FAMOUS

SHIPS

No, this is not the RANGER that John Paul Jones sailed to France, built on June 14, 1777.  This ship is the sixth vessel to be named RANGER in the US Navy and the first ship to be built by the US from the keel up as an aircraft carrier.  She was built at the Newport News Shipbuilding Drydock Co., Newport News, Virginia, had a displacement of 14,500 tons (standard) or 20,500 tons (fully loaded), with the following dimensions:  Length: 769 feet, Beam: 81 feet 8 inches, and maximum draft: 19 feet 8 inches.  Her machinery consisted of geared turbine engines, twin screws, developing 53,500 shaft-hp, for a top speed of 29.25 knots.  She had a varied complement during her liftime, generally 2,000+ with an armament of eight – 5-inch/38 guns as her main battery with 6x4 40-mm and 46 20-mm guns.  She carried 72 aircraft (this number also varies, depending on aircraft and usage.)  She was ordered in November of 1930; launched on February 25, 1933, sponsored by Mrs. Herbert Hoover and commissioned on 4 June, 1934, Capt. Arthur L. Bristol in command.

She conducted her first air operations off Cape Henry in August of 1934 and had a shakedown cruise to Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo.  She operated off the Virginia Capes until March of 1935 and then went to the Pacific.  She transited through the Panama Canal and arrived in San Diego on the 15^th of April.  She operated out of San Diego for the next four years going as far as Hawaii, Peru, and Washington State.  In 1939 she went to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for winter fleet operations.  Once these were completed, she went to Norfolk, VA, arriving in April of 1939. 

RANGER then went on Neutrality Patrol operations, operating out of Bermuda along the trade routes of the middle Atlantic and up the eastern seaboard up to Argentia, Newfoundland.  She was returning to Norfolk when she learned the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.  She went for one more patrol in the South Atlantic, then went into the Norfolk Navy Yard for repairs on March 22, 1942.

Ranger served as the flagship of Rear Adm. A. B. Cook, Commander, Carriers, Atlantic Fleet, until April 6, 1942, when he was relieved by Rear Adm. Ernest D. Mcwhorter, who also broke his flag on RANGER.

RANGER then loaded 68 Army P-40 planes and men of the Army’s 33^rd Pursuit Squadron, put to sea on April 22, and then launched the Army squadron on May 10^th to land at Accra, on the Gold Coast of Africa.  She then returned to Rhode Island, made one patrol to Argentia, then again loaded 72 Army P-40 pursuit planes and launched them off the coast of Africa for Accra on the 19^th.  She then returned to Norfolk, and with four other carriers (converted from tankers), she trained to meet the needs of the Atlantic naval air power.

The only large carrier in the Atlantic Fleet, RANGER led the task force comprising herself and four SANGAMON-class escort carriers that provided air superiority during the amphibious invasion of German dominated French Morocco which commenced the morning of November 8, 1942.

The carrier launched 496 combat sorties in the 3-day operation.  Her attack aircraft scored two direct bomb hits on the French destroyer leader ALBATROS, completely wrecking her forward half and causing 300 casualties.  The also attacked the French cruiser PRIMAUGUT as she sortied from Casablanca Harbor, dropped depth charges within lethal distance of two submarines, and knocked out coastal defense and anti-aircraft batteries.  They destroyed more than 70 enemy planes on the ground and shot down 15 in aerial combat.  The flip side was that 16 planes from Ranger were lost or damaged beyond repair.  Casablanca capitulated to the American invaders on November 11, 1942.  Ranger went back to Norfolk, VA.

Her next combat saw her with the British Home Fleet, when she departed Scapa Flow on October 2, 1942 to attack German shipping in Norwegian waters.  The objective was the Norwegian port of Bodo.  Arriving off Vestfjord on October 4^th, undetected, Ranger launched 20 Dauntless dive-bombers and an escort of eight Wildcat fighters.  Several German ships were attached and severally damaged, including a tanker. 

A second RANGER attack group of 10 Avengers and six Wildcats destroyed a German freighter and a small coaster and bombed yet another troop-laden transport.  Three RANGER planes were lost to anti-aircraft fire.  RANGER was located by three German aircraft on October 4^th, but two were shot down and the third was driven off.

She then again transported planes to Casablanca, this time 76 P-38 fighter planes along with Army, Navy, and French Naval personnel.  After offloading these, she loaded planes (to be repaired) and personnel for return to the states

Her flight deck was strengthened in New York in mid-year of 1944 and additional radar and other associated gear was installed.  She then sailed through the Panama Canal to San Diego.  Loading Night Fighter Squadron 102 and about 1,000 marines, she sailed to Hawaii.

RANGER departed Pearl Harbor for the states and spend the remaining part of WWII training pilots off the California Coast based out of San Diego.  She then departed San Diego on September 30, 1945 and sailed to the East Coast.  She was decommissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on October 18, 1946, struck from the Navy list on October 29^th, and sold for scrap to Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, PA on 28 January, 1947.