CV-21

USS ''Boxer'' (CV/CVA/CVS-21, LPH-4) was one of 24 s of the United States Navy, and the fifth ship to be named for . She was launched on 14 December 1944 and christened by the daughter of a US Senator from Louisiana.

Commissioned too late to see any combat in World War II, ''Boxer'' spent much of her career in the Pacific Ocean seeing 10 tours in the western Pacific. Her initial duties involved mostly training and exercises, including launching the first carrier-based jet aircraft, but demobilization prevented much activity in the late 1940s. At the outbreak of the Korean War, she was used as an aircraft transport before arriving off Korean waters as the third U.S. carrier to join the force. She supported the Inchon landings and subsequent invasion of North Korea, and was among the ships that provided support during the Chinese counteroffensive against an under-prepared and spread out United Nations (UN) force. She saw three subsequent combat tours in Korea conducting close air support and strategic bombing in support of UN ground troops fighting along the 38th parallel, as the battles lines had largely solidified by this time. She was awarded eight battle stars for her service in Korea.

After the Korean War, ''Boxer'' saw a variety of duties, including as an anti-submarine warfare carrier and an amphibious assault platform. She participated in a number of training exercises including Operation Hardtack and Operation Steel Pike, as well as several contingencies including Operation Powerpack and the Cuban Missile Crisis. In her later years, she served as a pickup ship for spacecraft during the Apollo program as well as an aircraft transport to troops during the Vietnam War.

Although she was extensively modified internally as part of her conversion to a Landing Platform Helicopter (LPH), external modifications were minor, so throughout her career ''Boxer'' retained the classic appearance of a World War II ''Essex''-class ship. She was decommissioned on 1 December 1969 after 25 years of service and sold for scrap.

Construction

''Boxer'' was one of 24 ''Essex''-class ships to be completed, among the largest and most numerous capital ships produced for World War II. She was ordered in 1943.

The ship was one of the "long-hull" designs of the class, which had begun production after March 1943. This "long hull" variant involved lengthening the bow above the waterline into a "clipper" form. The increased rake and flare provided deck space for two quadruple 40 mm mounts; these units also had the flight deck slightly shortened forward to provide better arcs of fire. Of the ''Essex''-class ships laid down after 1942, only followed the original "short bow" design. The later ships have been variously referred to as the "long-bow units", the "long-hull group", or the "''Ticonderoga'' class". However, the U.S. Navy never maintained any institutional distinction between the long-hull and short-hull members of the ''Essex'' class, and postwar refits and upgrades were applied to both groups equally.

Like other "long-hull" ''Essex''-class carriers, ''Boxer'' had a displacement of . She had an overall length of , a beam of and a draft of . The ship was powered by eight 600 psi Babcock & Wilcox boilers, and Westinghouse geared steam turbines that developed that turned four propellers. Like other ''Essex''-class carriers, she had a maximum speed of . The ship had a total crew complement of 3,448. Like other ''Essex''-class ships, she could be armed with 12 5-inch (127 mm)/38 caliber guns arrayed in four pairs and four single emplacements, as well as eight quadruple Bofors 40 mm guns and 46 Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. However, unlike her sisters, ''Boxer'' was armed instead with 72 40 mm guns and 35 20 mm cannons.

Her keel was laid on 13 September 1943 by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company at its facility in Newport News, Virginia. She was the fifth ship of the US Navy to be named ''Boxer'', after , which had been captured by the U.S. during the War of 1812. The last ship to bear the name had been a training ship in 1905. The new carrier was launched on 14 December 1944 and she was christened by Ruth D. Overton, the daughter of U.S. Senator John H. Overton. The ship's cost is estimated at $68,000,000 to $78,000,000.

Service history

''Boxer'' was commissioned on 16 April 1945 under the command of Captain D. F. Smith. She subsequently began sea trials and a shakedown cruise. Before these were complete, the Empire of Japan surrendered on V-J Day, marking the end of World War II before ''Boxer'' could participate. She joined the Pacific Fleet at San Diego in August 1945 and the next month she steamed for Guam, becoming the flagship of Task Force 77, a position she held until 23 August 1946. During this tour, she visited Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, and China.

She returned to San Francisco on 10 September 1946, embarked Carrier Air Group 19 flying the Grumman F8F Bearcat fighter. With this complement, ''Boxer'' began a series of peacetime patrols and training missions off the coast of California during a relatively uneventful period during 1947. In spite of manning difficulties brought on by the demobilization of the US military after World War II, ''Boxer'' remained active in Pacific readiness drills around the West Coast and Hawaii. In 1948, she conducted a number of short cruises with US Navy Reserve personnel. On 10 March 1948, a North American FJ-1 Fury