USS Intrepid (CV 11 / CVA 11 / CVS 11):
USS Intrepid (CV/CVA/CVS-11), also known as The
Fighting "I", is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built
during World War II for the United States Navy. She is the fourth US Navy
ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in
several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, most notably the
Battle of Leyte Gulf. 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). In her
second career, she served mainly in the Atlantic, but also participated in
the Vietnam War. Her notable achievements include being the recovery ship for
a Mercury and a Gemini space mission. Because of her prominent role in
battle, she was nicknamed "the Fighting I", while her often
ill-luck and the time spent in dry dock for repairs earned her the nickname
"the Dry I". Decommissioned in 1974, in 1982 Intrepid became the
foundation of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.
Construction & commissioning
Intrepid was commissioned on 26 April 1943 by Newport News Shipbuilding &
Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, the fifth Essex-class aircraft carrier
to be launched. She was sponsored by the wife of Vice Admiral John H. Hoover.
On 16 August 1943, she was commissioned with Captain Thomas L. Sprague in
command before heading to the Caribbean for shakedown and training.
Intrepid 's motto upon setting sail was "In Mare In Caelo",
which means "On the sea, in the sky", or "In the sea in
Heaven".
World War II
Intrepid has one of the most distinguished service records of any Navy ship,
seeing active service in the Pacific Theater including the Marshall Islands,
Truk, Leyte Gulf, and Okinawa. At war's end, she was in Enewetak and soon
supported occupation forces providing air support and supply services before
heading back to California.
Marshalls, January - February 1944
3 December 1943: Intrepid sailed from Naval Station Norfolk for San
Francisco, then to Hawaii.
10 January: She arrived at Pearl Harbor and prepared for the invasion of the
Marshall Islands, the next objective in the Navy's massive island-hopping
campaign.
16 January: She left Pearl Harbor with carriers Cabot and Essex.
29 January–2 February 1944: She raided islands at the northeastern corner of
Kwajalein Atoll and pressed the attack until the last opposition had
vanished.
31 January: By then, the raids destroyed all of the 83 Japanese aircraft
based on Roi-Namur. The first landings were made on adjacent islets. That
morning, Intrepid 's aircraft strafed Ennuebing Island
until 10 minutes before the first Marines reached the beaches. Thirty minutes
later, that islet – which protected Roi's southwestern flank and controlled
the North Pass into Kwajalein Lagoon – was secured, enabling Marines to set
up artillery to support their assault on Roi.
2 February 1944: Her work in the capture of the Marshall Islands was now
finished. Intrepid headed for Truk, the tough Japanese base in the center of
Micronesia.
17 February: Three fast carrier groups arrived undetected at daybreak.
17 – 18 February: The three carrier groups sank two Japanese destroyers and
200,000 tons (180,000 tonnes) of merchant shipping in two days of almost
continuous attacks in Operation Hailstone. The carrier raid demonstrated
Truk's vulnerability and thereby greatly curtailed its usefulness to the
Japanese as a base.
17 February 1944: That night, an aerial torpedo struck Intrepid 's
starboard quarter, 15 ft (5 m) below her waterline, flooding several
compartments and distorting her rudder. By running her port engines at full
power and stopping her starboard engines or running them at ⅓ ahead,
Captain Sprague kept her roughly on course. Her crew moved all the aircraft on
deck forward to increase her headsail to further aid in control.[1]
19 February: Strong winds overpowered the improvised steering and left her
with her bow pointed toward Tokyo. Sprague later confessed: "Right then
I wasn't interested in going in that direction." At this point the crew
made a jury-rig sail of wood, cargo nets, and canvas to further increase her
headsail, allowing Intrepid to hold her course.
24 February 1944: Intrepid reached Pearl Harbor.
16 March: After temporary repairs, Intrepid sailed for the West Coast.
22 March: She arrived at Hunter's Point, California.
June 1944: She was back in fighting trim and departed for two months of
operations out of Pearl Harbor, then to the Marshalls.
Palaus and Philippines, September - November 1944
6 and 7 September 1944: Intrepid 's aircraft struck
Japanese positions in the Palaus concentrating on airfields and artillery
emplacements on Peleliu.
8 September: Her fast carrier task force steamed west toward the southern
Philippines.
9 and 10 September: She struck airfields on Mindanao.
12 through 14 September: She raided bases in the Visayan Sea.
17 September: She returned to the Palaus to support Marines in overcoming
opposition from hillside caves and mangrove swamps on Peleliu.
When the struggle settled down to rooting Japanese defenders out of the
ground man-to-man, Intrepid steamed back to the Philippines to prepare the
way for liberation. She struck throughout the Philippines, also pounding
Okinawa and Formosa to neutralize Japanese air threats to Leyte.
20 October 1944: Intrepid 's aircraft flew missions in
support of the Leyte landings. Japan's Navy, desperately striving to hold the
Philippines, was converging on Leyte Gulf from three directions.
23 to 26 October 1944: Ships of the U.S. Navy parried thrusts in four major
actions collectively known as the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
24 October morning: An Intrepid aircraft spotted Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's
flagship, Yamato. Two hours later, aircraft from Intrepid and Cabot braved
intense antiaircraft fire to begin a day-long attack on Center Force. Wave
after wave followed until by sunset American carrier-based aircraft sank
battleship Musashi and damaged her sister ship Yamato, along with battleships
Nagato and Haruna and heavy cruiser Myōkō, forcing Myōkō to
withdraw.
That night, Admiral William Halsey's 3rd Fleet raced north to intercept
Japan's Northern Force which had been spotted off the northeastern tip of
Luzon. At daybreak, aircraft took off to attack the Japanese ships then off
Cape Engaño. One of Intrepid 's aircraft got a bomb into
light carrier Zuihō. American bombers then sank her sister ship Chitose,
and an aircraft from either Intrepid or San Jacinto scored a torpedo hit on
fleet carrier Zuikaku knocking out her communications and hampering her
steering. Destroyer Akizuki sank and at least nine of Ozawa's 15 aircraft
were shot down.
Throughout the day, the attack continued and, after five more strikes, Japan
had lost four carriers and a destroyer.
The still-potent Center Force, after pushing through San Bernardino Strait,
had steamed south along the coast of Samar where it was held at bay by a
small escort carrier group of six "baby flattops", three
destroyers, and four destroyer escorts until help arrived and it went back
towards Japan.
As Intrepid 's aircraft hit Clark Field on 30 October, a
burning kamikaze crashed into one of the carrier's port gun tubs killing 10
men and wounding six. Soon skillful damage control work enabled the flattop
to resume flight operations.
Intrepid 's aircraft continued to hit airfields and
shipping in the Philippines.
25 November, shortly after noon: A heavy force of Japanese aircraft struck
back at the carriers. Within five minutes, two kamikazes crashed into the
carrier killing six officers and fifty-nine crew. (Actual report from Air
Group 18 states "sixty were dead, fifteen missing, and about one hundred
wounded.") Intrepid never lost propulsion nor left her station in the
task group, and in less than two hours had extinguished the last blaze.
26 November: Intrepid headed for San Francisco.
20 December: She arrived there for repairs.
Okinawa and Japan, March - December 1945
Mid February 1945: Back in fighting trim, the carrier steamed for Ulithi.
13 March She arrived at Ulithi.
14 March 1945: She set off westward.
18 March: She made powerful strikes against airfields on Kyūshū.
That morning a twin-engined Japanese G4M "Betty" broke through a
curtain of defensive fire turned toward Intrepid and exploded only 50 ft (15
m) off Intrepid 's forward boat crane. A shower of
flaming gasoline and aircraft parts started fires on the hangar deck, but
damage control teams quickly put them out.
Intrepid 's aircraft joined attacks on remnants of the
Japanese fleet anchored at Kure damaging 18 enemy naval vessels, including
battleship Yamato and carrier Amagi.
The carriers turned to Okinawa as L-Day, the start of the most ambitious
amphibious assault of the Pacific war, approached.
26 and 27 March: Their aircraft attacked the Ryūkyūs, softening up
enemy defensive works.
1 April 1945: The invasion began on 1 April. They flew support missions
against targets on Okinawa and made neutralizing raids against Japanese
airfields in range of the island.
16 April: During an air raid, a Japanese aircraft dove into Intrepid 's
flight deck forcing the engine and part of her fuselage right on through,
killing eight men and wounding 21. In less than an hour the flaming gasoline
had been extinguished, and only three hours after the crash, aircraft were
again landing on the carrier.
17 April: Intrepid retired homeward via Ulithi
11 May: She made a stop at Pearl Harbor.
19 May: She arrived at San Francisco for repairs.
29 June: Intrepid left San Francisco.
6 August: In passing, her aircraft smashed Japanese on bypassed Wake Island.
7 August: She arrived at Eniwetok.
15 August: At Eniwetok she received word to "cease offensive
operations."
21 August: The veteran carrier got under way to support the occupation of
Japan.
2 December: She departed Yokosuka.
15 December 1945. She arrived San Pedro, California.
Post-war
4 February 1946: Intrepid shifted to San Francisco Bay.
15 August: Her status was reduced to "in commission in reserve".
22 March 1947: She was decommissioned and joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet.
9 February 1952: Intrepid recommissioned at San Francisco.
12 March 1952: She got underway for Norfolk.
9 April 1952: She decommissioned in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for her
SCB-27C modernization.
1 October: She was reclassified CVA-11.
18 June 1954: She recommissioned in reserve.
15 October 1954: She went into full commission as a unit of the Atlantic
Fleet.
1955-1961
1955: Shakedown out of Guantánamo Bay.
28 May 1955: Intrepid departed Mayport, Florida, for the first of two
deployments in the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet.
5 September 1956: She returned to Norfolk from the second of these cruises.
29 September Intrepid entered the New York Navy Yard for her SCB-125
modernization until April 1957, which included an enclosed bow and an angled
flight deck. This was followed by refresher training out of Guantánamo Bay.
September 1957: Intrepid departed the United States for NATO's Operation
Strikeback, the largest peacetime naval exercise up to that time in history.
December 1957: Operating out of Norfolk in December she conducted Operation
Crosswind, a study of the effects of wind on carrier launches. Intrepid
proved that carriers can safely conduct flight operations without turning
into the wind and even launch aircraft while steaming downwind.
1958–1961: Intrepid alternated Mediterranean deployments with operations
along the Atlantic coast of the United States and exercises in the Caribbean.
1962-1965
8 December 1961: She was reclassified to an anti-submarine warfare carrier,
CVS-11.
10 March 1962: She entered the Norfolk Navy Yard to be overhauled and
refitted for her new antisubmarine warfare role.
2 April 1962: She left the shipyard carrying Carrier Antisubmarine Air Group
56.
After training exercises, Intrepid was selected as the principal ship in the
recovery team for astronaut Scott Carpenter and his Project Mercury space
capsule.
24 May 1962, shortly before noon: Carpenter splashed down in Aurora 7 several
hundred miles from Intrepid. Minutes after he was located by land-based
search aircraft, two helicopters from Intrepid, carrying NASA officials,
medical experts, Navy frogmen, and photographers, were airborne and headed to
the rescue. One of the choppers picked him up over an hour later and flew him
to the carrier which safely returned him to the United States.
1962 summer: Training midshipmen at sea.
1962 autumn: A thorough overhaul at Norfolk.
23 January 1963: The carrier departed Hampton Roads for warfare exercises in
the Caribbean.
Late February 1963: She interrupted these operations to join a sea hunt for
the Venezuelan freighter Anzoátegui, whose mutinous second mate had led a
group of pro-Castro terrorists in hijacking the vessel. The Communist pirates
had surrendered at Rio de Janeiro.
23 March 1963: The carrier returned to Norfolk.
Intrepid operated along the Atlantic Coast for the next year from Nova Scotia
to the Caribbean perfecting her antisubmarine techniques.
11 June 1964: She left Norfolk carrying midshipmen to the Mediterranean for a
hunter-killer at sea training with the 6th Fleet.
While in the Mediterranean, Intrepid aided in the surveillance of a Soviet
task group. En route home her crew learned that she had won the coveted
Battle Efficiency "E" for antisubmarine warfare during the previous
fiscal year.
1964 autumn: Intrepid operated along the East Coast.
Early September 1964: She entertained 22 NATO statesmen as part of their tour
of U.S. military installations.
18–19 October 1964: She was at Yorktown for ceremonies commemorating Lord
Cornwallis's surrender 183 years before. The French Ambassador attended the
ceremony and presented the U.S. with 12 cannon cast from molds found in the
Bastille, replicas of those brought to American forces by Lafayette.
Night of 21 November 1964: During a brief deployment off North Carolina,
swift and efficient rescue procedures saved the life of an airman Jenner
Sanders who fell overboard while driving an aircraft towing tractor.
Early 1965: Intrepid began preparations for a vital role in NASA's first
manned Gemini flight, Gemini 3.
23 March 1965: Lieutenant Commander John Young and Major Gus Grissom in Molly
Brown splashed down some 50 nmi (90 km) from Intrepid after history's first
controlled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere ended the pair's nearly
perfect three-orbit flight aboard Gemini 3. A Navy helicopter lifted the astronauts
from the spacecraft and flew them to Intrepid for medical examination and
debriefing. Later, Intrepid retrieved Molly Brown and returned the spacecraft
and astronauts to Cape Kennedy.
1965-1974
This was the final Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization job performed by
the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York, which was scheduled to
close. In September 1965, Intrepid, with her work approximately 75%
completed, eased down the East River to moor at the Naval Supply Depot at
Bayonne, New Jersey, for the completion of her multi-million dollar overhaul.
After builder's sea trials and fitting out at Norfolk she sailed to
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on a shakedown cruise.
From April 1966 to February 1969, Intrepid made three Vietnam deployments,
with Carrier Air Wing 10 embarked. Mid-1966 found Intrepid with the Pacific
Fleet off Vietnam. Nine A-4 Skyhawks and six A-1 Skyraiders, loaded with
bombs and rockets, were catapulted in seven minutes, with only a 28-second
interval between launches. A few days later planes were launched at 26-second
intervals. After seven months of service with the United States Seventh Fleet
off Vietnam, Intrepid returned to Norfolk having earned her Commanding
Officer, Captain John W. Fair, the Legion of Merit for combat operations in
Southeast Asia.
On 9 October 1966 Lieutenant, junior grade William T. Patton of VA-176 from
Intrepid, flying a propeller driven A-1H Skyraider, shot down one MiG-17. For
the action, Lieutenant (jg) Patton was awarded the Silver Star.
In June 1967, Intrepid returned to the Western Pacific by way of the Suez
Canal just prior to its closing during the Israeli-Arab crisis. There she
began another tour with the Seventh Fleet.
In 1968, Intrepid won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic
Fleet. For Carrier Air Wing 10's final cruise aboard Intrepid from 4 June
1968 to 8 February 1969 off Southeast Asia, the wing consisted of VF-111
Detachment 11 (F-8C), VA-106 with the A-4E, VA-66 Waldos (A-4C), VFP-63
Detachment 11 (RF-8G), VA-36 'Roadrunners' (A-4C), VAQ-33 Detachment 11
(EA-1F), VAW-121 Detachment 11 (E-1B), and HC-2 Detachment 11.
In 1969, Intrepid was home ported at Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode
Island, relieving Yorktown as the flagship for Commander Carrier Division 16.
In the fall, the ship was run aground by Captain Horus E. Moore, but was
freed within two hours. From April–October 1971, Intrepid took part in NATO
exercises, and made calls in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean ports of
Lisbon, Plymouth, Kiel, Naples, Cannes, Barcelona, Hamburg, Copenhagen,
Greenock, Rosyth, Portsmouth, and Bergen. During this cruise, submarine
detection operations were conducted in the Baltic and at the edge of the
Barents Sea above the Arctic Circle, under close scrutiny of Soviet air and
naval forces. She subsequently returned to her homeport to be refitted.
Beginning in July 1972, Intrepid participated once again in NATO exercises,
visiting Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Bergen, Brussels, Portsmouth and Gourock.
Intrepid found herself in the Barents and made round the clock flight
operations as she was above the Arctic Circle. She cut her North Atlantic
cruise short, returned to Quonset point for a mini-overhaul. She made her
final cruise in the Mediterranean, stopping twice in Barcelona and Malaga
Spain; Lisbon, Portugal; Nice, France; Naples, Italy; Palma, Majorca; and
Piraeus, Greece once. Due to fuel limitations Intrepid spent as much time in
port as she did underway.
On 15 March 1974, Intrepid was decommissioned for the final time.
Preservation as museum ship
In 1976, Intrepid was moored at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia
and hosted exhibits as part of the United States Bicentennial celebrations.
Plans originally called for Intrepid to be scrapped after decommissioning,
but a campaign led by real estate developer Zachary Fisher and the Intrepid
Museum Foundation saved the carrier, and established it as a museum ship. In
August 1982, the ship opened in New York City as the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space
Museum. Four years later, Intrepid was officially designated as a National
Historic Landmark.
Over the years, Intrepid has hosted many special events including wrestling
events, press conferences, parties and the FBI operations center after the 11
September 2001 terrorist attacks.
source: wikipedia
- - -
another history:
The fourth Intrepid was launched 26 April 1943 by Newport News
Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va.; sponsored by Mrs. John
Howard Hoover; and commissioned 16 August, Captain Thomas L. Sprague in
command.
After
training in the Caribbean Intrepid departed Norfolk 3 December 1943 for San
Francisco, then to Hawaii. She arrived Pearl Harbor 10 January and prepared
for the invasion of the Marshall Islands, the next objective in the Navy's
mighty island-hopping campaign. She sortied from Pearl Harbor with carriers
Cabot and Essex 16 January to raid islands at the northeastern corner of
Kwajalein Atoll 29 January 1944 and pressed the attack until the last
opposition had vanished 2 February. The raids destroyed all of the 83
Japanese planes based on Roi and Namur before the first landings were made on
adjacent islets 31 January. That morning Intrepid's planes strafed Ennuebing
Island until 10 minutes before the first marines reached the beaches. Half an
hour later that islet, which protected Roi's southwestern flank and
controlled the North Pass into Kwajalein Lagoon, was secured, enabling
marines to set up artillery to support their assault on Roi.
Her work in the capture of the Marshalls finished, Intrepid headed for Truk,
the tough Japanese base in the center of Micronesia. Three fast carrier
groups arrived undetected daybreak the 17th, sinking two destroyers and
200,000 tons of merchant shipping in 2 days of almost continuous attacks.
Moreover, the carrier raid demonstrated Truk's vulnerability and thereby
greatly curtailed its usefulness to the Japanese as a base.
The night of 17 February 1944 an aerial torpedo struck Intrepid's starboard
quarter, 15 feet below her waterline, flooding several compartments and
jamming her rudder hard to port. By racing her port screw and idling her
starboard engine, Captain Sprague kept her on course until 2 days later
strong winds swung her back and forth and tended to weathercock her with her
bow pointed toward Tokyo. Sprague later confessed: "Right thenI wasn't
interested in going in that direction." At this
point the crew fashioned a jury-rig sail of hatch covers and scrap canvas
which swung Intrepid about and held her on course. Decorated by her
crazy-quilt sail, Intrepid stood into Pearl Harbor 24 February 1944.
After temporary repairs, Intrepid sailed for the West Coast 16 March and
arrived Hunter's Point, Calif., the 22d. She was back in fighting trim 9 June
and departed for 2 months of operations out of Pearl Harbor, then to the
Marshalls.
Intrepid's planes struck Japanese positions in the Palaus 6 and 7 September
concentrating on airfields and artillery emplacements on Peleliu. The next
day her fast carrier task force steamed west toward the southern Philippines
to strike airfields on Mindanao 9 and 10 September. Then, after raids on
bases in the Visayan Sea 12 through 14 September, she returned to the Palaus
17 September to support marines in overcoming fanatical opposition from
hillside caves and mangrove swamps on Peleliu.
When the struggle on that deadly island settled down to rooting Japanese
defenders out of the ground on a man to man basis, Intrepid steamed back to
the Philippines to prepare the way for liberation.
She struck throughout the Philippines, also pounding Okinawa and Formosa to
neutralize Japanese air threats to Leyte.
As Intrepid's planes flew missions in support of the Leyte landings 20
October 1944, Japan's Navy, desperately striving to hold the Philippines, was
converging on Leyte Gulf from three directions. Ships of the U.S. Navy
parried thrusts in four major actions collectively known as the Battle for
Leyte Gulf.
The morning of 24 October, an Intrepid plane spotted Admiral Kurita's
flagship, Yamato. Two hours later, planes from Intrepid and Cabot braved
intense antiaircraft fire to begin a day-long attack on Center Force. Wave
after wave followed until by sunset American carrier-based planes had sunk
mighty battleship Musashi with her mammoth 18-inch guns and had damaged her
sister ship Tomato along with battleships Nagato and Haruna and heavy cruiser
Myoko forcing the latter to withdraw.
That night Admiral Halsey's 3d Fleet raced north to intercept Japan's
Northern Force which had been spotted off the northeastern tip of Luzon. At
daybreak the tireless fliers went aloft to attack the Japanese ships then off
Cape Engano. One of Intrepid's planes got a bomb into light carrier Zuiho to
begin the harvest. Then American bombers sank her sister ship Chitosi, and a
plane from either Intrepid or San Jacinto scored with a torpedo in large
carrier Zuikaku knocking out her communications and hampering her steering.
Destroyer Ayitsuki went to the bottom and at least 9 of Ozawa's 15 planes
were shot down.
On through the day the attack continued and, after five more strikes, Japan
had lost four carriers and a destroyer.
The still potent Center Force, after pushing through San Bernardino Strait,
had steamed south along the coast of Samar where it was held at bay by a
little escort carrier group of six "baby flattops", three
destroyers, and four destroyer escorts until help arrived to send it fleeing
in defeat back towards Japan.
As Intrepid's planes hit Clark Field 30 October a burning kamikaze crashed
into one of the carrier's port gun tubs killing 10 men and wounding 6. Soon
skillful damage control work enabled the flattop to resume flight operations.
Intrepid's planes continued to hit airfields and shipping in the Philippines.
Shortly after noon 25 November a heavy force of Japanese planes struck back
at the carriers. Within 5 minutes 2 kamikazes crashed into the carrier
killing 6 officers and 59 bluejackets. Intrepid never lost propulsion nor
left her station in the task group; and, in less than 2 hours, had
extinguished the last blaze. The next day, Intrepid headed for San Francisco,
arriving 20 December for repairs.
Back in fighting trim in mid-February 1945, the carrier steamed for Ulithi,
arriving 13 March. The next day she pushed on eastward for powerful strikes
against airfields on Kyushu, Japan, 18 March. That morning a twin engine
"Betty" broke through a curtain of defensive fire, turned toward
Intrepid and exploded only 50 feet off Intrepid's forward boat crane. A
shower of flaming gasoline and plane parts started fires on the hangar deck, out
damage control experts quickly snuffed them out.
Intrepid's planes joined attacks on remnants of the Japanese fleet anchored
at Kure damaging 16 enemy naval vessels including super battleship Yamato and
carrier Amagi. Then the carriers turned to Okinawa as D-Day of the most
ambitious amphibious assault of the Pacific war approached. Their planes
lashed the Ryukyus 26 and 27 March, softening up enemy defensive works. Then,
as the invasion began 1 April, they flew support missions against targets on
Okinawa and made neutralizing raids against Japanese airfields in range of
the embattled island.
During an air raid 16 April, a Japanese plane dove into Intrepid's flight
deck forcing the engine and part of her fuselage right on through, killing 8
men and wounding 21. In less than an hour the flaming gasoline had been
extinguished, and only 3 hours after the crash, planes were again landing on
the carrier.
The following day, Intrepid retired homeward via Ulithi and Pearl Harbor
arriving San Francisco 19 May for repairs.
Intrepid stood out of San Francisco 29 June and enlivened her westward voyage
6 August as her planes smashed Japanese on by-passed Wake Island. The next
day she arrived Eniwetok where she received word 15 August to "cease
offensive operations."
The veteran carrier got under way 21 August to support the occupation of
Japan. She departed Yokosuka 2 December and arrived San Pedro, Calif., 15
December 1945.
Intrepid shifted to San Francisco Bay 4 February 1946. Her status was reduced
to "in commission in reserve" 15 August before decommissioning 22
March 1947 and joining the Pacific Reserve Fleet.
Intrepid recommissioned at San Francisco 9 February 1952 and got underway 12
March for Norfolk. She decommissioned in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard 9 April
1952 for conversion to a modern attack aircraft carrier. Re-classified CVA-11
1 October, she recommissioned in reserve 18 June 1954. She became the first
carrier in history to launch aircraft with American-built steam catapults 13
October 1954. Two days later she went into full commission as a unit of the
Atlantic Fleet.
After shakedown out of Guantanamo Bay 1955, Intrepid departed Mayport, Fla.,
28 May 1955 for the first of two deployments in the Mediterranean with the
6th Fleet, mainstay in preventing Communist agression in Europe and the
Middle East. She returned to Norfolk from the second of these cruises 5
September 1956. The carrier got under way 29 September for a 7-month
modernization overhaul in the New York Navy Yard, followed by refresher training
out of Guantanamo Bay.
Boasting a reinforced angle flight deck and a mirror landing system, Intrepid
departed the United States in September 1957 for NATO's Operation
"Strikeback", the largest peacetime naval exercise up to that time
in history. Operating out of Norfolk in December she conducted Operation
"Crosswind", a study- of the effects of wind on carrier launches.
Intrepid proved that carriers can safely conduct flight operations without
turning into the wind and even launch planes while steaming downwind.
During the next 4 years Intrepid alternated Mediterranean deployments with
operations along the Atlantic coast of the United States and exercises in the
Caribbean. On 8 December 1961 she was reclassified to an antisubmarine
warfare support carrier, CVS-11. She entered the Norfolk Navy Yard 10 March
1962 to be overhauled and refitted for her new antisubmarine warfare role.
She left the shipyard 2 April carrying Air Antisubmarine Group 56.
After training exercises, Intrepid was selected as the principal ship in the
recovery team for Astronaut Scott Carpenter and his Project Mercury space
capsule. Shortly before noon of 24 May 1962, Carpenter splashed down in
Aurora 7 several hundred miles from Intrepid. Minutes after he was located by
land-based search aircraft, two helicopters from Intrepid, carrying NASA
officials, medical experts, Navy frogmen, and photographers, were airborne
and headed to the rescue. One of the choppers picked him up over an hour
later and flew him to the carrier which safely returned him to the United
States.
After training midshipmen at sea in the summer and a thorough overhaul at
Norfolk in the fall, the carrier departed Hampton Roads 23 January 1963 for
warfare exercises in the Caribbean. Late in February she interrupted these
operations to join a sea hunt for Venezuelan freighter, Anzoategui whose
mutinous second mate had led a group of pro-Castro terrorists in hijacking
the vessel. After the Communist pirates had surrendered at Rio de Janeiro,
the carrier returned to Norfolk 23 March 1963.
Intrepid operated along the Atlantic Coast for the next year from Nova Scotia
to the Caribbean perfecting her antisubmarine techniques. She departed
Norfolk 11 June 1964 carrying midshipmen to the Mediterranean for a
hunter-killer at sea training with the 6th Fleet. While in the Mediterranean,
Intrepid aided in the surveillance of a Soviet task group. En route home her
crew learned that she had won the coveted Battle Efficiency "E" for
antisubmarine warfare during the previous fiscal year.
Intrepid operated along the East Coast during the fall. Early in September
she entertained 22 NATO statesmen as part of their tour of U.S. military
installations. She was at Yorktown 18 to 19 October 1964 for ceremonies
commemorating Lord Cornwallis's surrender 183 years before.
During a brief deployment off North Carolina, swift and efficient rescue
procedures on the night of 21 November 1964 saved the life of an airman who
had plunged overboard while driving an aircraft towing tractor.
Early the next year Intrepid began preparations for a vital role in NASA's
first manned Gemini flight. On 23 March 1965 Lt. Comdr. John W. Young and
Maj. Virgil I. Grissom in Molly Brown splashed down some 50 miles from
Intrepid after history's first controlled re-entry into the earth's
atmosphere ended the pair's nearly perfect three-orbit flight. A Navy
helicopter lifted the astronauts from the spacecraft and flew them to
Intrepid for medical examination and debriefing. Later Intrepid retrieved
Molly Brown and returned the spaceship and astronauts to Cape Kennedy.
After this mission Intrepid entered the Brooklyn Navy Yard in April for a
major overhaul to bring her back to peak combat readiness.
This was the final Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) job performed
by the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, N.Y., slated to close after more
than a century and a half of service to the nation. In September, Intrepid,
with her work approximately To percent completed, eased down the East River
to moor at the Naval Supply Depot at Bayonne, N.J., for the completion of her
multi-million dollar overhaul. After builder's sea trials and fitting out at
Norfolk she sailed to Guantanamo on shakedown.
Mid-1966 found Intrepid with the Pacific Fleet off Vietnam. Here her gallant
pilots delivered powerful blows for freedom and scored what is believed to be
one of the fastest aircraft launching times recorded by an American carrier.
Nine A-4 Skyhawks and six A-l 'Skyraiders, loaded with bombs and rockets,
were catapulted in 7 minutes, with only a 28-second interval between
launches. A few days later planes were launched at 26-second Intervals. After
7 months of outstanding service with the 7th Fleet off Vietnam, Intrepid
returned to Norfolk having earned her Commanding Officer, Captain John W.
Fair, the Legion of Merit for combat operations in Southeast Asia.
In June 1967, Intrepid returned to the Western Pacific by way of the Suez
Canal just prior to its closing during the Israeli-Arab crisis. There she
began another tour with the 7th Fleet to safeguard the peace and freedom of
the world, for, as Daniel Webster said in 1834, "God grants liberty only
to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it."
source: US Naval History &
Heritage Command
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