Station Mayport, Florida, and headed for Europe. She relieved ''Intrepid'' at Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
10 days later and cruised the length of the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
during the following eight months. On 2 August 1956, ''Ticonderoga'' returned to Norfolk and entered the shipyard to receive an angled 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 helicopter ...
and an enclosed hurricane bow as part of the SCB-125
SCB-125 was the United States Navy designation for a series of upgrades to the of aircraft carriers planned by the Ship Characteristics Board and conducted between 1954 and 1959. These upgrades included the addition of an angled flight deck and ...
program.
Those modifications were completed by early 1957, and in April she got underway for her new home port – Alameda, California. She reached her destination on 30 May, underwent repairs, and finished out the summer with operations off the California coast. On 16 September, she stood out of San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland.
San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...
and shaped course for the Far East. ''En route'', she stopped at Pearl Harbor before continuing west to Yokosuka
is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
, the city has a population of 409,478, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region.
The city ...
Japan, where she arrived on 15 October. For six months, ''Ticonderoga'' cruised the waters from Japan in the north to the Philippines in the south. Upon arriving at Alameda on 25 April 1958, she completed her first deployment to the western Pacific since recommissioning.[
]
Vietnam
Pre-conflict operations
From 1958 to 1963, ''Ticonderoga'' made four more peacetime deployments to the western Pacific. During each, she conducted training operations with other units of the 7th Fleet
The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of th ...
and made goodwill and liberty port calls throughout the Far East. Early in 1964, she began preparations for her sixth cruise to the western Pacific and, following exercises off the west coast and in the Hawaiian Islands, the carrier cleared Pearl Harbor on 4 May for what began as another peaceful tour of duty in the Far East. The first three months of that deployment brought normal operations—training and port calls.
Initial actions
On 2 August, while operating in international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin
The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern ...
, the destroyer reported being attacked by units of the (North) Vietnam People's Navy
The Vietnam People's Navy (VPN; vi, Hải quân nhân dân Việt Nam), or the Naval Service (), also known as the Vietnamese People's Navy or simply Vietnam/Vietnamese Navy (), is the naval branch of the Vietnam People's Army and is responsi ...
. Within minutes of her receipt of the message, ''Ticonderoga'' dispatched four, rocket-armed F8E Crusaders to the destroyer's assistance. Upon arrival, the Crusaders launched Zuni rockets and strafed the North Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
ese craft with their cannon. After the efforts of ''Ticonderoga'' and ''Maddox'', one boat was left dead in the water and the other two damaged.
Two days later, late in the evening of 4 August, ''Ticonderoga'' received urgent requests from the destroyer – by then on patrol with ''Maddox'' – for air support in resisting what the destroyer alleged to be another torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...
foray. The carrier again launched aircraft to aid the American surface ships, and ''Turner Joy'' directed them. The Navy surface and air team believed it had sunk two boats and damaged another pair.
President Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
responded with a reprisal to what he felt at the time to be two unprovoked attacks on American seapower and ordered retaliatory air strikes on selected North Vietnamese motor torpedo boat bases. On 5 August, ''Ticonderoga'' and launched 60 sorties against four bases and their supporting oil storage facilities. The USN attacks reportedly resulted in the destruction of 25 PT-type boats, severe damage to the bases, and almost complete razing of the oil storage depot. For her quick reaction and successful combat actions on those three occasions, ''Ticonderoga'' received the Navy Unit Commendation
The Navy Unit Commendation (NUC) is a United States Navy unit award that was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 18 December 1944.
History
Navy and U.S. Marine Corps commands may recommend any Navy or Marine Co ...
.[
]
Stand-down
After a return visit to Japan in September, the aircraft carrier resumed normal operations in the South China Sea until winding up the deployment late in the year. She returned to the Naval Air Station North Island
Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island , at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay in San Diego, California, is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the United States Navy – Naval Base Coronado (N ...
, California, on 15 December 1964. Following post-deployment and holiday stand-down, ''Ticonderoga'' moved to the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard
The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard was a United States Navy shipyard in San Francisco, California, located on of waterfront at Hunters Point in the southeast corner of the city.
Originally, Hunters Point was a commercial shipyard established ...
on 27 January 1965 to begin a five-month overhaul. She completed repairs in June and spent the summer operating along the coast of southern California. On 28 September, the aircraft carrier put to sea for another deployment to the Orient. She spent some time in the Hawaiian Islands for an operational readiness exercise then continued on to the Far East. She reached " Dixie Station" on 5 November and immediately began combat air operations.
1965–1966 deployment
''Ticonderoga''s winter deployment of 1965 and 1966 was her first total combat tour of duty during American involvement in the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. During her six months in the Far East, the carrier spent a total of 116 days in air operations off the coast of Vietnam dividing her time almost evenly between "Dixie" and "Yankee Station
Yankee Station (officially Point Yankee) was a fixed coordinate off the coast of Vietnam where U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and support ships operated in open waters over a nine-year period during the Vietnam War. The location was used primari ...
s", the carrier operating areas off South and North Vietnam, respectively. Her air group delivered over of ordnance in more than 10,000 combat sorties, with a loss of 16 aircraft, but only five pilots. For the most part, her aircraft hit enemy installations in North Vietnam and interdicted supply routes into South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
, including river-borne and coastwise junk and sampan
A sampan is a relatively flat-bottomed Chinese and Malay wooden boat. Some sampans include a small shelter on board and may be used as a permanent habitation on inland waters. The design closely resembles Western hard chine boats like th ...
traffic as well as roads, bridges, and trucks on land. Specifically, they claimed the destruction of 35 bridges as well as numerous warehouses, barracks, trucks, boats, and railroad cars and severe damage to a major North Vietnamese thermal power plant located at Uong Bi north of Haiphong
Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta.
Haiphong wa ...
. After a stop at Yokosuka, Japan, from 25 April to 3 May 1966, the warship put to sea to return to the United States. On 13 May, she pulled into port at San Diego to end the deployment.[
On 5 December 1965, a ]Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The delta-winged, single turbojet engined Skyhawk was designed a ...
was lost overboard while the aircraft carrier was from Kikai Island
is one of the Satsunan Islands, classed with the Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa.
The island, in area, has a population of approximately 7,657 persons. Administratively the island forms the town of Kikai, Kagoshima Prefectur ...
, Kagoshima Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...
, 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 ...
. The aircraft was being rolled from a hangar bay onto an elevator. The aircraft had mounted on it a B43 nuclear bomb
The B43 was a United States air-dropped variable yield thermonuclear weapon used by a wide variety of fighter bomber and bomber aircraft.
The B43 was developed from 1956 by Los Alamos National Laboratory, entering production in 1959. It entered se ...
. The pilot, Lieutenant JG Douglas Webster, the A-4E Skyhawk, BuNo ''151022'', of Attack Squadron VA-56 "Champions", and the nuclear weapon were all lost. No public mention was made of the incident at the time and it would not come to light until a 1981 United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
report revealed that a one-megaton bomb had been lost. Japan then asked for details of the incident.
1966–1967, 1967–1968 deployments
Following repairs she steamed out of San Diego on 9 July to begin a normal round of West Coast training operations. Those and similar evolutions continued until 15 October, when ''Ticonderoga'' departed San Diego, bound via Hawaii for the western Pacific. The carrier reached Yokosuka, Japan, on 30 October and remained there until 5 November when she headed south for an overnight stop at U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay
Naval Base Subic Bay was a major ship-repair, supply, and rest and recreation facility of the Spanish Navy and subsequently the United States Navy located in Zambales, Philippines. The base was 262 square miles, about the size of Singapore. Th ...
, Subic Bay in the Philippines on 10–11 November. On 13 November, ''Ticonderoga'' arrived in the Gulf of Tonkin and began the first of three combat tours during her 1966–1967 deployment. She launched 11,650 combat sorties, all against enemy targets located in North Vietnam. Again, her primary targets were logistics and communications lines and transportation facilities. For her contribution and that of Air Wing Nineteen to Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was a gradual and sustained aerial bombardment campaign conducted by the United States (U.S.) 2nd Air Division (later Seventh Air Force), U.S. Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) against the Democratic Repub ...
, ''Ticonderoga'' was awarded her second Navy Unit Commendation.[
]
She completed her final line period on 27 April 1967 and returned to Yokosuka, from which she departed again on 19 May to return to the United States. Ten days later, the carrier entered San Diego and began a month-long, post-deployment stand-down. At the beginning of July, she shifted to Bremerton, Washington
Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington. The population was 37,729 at the 2010 census and an estimated 41,405 in 2019, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerto ...
, where she entered the Puget Sound for two months of repairs. Upon the completion of yard work, she departed Bremerton on 6 September and steamed south to training operations off the coast of southern California.
On 28 December 1967, ''Ticonderoga'' sailed for her fourth combat deployment to the waters off the Indochinese coast and arrived on Yankee Station in January 1968. ''Ticonderoga'' was on Yankee Station for the beginning of the 1968 Tet Offensive. Nearly coincidental with the Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the forces o ...
, the siege of Khe Sanh began and , an American spy ship, was seized by the North Koreans and taken to Wonsan harbor. The aircraft carrier was immediately deployed to the coast of North Korea, beginning Operation Formation Star
Operation Formation Star was the code name for the emergency re-deployment of U.S. Seventh Fleet warships to the Sea of Japan off the eastern coast of North Korea following that country's seizure of the in international waters on 23 January 196 ...
. Approximately a week later, ''Ranger'' was relieved off Korea by ''Ticonderoga'' and returned to Yankee Station. joined ''Ticonderoga'' and strikes were planned against seven MiG
Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (russian: Российская самолётостроительная корпорация „МиГ“, Rossiyskaya samolyotostroitel'naya korporatsiya "MiG"), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, was a Russi ...
airfields with approximately 200 MiGS. These strikes were never executed and ''Ticonderoga'' returned to Yankee Station to resume her role in the Tet Offensive. Between January 1968 and July 1968, ''Ticonderoga'' was on the line off the coast of Vietnam for five separate periods totaling 120 days of combat duty. During that time, her air wing flew just over 13,000 combat sorties against North Vietnamese and Viet Cong
,
, war = the Vietnam War
, image = FNL Flag.svg
, caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green.
, active ...
forces, most frequently in the continuing attempts to interdict the enemy lines of supply. Between line periods, she regularly returned to Subic Bay and Naval Air Station Cubi Point
U.S. Naval Air Station Cubi Point was a United States Navy aerial facility located at the edge of Naval Base Subic Bay and abutting the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines.
When the base closed, the air station became the Subic Bay International ...
for rest and replenishment. She also made port visits at Singapore and Hong Kong. On 9 July, during her fifth line period, LCDR LCDR may refer to:
* The London, Chatham and Dover Railway
* The rank of lieutenant commander
Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. ...
John B. Nichols claimed ''Ticonderoga''s first MiG kill. The carrier completed that line period and entered Subic Bay for upkeep on 25 July. ''Ticonderoga'' then proceeded for her homeport in Naval Air Station North Island
Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island , at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay in San Diego, California, is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the United States Navy – Naval Base Coronado (N ...
, Coronado, California
Coronado (Spanish for "Crowned") is a resort city located in San Diego County, California, United States, across the San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego. It was founded in the 1880s and incorporated in 1890. Its population was 24,697 at the ...
arriving on 17 August 1968 after a one-day delay in the fog off San Diego in the San Clemente Channel. Shortly thereafter, ''Ticonderoga'' moved to the Long Beach Naval Shipyard
The Long Beach Naval Shipyard (Long Beach NSY or LBNSY), which closed in 1997, was located on Terminal Island between the city of Long Beach and the San Pedro district of Los Angeles, approximately 23 miles south of the Los Angeles International ...
for repairs and certain conversions to handle the A-7 Corsair attack jet and to prepare for her fifth combat cruise in February 1969.
Final deployments
During the first month of 1969, ''Ticonderoga'' made preparations for her fifth consecutive combat deployment to the Southeast Asia area. On 1 February, she cleared San Diego and headed west. After a brief stop at Pearl Harbor a week later, she continued her voyage to Yokosuka where she arrived on the 20th. The carrier departed Yokosuka on 28 February for the coast of Vietnam where she arrived on 4 March. Over the next four months, ''Ticonderoga'' served four periods on the line off Vietnam, interdicting Communist supply line
Supply may refer to:
*The amount of a resource that is available
**Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers
**Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission
*Supply, as in confidenc ...
s and making strikes against their positions.
During her second line period, however, her tour of duty off Vietnam came to an abrupt end on 16 April when she was shifted north to the Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...
. North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
n aircraft had shot down a Navy reconnaissance aircraft in the area, and ''Ticonderoga'' was called upon to beef up the forces assigned to the vicinity. However, the crisis abated, and ''Ticonderoga'' entered Subic Bay on 27 April for upkeep. On 8 May, she departed the Philippines to return to "Yankee Station" and resumed interdiction operations. Between her third and fourth line periods, the carrier visited Sasebo and Hong Kong.
The aircraft carrier took station off Vietnam for her last line period of the deployment on 26 June and there followed 37 more days of highly successful air sorties against enemy targets. Following that tour, she joined TF 71 in the Sea of Japan for the remainder of the deployment. ''Ticonderoga'' concluded the deployment—a highly successful one, for she received her third Navy Unit Commendation for her operations during that tour of duty—when she left Subic Bay on 4 September.[
]
Post-Vietnam service
''Ticonderoga'' arrived in San Diego on 18 September 1969. After almost a month of post-deployment stand-down, she moved to the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in mid-October to begin conversion to an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) aircraft carrier. Overhaul and conversion work began on 20 October, and ''Ticonderoga'' was redesignated ''CVS-14'' the next day. She completed overhaul and conversion on 28 May 1970 and conducted exercises out of Long Beach for most of June. On 26 June, the new ASW support carrier entered her new home port, San Diego. In July–August, she conducted refresher training, refresher air operations, and carrier landing qualifications. She operated off the California coast for the remainder of the year and participated in two naval exercises-HUKASWEX 4–70 late in October and COMPUTEX 23–70 between 30 November and 3 December.
USS ''Ticonderoga'' made an all but brief appearance in the Movie ''Tora! Tora! Tora!
''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' ( ja, トラ・トラ・トラ!) is a 1970 epic film, epic war film that dramatizes the Empire of Japan, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The film was produced by Elmo Williams and directed by Richard Fleischer, T ...
'' which was being filmed in 1970, Ticonderoga Flight Deck Number 14 briefly appears in shot, while playing Admiral William (Bull) Halsey's Flagship USS Enterprise (CV-6).
During the remainder of her active career, ''Ticonderoga'' made two more deployments to the Far East. Because of her change in mission, neither tour of duty included combat operations off Vietnam. Both, however, included training exercises in the Sea of Japan with ships of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force
, abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...
. The first of these two cruises also brought operations in the Indian Ocean with units of the Thai Navy
The Royal Thai Navy ( Abrv: RTN, ทร.; th, กองทัพเรือไทย, ) is the naval warfare force of Thailand. Established in 1906, it was modernised by the Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartiwongse (1880–1923) who is known as ...
and a transit of Sunda Strait during which a ceremony was held to commemorate the loss of the cruisers and in 1942.
In between these two last deployments, she operated in the eastern Pacific and participated in the recovery of the Apollo 16
Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. It was the second of Apollo's " J missions", with an extended sta ...
Moon mission capsule and astronauts 215 miles SE off Christmas Island
Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...
during April 1972. The second deployment came in the summer of 1972, and, in addition to the training exercises in the Sea of Japan, ''Ticonderoga'' also joined ASW training operations in the South China Sea. That fall, she returned to the eastern Pacific and, in November practiced for the recovery of Apollo 17
Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on ...
. The next month, ''Ticonderoga'' recovered her second set of space voyagers near American Samoa at decimal -17.88, -166.11. The carrier then headed back to San Diego where she arrived on 28 December. On 22 June 1973, ''Ticonderoga'' recovered the Skylab 2
Skylab 2 (also SL-2 and SLM-1) was the first crewed mission to Skylab, the first American orbital space station. The mission was launched on an Apollo command and service module by a Saturn IB rocket on May 25, 1973, and carried NASA astronau ...
astronauts near San Diego.
''Ticonderoga'' remained active for nine more months, first operating out of San Diego and then making preparations for inactivation. On 1 September 1973, the aircraft carrier was decommissioned after a board of inspection and survey found her to be unfit for further naval service. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 16 November 1973, and arrangements were begun to sell her for scrap. She was sold for scrap 1 September 1975.
Awards
''Ticonderoga'' received five battle stars during World War II and three Navy Unit Commendations, one Meritorious Unit Commendation, and 12 battle stars during the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
.[
* ]Navy Unit Commendation
The Navy Unit Commendation (NUC) is a United States Navy unit award that was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 18 December 1944.
History
Navy and U.S. Marine Corps commands may recommend any Navy or Marine Co ...
(3)
* Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation
The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or s ...
* American Campaign Medal
The American Campaign Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was first created on November 6, 1942, by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was intended to recognize those military members who had perfo ...
* Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal
The Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal is a United States military award of the Second World War, which was awarded to any member of the United States Armed Forces who served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945. The medal was created ...
(5 battle stars
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 ...
)
* World War II Victory Medal
The World War II Victory Medal is a service medal of the United States military which was established by an Act of Congress on 6 July 1945 (Public Law 135, 79th Congress) and promulgated by Section V, War Department Bulletin 12, 1945.
The Wor ...
* Navy Occupation Service Medal
The Navy Occupation Service Medal is a military award of the United States Navy which was "Awarded to commemorate the services of Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard personnel in the occupation of certain territories of the enemies of the U.S. durin ...
(with Asia clasp)
* National Defense Service Medal
The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a service award of the United States Armed Forces established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. It is awarded to every member of the US Armed Forces who has served during any one of four sp ...
* Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (AFEM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces, which was first created in 1961 by Executive Order of President John Kennedy. The medal is awarded to members of the U.S. Armed Forces who, after ...
(4)
* Vietnam Service Medal
The Vietnam Service Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces established on 8 July 1965 by order of President Lyndon B. Johnson. The medal is awarded to recognize service during the Vietnam War by all members of the U.S. A ...
(12 battle stars)
* Korean Defense Service Medal
The Korea Defense Service Medal (KDSM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military service medal of the United States Armed Forces that was first created in 2002 when it was signed into law by President George W. Bush. Th ...
* Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation
The Philippine Presidential Unit citation BadgeThe AFP Adjutant General, ''Awards and Decorations Handbook'', 1997, OTAG, p. 65. is a unit decoration of the Republic of the Philippines. It has been awarded to certain units of the United States mil ...
* Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation
The Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross also known as the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross or Vietnam Cross of Gallantry ( vi, Anh-Dũng Bội-Tinh) is a military decoration of the former Government of South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam). The medal wa ...
( Gallantry Cross Medal with Palm)
* Philippine Liberation Medal
The Philippine Liberation Medal is a military award of the Republic of the Philippines which was created by an order of Commonwealth Army of the Philippines Headquarters on 20 December 1944, and was issued as the Philippine Liberation Ribbon. The d ...
(1 battle star)
* Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
The Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, also known as the Vietnam Campaign Medal ( vi, Chiến Dịch Bội Tinh), is a South Vietnamese military campaign medal which was created in 1949, and awarded to French military personnel during the First ...
Gallery
File:USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) burning in Jan 1945.jpg, ''Ticonderoga'' burning on 21 January 1945
File:USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) underway at sea c1954.jpg, ''Ticonderoga'' underway in 1954
File:Aft view of USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14) c1957.jpg, Aft view of ''Ticonderoga'' in 1957
File:USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14) underway in 1960.jpg, ''Ticonderoga'' underway in 1960
File:A3D-2 Skywarrior of VAH-4 launching from USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14) 1960.jpg, A3D-2 Skywarrior of VAH-4 launching from ''Ticonderoga'' in 1960
File:RF-8A of VFP-63 landing on USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14) in 1963.jpg, RF-8A of VFP-63
VFP-63 was a Light Photographic Squadron of the U.S. Navy. Originally established as Composite Squadron Sixty-One (VC-61) on 20 January 1949, it was redesignated as Fighter Photographic Squadron (VFP-61) on 2 July 1956. Redesignated as Composite P ...
landing on ''Ticonderoga'' in 1963
File:CVW-19 aircraft flying over USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14) 1968.jpg, CVW-19 aircraft flying over ''Ticonderoga'' in 1968
File:Apollo-17-with-USS-Ticonderoga.jpg, Apollo 17
Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on ...
and ''Ticonderoga'' on 19 December 1972
References
*
*
External links
''Big T''.net
– USS ''Ticonderoga'' Veterans Association
* ttp://www.sinton-family-trees.com/ft_main.php?rin=1592 Genealogy of Rear Admiral William Sinton USNbr>USS ''Ticonderoga'' pictures from the U.S. Naval History Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ticonderoga (Cv-14)
Essex-class aircraft carriers
Ships built in Newport News, Virginia
1944 ships
World War II aircraft carriers of the United States
Cold War aircraft carriers of the United States
Vietnam War aircraft carriers of the United States
Space capsule recovery ships