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USS Saratoga (CV-3)
Encyclopedia
USS Saratoga (CV-3) was the second aircraft carrier
of the United States Navy
and the fifth ship to bear her name. She was commissioned one month earlier than her sister and class leader, , which is the third actually commissioned after and Saratoga. As Saratoga was visually identical to Lexington, her funnel was painted with a large black vertical stripe to assist pilots in recognizing her. This identifying mark earned her the nickname "Stripe-Stacked Sara." Saratoga, , and were the only fleet aircraft carriers of the United States Navy built before the war to survive and serve throughout the U.S. involvement in World War II.
She was laid down on 25 September 1920, as Lexington class
Battle Cruiser #3 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, at Camden, New Jersey
; construction canceled and re-ordered as an aircraft carrier and reclassified CV-3 on 1 July 1922, in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty
limiting naval armaments; launched on 7 April 1925; sponsored by Mrs. Curtis D. Wilbur
, wife of the Secretary of the Navy; and commissioned on 16 November 1927, Captain
Harry E. Yarnell
in command.
. She was diverted briefly 14–16 February to carry Marines to Corinto, Nicaragua
, and finally joined the Battle Fleet
at San Pedro, California, on 21 February. The rest of the year was spent in training and final machinery shakedown.
_under_construction,_1921.jpg)
_flagged_for_navy_day,_1932.jpg)
On 15 January 1929, Saratoga sailed from San Diego with the Battle Fleet to participate in her first fleet exercise, Fleet Problem IX. In a daring move, Saratoga was detached from the fleet with only a single cruiser
as escort to make a wide sweep to the south and "attack" the Panama Canal, which was defended by the Scouting Fleet
and Saratogas sister ship, Lexington. She successfully launched her strike on 26 January and, despite being "sunk" three times later in the day, proved the versatility of a carrier-based fast task force. The idea was incorporated into fleet doctrine and reused the following year in Fleet Problem X in the Caribbean
. This time, however, Saratoga and Langley were "disabled" by a surprise attack from Lexington, showing how quickly air power could swing the balance in a naval action.
Following the fleet concentration in the Caribbean, Saratoga took part in the Presidential Review at Norfolk, Virginia
, in May and returned to San Pedro on 21 June 1930.
During the remaining decade before World War II
, Saratoga exercised in the San Diego – San Pedro area, except for the annual Fleet Problems and regular overhauls at the Bremerton Navy Yard. In the Fleet Problems, Saratoga continued to assist in the development of fast carrier tactics, and her importance was recognized by the fact that she was always a high priority target for the opposing forces. The Fleet Problem for 1932 was planned for Hawaii
and, by coincidence, occurred during the peak of the furor following the "Manchurian incident
", in which Japan
started on the road to World War II. Saratoga exercised in the Hawaii area from 31 January to 19 March and returned to Hawaii for fleet exercises the following year from 23 January to 28 February 1933. On the return trip to the West Coast, she launched a successful air "attack" on the Long Beach
area.
Exercises in 1934 took Saratoga to the Caribbean and the Atlantic
for an extended period, from 9 April to 9 November, and were followed by equally extensive operations with the United States Fleet
in the Pacific the following year. From 27 April to 6 June 1936, she participated in a Fleet Problem in the Panama Canal Zone
, and she then returned with the fleet to Hawaii for exercises from 16 April to 28 May 1937. On 15 March 1938, Saratoga sailed from San Diego for Fleet Problem XIX, again conducted off Hawaii. During the second phase of the Problem, Saratoga launched a surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor
from a point 100 miles (160.9 km) off Oahu
, setting a pattern that the Japanese copied in December 1941. During the return to the west coast, Saratoga and Lexington followed this feat with "strikes" on Mare Island
and Alameda
. Saratoga was under overhaul during the 1939 fleet concentration, but from 2 April to 21 June 1940, she participated in Fleet Problem XXI, the last to be held due to the deepening world crisis.
at her bow, the installation of a blister on her starboard side, and the installation of additional antiaircraft guns. The Saratoga was one of fourteen ships to receive the early RCA
CXAM-1
radar
. Departing from Bremerton on 28 April 1941, the Saratoga participated in a landing force exercise in May and made two trips to Hawaii between June and October as the diplomatic crisis with Japan came to a head. On 26 November 1941, the Saratoga steamed towards Puget Sound
and a shipyard
overhaul
there.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor
on 7 December 1941, Saratoga was just entering San Diego Harbor after an interim drydocking at Bremerton, Washington. She hurriedly got under way the following day as the nucleus of a third carrier force (Lexington and were already at sea), and Saratoga was carrying U.S. Marine Corps fighter planes that were meant to reinforce the Marine Corps garrison on Wake Island
-- an American island in the Central Pacific
. The presence of these Marine fighter planes on board Saratoga made her the logical choice to carry out and to defend the actual reinforcement effort.
[Note that the U.S. Marines on Wake Island repulsed the first attempted Japanese landing on their island, sinking two Japanese destroyer
s in the process.]
Saratoga reached Pearl Harbor on 15 December and she stopped only long enough to fuel up. She then rendezvoused with the , which had reinforcement troops and supplies on board, while the USS Lexington and the USS Enterprise provided distant cover for the operation. However, the task force of the USS Saratoga was delayed by the low speed of its accompanying oiler
, and by then a decision to refuel its escorting destroyer
s on 21 December. After receiving reports of Imperial Japanese aircraft carrier
warplanes over Wake Island, and then Japanese troops landing on it, this relief force was recalled on 22 December. Wake fell on the following day
.
, but on 11 January 1942, whiles she was heading towards a rendezvous with USS Enterprise about 500 nmi (575.4 mi; 926 km) southwest of Pearl Harbor
, she was hit by a deep-running torpedo
that had been fired by the Imperial Japanese submarine
I - 6.
Although six of her sailors were killed in this attack, and three of her boiler rooms were flooded, Saratoga soon reached Pearl Harbor under her own power. Beside having temporary repairs done there, her eight 8 inches (203 mm) guns
-- which were useless against attacking aircraft -- were removed for installation in shore batteries on Oahu. It was considered to be very unlikely that she would need these naval guns to defend herself from surface attack, and as a matter of fact, no large American aircraft carrier ever has experienced such an attack. In any case, American fleet carriers always had heavily-armed cruiser
s and oftentimes battleship
s to defend them against any surface attack. The enemies of the aircraft carrier were enemy warplanes and submarines.
Next, Saratoga steamed to the Bremerton Navy Yard in Washington State for permanent repairs to her hull in the large drydock there, repairs and overhaul to her machinery, and also the installation of a modern battery of antiaircraft guns. All of her original twelve 5"/25 caliber guns were replaced by sixteen 5"/38 caliber guns.
Saratoga departed from Bremerton on 22 May, bound for San Diego Harbor. She arrived there on 25 May, and she had started retraining her carrier air group when the U.S. Navy codebreaker
s at Pearl Harbor deduced the Japanese Navy's plans for assault and amphibious landing on the American outpost on Midway Island.
Due to the need for Saratoga to take aboard new aircraft (including the new TBF Avenger
torpedo bomber
s and repaired aircraft), hundreds of tons of food for her pantries, and spare parts for her aircraft, as well as the need for the Navy to gather together a task force
of cruisers and destroyers to escort her, Saratoga was unable to steam out of San Diego until 1 June. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on June 6th, the final day of the Battle of Midway
.
Saratoga departed from Pearl Harbor on 7 June after she was refueled, and reached the battle area early on the morning of 9 June. During the day Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher
(whose flagship Yorktown
had been sunk during the battle) and his staff came aboard and made Saratoga his flagship. On 11 June, she transferred 34 of her carrier planes to and Enterprise to replenish their depleted air squadrons. Hornet had lost all of her torpedo bombers (Torpedo Squadron 8) in the Battle, and Enterprise had lost most of hers, too. So did USS Yorktown.
These three aircraft carriers steamed north from Hawaii to counter Japanese activity suspected in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska
, but this attack did not materialize. Hence, Saratoga returned to Pearl Harbor on 13 June.
_uss_enterprise_(cv-6)_1942.jpg)
From 22 through 29 June, Saratoga carried more Marine Corps and U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft to Midway Island to replace the land-based planes shot down during the Battle of Midway.
Solomon Islands campaign
July 1942—September
On 7 July, Saratoga steamed towards the Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations, and from 28 July through 30 July, she provided air cover for amphibious landing training in the Fiji Islands as part of the rehearsals for the planned invasion of Guadalcanal
in the Solomon Islands
. As the flagship
of Rear Admiral
Frank Jack Fletcher
, Saratoga opened up the Guadalcanal campaign
early on 7 August when she launched warplanes to attack Guadalcanal
, Tulagi
, and nearby islands. For the next two days, she also helped provide air cover for the amphibious landing of the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal and a smaller force on Tulagi.
On the first day of the assault, a Japanese air attack was repelled by fighter planes before it got close to the American fleet. However, since further air attacks were expected, the three carriers and their escort withdrew southwards on the afternoon of 8 August to make it to a refueling rendezvous with oilers. As a result, this task force was too far south to retaliate after four heavy cruiser
s and several destroyers were sunk that night in a naval surface action, the disastrous Battle of Savo Island
, wherein the U.S. Navy found out the hard way the Imperial Japanese Navy had a excellent night warfare doctrine and that they were well practiced in it due to ample night live fire exercises.
The carrier task force departed to the east of the Solomon Islands, guarding the sea lanes to Guadalcanal expectantly alert for an Imperial Japanese Navy
counterattack.
This counterattack, the third of five carrier versus carrier encounters during the war and now known as Battle of the Eastern Solomons
began to materialize on 23 August, when a force of Japanese troop transports was detected. Saratoga and the other carries launched an air raid
against the Japanese ships, but their aircraft were unable to find the enemy and, running low on fuel, they had to spend the night at Henderson Field
on Guadalcanal. When these aircraft returned on the next day, the first contact report with an accurate location of enemy aircraft carriers was received from scouting forces sent out at dawn. Two hours later, Saratoga and her companions launched a strike that sank the Japanese light aircraft carrier Ryūjō
.
Later on in the afternoon, when an air raid from two other Japanese aircraft carriers was detected, Saratoga quickly launched the warplanes on her flight deck
, and these planes found and damaged the seaplane tender Chitose
.
Meanwhile, due to covering clouds, Saratoga escaped detection by the Japanese. Their air strike concentrated on Enterprise and damaged her. The American aviators fought back valiantly, and enemy air strength was weakened so severely the Japanese Navy recalled its troop transports before they got close to Guadalcanal.
After recovering her returning planes in the evening of 24 August, Saratoga withdrew for refueling on the 25th, and then she resumed her sea patrols in the uncongested waters east of the lower Solomon Islands.
One week later, a U.S. Navy destroyer reported the bubbles of Japanese torpedo wakes heading towards the Saratoga, but the 888 feet (271 m)-long carrier could not turn quickly enough to evade the torpedoes. A moment later, a torpedo from the slammed into the underwater blister on her starboard side. The torpedo killed none of her sailors, and it flooded just one fireroom -- but its explosion caused multiple electical short circuits. These damaged Saratogas turboelectric propulsion system, leaving her dead in the water. The cruiser took Saratoga in tow while she launched her aircraft off to reinforce shore airfields. By early afternoon, Saratogas engineroom crew had improvised repairs to her electrical system from the burned wreckage of her main control board. She was then able to achieve 10 kn (12.2 mph; 19.6 km/h).
After some temporary repair work at Tongatapu
during 6 – 12 September, the Saratoga was able to steam northwards again, and she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 21 September for more solid repairs in a Pearl Harbor drydock. She returned to the Solomons area in November.
Saratoga sailed from Pearl Harbor on 10 November 1942, and proceeded via Fiji
to the allied Naval base on Nouméa
southeast of Guadalcanal, which she reached on 5 December 1942. She operated in the vicinity of Nouméa for the next twelve months, providing air cover for minor operations and protecting American forces in the Eastern Solomons should the Japanese send an invasion fleet covered by aircraft carriers.
From 17 May to 31 July 1943, she was reinforced by the British Illustrious class carrier Victorious
, and on 20 October, she was joined by the Independence=class
light aircraft carrier Princeton
.
As troops stormed ashore on Bougainville Island
on 1 November, Saratogas aircraft neutralized nearby Japanese airfields on Buka Island
. Then, on 5 November, in response to reports of Japanese cruisers concentrating at Rabaul
to counterattack the Allied landing forces, Saratoga conducted perhaps her most brilliant strike of the war. Her aircraft penetrated the heavily defended port and attacked the shipping, disabling a number of the Japanese cruisers and ending the surface threat to Bougainville. Saratoga herself escaped unscathed and returned to raid Rabaul again on 11 November.
Saratoga and Princeton were then designated the Relief Carrier Group for the offensive in the Gilbert Islands
, and after striking Nauru
on 19 November, they rendezvoused on 23 November with the transports carrying garrison troops to Makin
and Tarawa
. The carriers provided air cover until the transports reached their destinations and then maintained air patrols over Tarawa. By this time, Saratoga had steamed over a year without repairs, and she was detached on 30 November to return to the United States. She underwent overhaul at San Francisco from 9 December 1943 to 3 January 1944, and had her antiaircraft battery augmented for the last time, receiving sixty 40 millimeter guns in place of thirty-six 20 millimeter guns.
. Her aircraft struck Wotje and Taroa
for three days, 29–31 January, and then pounded Engebi, the main island at Eniwetok, 3–6 February and again 10–12 February. Her planes delivered final blows to Japanese defenses on 16 February, the day before the landings, and provided close air support and CAP
over the island until 28 February.
_8_feb_1944.jpg)
Saratoga then took leave of the main theaters of the Pacific war for almost a year to carry out important but less spectacular assignments elsewhere. Her first task was to help the British initiate their carrier offensive in the Far East. On 4 March, Saratoga departed Majuro
with an escort of three destroyers, and sailed via Espiritu Santo
; Hobart
, Tasmania
; and Fremantle
, Australia
, to join the British Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean
. She rendezvoused at sea on 27 March with the British force, composed of , , and with escorts, and arrived with them at Trincomalee
, Ceylon, on 31 March. On 12 April, the French
battleship Richelieu
arrived, adding to the international flavor of the force, which also included warships from Australia, New Zealand
, and the Netherlands
. During the next two days, the carriers conducted intensive training at sea during which the aviators of Saratoga tried to impart some of their experience to the British pilots.
On 16 April, the British Eastern Fleet, with Saratoga in company, steamed out from Trincomalee, and on the 19th, aircraft from Illustrious and Saratoga struck the port city of Sabang
(Operation Cockpit
. The Japanese were caught by surprise by the new offensive and much damage was done to port facilities and oil reserves, with minimal losses. The raid was so successful Saratoga delayed her departure to carry out a second attack. Sailing again from Ceylon on 6 May, the task force
struck at Surabaya
, Java
, on 17 May with equally successful results. Saratoga was detached the following day, and passed down the columns of the British Eastern Fleet as the Allied ships rendered honors to and from and cheered each other on .
Saratoga arrived at Bremerton, Washington
, on 10 June 1944, for an overhaul. On 24 September, she returned to Pearl Harbor and commenced her second special assignment, training night fighter squadrons. Saratoga had experimented with night flying as early as 1931, and many carriers had been forced to land returning aircraft at night during the war, but only in August 1944 did a carrier, , receive an air group specially equipped to operate at night. At the same time, Carrier Division 11, composed of Saratoga and , was commissioned at Pearl Harbor to train night pilots and develop night flying techniques and procedures. Saratoga continued this night training duty for nearly four months, but as early as October, her division commander was notified that "while employed primarily for training, Saratoga is of great value for combat and is to be kept potentially available for combat duty." The call came in January 1945. Light carriers like Independence had proven too small for most safe night flights, and Saratoga was rushed out of Pearl Harbor on 29 January 1945, to form a night fighter task group, along with Enterprise≤ for the invasion of Iwo Jima
.
In September 1944, a Navy SBD dive bomber
made the 75,000th landing on Saratoga. It was sixteen years earlier when Lieutenant Commander
Marc Mitscher
had made the first landing on Saratogas flight deck.
Saratoga arrived at Ulithi
on 7 February and sailed three days later with Enterprise and four other carrier task groups. After landing rehearsals with Marines at Tinian
on 12 February, the carrier force carried out diversionary strikes on the Japanese home islands on the nights of 16 February and 17 February, before the landings on Iwo Jima
. Saratoga was assigned to provide fighter cover while the remaining carriers launched the strikes on Japan, but in the process, her fighters raided two Japanese airfields. The force fueled on 18 and 19 February, and on 21 February, Saratoga was detached with an escort of three destroyers to join the amphibious forces and carry out night patrols over Iwo Jima and night heckler missions over nearby Chi-chi Jima. However, as she approached her operating area at 1700 on the 21st, an air attack developed. Taking advantage of low cloud cover and Saratogas insufficient escort, six Japanese planes scored five bomb hits on the carrier in three minutes. Saratogas flight deck forward was wrecked, her starboard side was holed twice and large fires were started in her hangar deck; she lost 123 of her crew dead or missing. An attack at 1900 scored an additional bomb hit. By 2015, the fires were under control, and Saratoga was able to recover aircraft, but she was ordered to Eniwetok and then to the West Coast for repairs, arriving at Bremerton on 16 March.
On 22 May, Saratoga departed Puget Sound fully repaired, and she resumed training pilots at Pearl Harbor on 3 June. She ceased training duty on 6 September after the Japanese surrender, and sailed from Hawaii on 9 September, transporting 3,712 returning naval veterans home to the United States as part of Operation Magic Carpet. By the end of her "Magic Carpet" service, Saratoga had brought home 29,204 Pacific war veterans, more than any other individual ship. At the time, she also held the record for the greatest number of aircraft landed on a carrier, with a lifetime total of 98,549 landings in 17 years.
carriers, Saratoga was surplus to postwar requirements, and she was assigned to Operation Crossroads
at Bikini Atoll
to test the effect of the atomic bomb on naval vessels. She survived the first blast (Test Able), an air burst on 1 July, with only minor damage, but was damaged beyond repair by the second (Test Baker) on 25 July, an underwater blast which was detonated under 500 yards (457.2 m) from the carrier. Salvage efforts were prevented by radioactivity, and seven and one-half hours after the blast, with her funnel collapsed across her deck, Saratoga slipped, stern first, beneath the surface of the lagoon. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register
on 15 August 1946.
destination, one of only two carrier wrecks accessible to recreational divers. (The other is , in the Gulf of Mexico
.) The site was closed to divers in 2008 by the Kili/Bikini/Ejit Local Government Council. A combination of a failing global economy, high fuel prices, an unreliable airline and poor onsite management by the final divemaster ruined the profitability of the dive operation.
starred Wallace Beery
and a young Clark Gable
as a pair of competing pilots aboard Saratoga. The 1933 Joe E. Brown
film comedy Son of a Sailor was also filmed aboard Saratoga and featured flight deck musters of the ships' company. Both films depicted actual carrier operations of F8C Helldiver
aircraft.
In 1946, Jack Benny
's radio show aired on board the ship as a farewell to her, four days before she was sunk.
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and the fifth ship to bear her name. She was commissioned one month earlier than her sister and class leader, , which is the third actually commissioned after and Saratoga. As Saratoga was visually identical to Lexington, her funnel was painted with a large black vertical stripe to assist pilots in recognizing her. This identifying mark earned her the nickname "Stripe-Stacked Sara." Saratoga, , and were the only fleet aircraft carriers of the United States Navy built before the war to survive and serve throughout the U.S. involvement in World War II.
She was laid down on 25 September 1920, as Lexington class
Lexington class battlecruiser
The Lexington-class battlecruisers were the only class of battlecruiser to ever be ordered by the United States Navy.The Lexington class were the only class of U.S. Navy ships to be officially referred to as battlecruisers. The World War II-era , officially classified as "large cruisers", but some...
Battle Cruiser #3 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, at Camden, New Jersey
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
; construction canceled and re-ordered as an aircraft carrier and reclassified CV-3 on 1 July 1922, in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...
limiting naval armaments; launched on 7 April 1925; sponsored by Mrs. Curtis D. Wilbur
Curtis D. Wilbur
Curtis Dwight Wilbur was born in Iowa. He was appointed to the United States Naval Academy in 1884. Shortly after graduation, Curtis Wilbur resigned his commission, a common practice at the time, and moved to Riverside, California. He was admitted to the California bar in 1890 and served as Los...
, wife of the Secretary of the Navy; and commissioned on 16 November 1927, Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
Harry E. Yarnell
Harry E. Yarnell
Admiral Harry Ervin Yarnell was an American naval officer whose career spanned 51 years and three wars, from the Spanish-American War through World War II.-Early life and Naval career:...
in command.
Inter-war period
Saratoga, the first fast carrier in the Navy, quickly proved the value of her type. She sailed from Philadelphia on 6 January 1928, for shakedown, and on 11 January, her air officer, the future World War II hero Marc A. Mitscher, landed the first aircraft on board. In an experiment on 27 January, the airship moored to Saratogas stern and took on fuel and stores. The same day, Saratoga sailed for the Pacific via the Panama CanalPanama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
. She was diverted briefly 14–16 February to carry Marines to Corinto, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, and finally joined the Battle Fleet
Battle Fleet
The United States Battle Fleet or Battle Force was part of the organization of the United States Navy from 1922 to 1941.The General Order of 6 December 1922 organized the United States Fleet, with the Battle Fleet as the Pacific presence. This fleet comprised the main body of ships in the Navy,...
at San Pedro, California, on 21 February. The rest of the year was spent in training and final machinery shakedown.
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
as escort to make a wide sweep to the south and "attack" the Panama Canal, which was defended by the Scouting Fleet
Scouting Fleet
The Scouting Fleet was part of the United States Fleet in the United States Navy, and renamed the Scouting Force in 1930.Established in 1922, the fleet consisted mainly of older battleships and initially operated in the Atlantic...
and Saratogas sister ship, Lexington. She successfully launched her strike on 26 January and, despite being "sunk" three times later in the day, proved the versatility of a carrier-based fast task force. The idea was incorporated into fleet doctrine and reused the following year in Fleet Problem X in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. This time, however, Saratoga and Langley were "disabled" by a surprise attack from Lexington, showing how quickly air power could swing the balance in a naval action.
Following the fleet concentration in the Caribbean, Saratoga took part in the Presidential Review at Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, in May and returned to San Pedro on 21 June 1930.
During the remaining decade before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Saratoga exercised in the San Diego – San Pedro area, except for the annual Fleet Problems and regular overhauls at the Bremerton Navy Yard. In the Fleet Problems, Saratoga continued to assist in the development of fast carrier tactics, and her importance was recognized by the fact that she was always a high priority target for the opposing forces. The Fleet Problem for 1932 was planned for Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and, by coincidence, occurred during the peak of the furor following the "Manchurian incident
Mukden Incident
The Mukden Incident, also known as the Manchurian Incident, was a staged event that was engineered by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for invading the northern part of China known as Manchuria in 1931....
", in which Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
started on the road to World War II. Saratoga exercised in the Hawaii area from 31 January to 19 March and returned to Hawaii for fleet exercises the following year from 23 January to 28 February 1933. On the return trip to the West Coast, she launched a successful air "attack" on the Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
area.
Exercises in 1934 took Saratoga to the Caribbean and the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
for an extended period, from 9 April to 9 November, and were followed by equally extensive operations with the United States Fleet
United States Fleet
The United States Fleet was an organization in the United States Navy from 1922 until after World War II. The abbreviation CINCUS, pronounced "sink us", was used for Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet. This title was disposed of and officially replaced by COMINCH in December 1941 . This...
in the Pacific the following year. From 27 April to 6 June 1936, she participated in a Fleet Problem in the Panama Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
, and she then returned with the fleet to Hawaii for exercises from 16 April to 28 May 1937. On 15 March 1938, Saratoga sailed from San Diego for Fleet Problem XIX, again conducted off Hawaii. During the second phase of the Problem, Saratoga launched a surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
from a point 100 miles (160.9 km) off Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
, setting a pattern that the Japanese copied in December 1941. During the return to the west coast, Saratoga and Lexington followed this feat with "strikes" on Mare Island
Mare Island
Mare Island is a peninsula in the United States alongside the city of Vallejo, California, about northeast of San Francisco. The Napa River forms its eastern side as it enters the Carquinez Strait juncture with the east side of San Pablo Bay. Mare Island is considered a peninsula because no full...
and Alameda
Alameda, California
Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...
. Saratoga was under overhaul during the 1939 fleet concentration, but from 2 April to 21 June 1940, she participated in Fleet Problem XXI, the last to be held due to the deepening world crisis.
1941
From 14 to 29 October 1940, Saratoga transported a draft of military personnel from San Pedro to Hawaii, and on 6 January 1941, she entered the Bremerton Navy Yard for a long deferred modernization, including the widening of her flight deckFlight 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 and other VTOL aircraft is also referred to as the...
at her bow, the installation of a blister on her starboard side, and the installation of additional antiaircraft guns. The Saratoga was one of fourteen ships to receive the early RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
CXAM-1
CXAM radar
The CXAM radar system was the first production radar system deployed on United States Navy ships. It followed several earlier prototype systems, such as the NRL radar installed in April 1937 on the destroyer ; its successor, the XAF, installed in December 1938 on the battleship ; and the first...
radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
. Departing from Bremerton on 28 April 1941, the Saratoga participated in a landing force exercise in May and made two trips to Hawaii between June and October as the diplomatic crisis with Japan came to a head. On 26 November 1941, the Saratoga steamed towards Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
and a shipyard
Shipyard
Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...
overhaul
Overhaul
Overhaul may refer to:*Overhaul , a Transformers character*The process of overhauling...
there.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
on 7 December 1941, Saratoga was just entering San Diego Harbor after an interim drydocking at Bremerton, Washington. She hurriedly got under way the following day as the nucleus of a third carrier force (Lexington and were already at sea), and Saratoga was carrying U.S. Marine Corps fighter planes that were meant to reinforce the Marine Corps garrison on Wake Island
Wake Island
Wake Island is a coral atoll having a coastline of in the North Pacific Ocean, located about two-thirds of the way from Honolulu west to Guam east. It is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior...
-- an American island in the Central Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. The presence of these Marine fighter planes on board Saratoga made her the logical choice to carry out and to defend the actual reinforcement effort.
[Note that the U.S. Marines on Wake Island repulsed the first attempted Japanese landing on their island, sinking two Japanese destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s in the process.]
Saratoga reached Pearl Harbor on 15 December and she stopped only long enough to fuel up. She then rendezvoused with the , which had reinforcement troops and supplies on board, while the USS Lexington and the USS Enterprise provided distant cover for the operation. However, the task force of the USS Saratoga was delayed by the low speed of its accompanying oiler
Replenishment Oiler
A replenishment oiler or fleet tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds, which can replenish other ships while underway in the high seas. Such ships are used by several countries around the world....
, and by then a decision to refuel its escorting destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s on 21 December. After receiving reports of Imperial Japanese aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
warplanes over Wake Island, and then Japanese troops landing on it, this relief force was recalled on 22 December. Wake fell on the following day
Battle of Wake Island
The Battle of Wake Island began simultaneously with the Attack on Pearl Harbor and ended on 23 December 1941, with the surrender of the American forces to the Empire of Japan...
.
1942
Saratoga continued patrolling in the area of HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, but on 11 January 1942, whiles she was heading towards a rendezvous with USS Enterprise about 500 nmi (575.4 mi; 926 km) southwest of Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, she was hit by a deep-running torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
that had been fired by the Imperial Japanese submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
I - 6.
Although six of her sailors were killed in this attack, and three of her boiler rooms were flooded, Saratoga soon reached Pearl Harbor under her own power. Beside having temporary repairs done there, her eight 8 inches (203 mm) guns
8"/55 caliber gun
The 8"/55 caliber gun formed the main battery of United States Navy heavy cruisers and two early aircraft carriers...
-- which were useless against attacking aircraft -- were removed for installation in shore batteries on Oahu. It was considered to be very unlikely that she would need these naval guns to defend herself from surface attack, and as a matter of fact, no large American aircraft carrier ever has experienced such an attack. In any case, American fleet carriers always had heavily-armed cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
s and oftentimes battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s to defend them against any surface attack. The enemies of the aircraft carrier were enemy warplanes and submarines.
Next, Saratoga steamed to the Bremerton Navy Yard in Washington State for permanent repairs to her hull in the large drydock there, repairs and overhaul to her machinery, and also the installation of a modern battery of antiaircraft guns. All of her original twelve 5"/25 caliber guns were replaced by sixteen 5"/38 caliber guns.
Saratoga departed from Bremerton on 22 May, bound for San Diego Harbor. She arrived there on 25 May, and she had started retraining her carrier air group when the U.S. Navy codebreaker
Codebreaker
Codebreaker may refer to:*A person who performs cryptanalysis*The Codebreakers, a 1967 book on history of cryptography by David Kahn*Codebreaker , a 1981 puzzle-based computer game, originally released for the Atari 2600...
s at Pearl Harbor deduced the Japanese Navy's plans for assault and amphibious landing on the American outpost on Midway Island.
Due to the need for Saratoga to take aboard new aircraft (including the new TBF Avenger
TBF Avenger
The Grumman TBF Avenger was a torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air or naval arms around the world....
torpedo bomber
Torpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes which could also carry out conventional bombings. Torpedo bombers existed almost exclusively prior to and during World War II when they were an important element in many famous battles, notably the...
s and repaired aircraft), hundreds of tons of food for her pantries, and spare parts for her aircraft, as well as the need for the Navy to gather together a task force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
of cruisers and destroyers to escort her, Saratoga was unable to steam out of San Diego until 1 June. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on June 6th, the final day of the Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
.
Saratoga departed from Pearl Harbor on 7 June after she was refueled, and reached the battle area early on the morning of 9 June. During the day Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher
Frank Jack Fletcher
Frank Jack Fletcher was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. Fletcher was the operational commander at the pivotal Battles of Coral Sea and of Midway. He was the nephew of Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher.-Early life and early Navy career:Fletcher was born in Marshalltown, Iowa...
(whose flagship Yorktown
USS Yorktown (CV-5)
was an aircraft carrier commissioned in the United States Navy from 1937 until she was sunk at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. She was named after the Battle of Yorktown in 1781 and the lead ship of the Yorktown class which was designed after lessons learned from operations with the large...
had been sunk during the battle) and his staff came aboard and made Saratoga his flagship. On 11 June, she transferred 34 of her carrier planes to and Enterprise to replenish their depleted air squadrons. Hornet had lost all of her torpedo bombers (Torpedo Squadron 8) in the Battle, and Enterprise had lost most of hers, too. So did USS Yorktown.
These three aircraft carriers steamed north from Hawaii to counter Japanese activity suspected in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, but this attack did not materialize. Hence, Saratoga returned to Pearl Harbor on 13 June.
Solomon Islands campaignSolomon Islands campaignThe Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during the first six months of 1942...
July 1942—September
On 7 July, Saratoga steamed towards the Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations, and from 28 July through 30 July, she provided air cover for amphibious landing training in the Fiji Islands as part of the rehearsals for the planned invasion of Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
in the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
. As the flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
Frank Jack Fletcher
Frank Jack Fletcher
Frank Jack Fletcher was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. Fletcher was the operational commander at the pivotal Battles of Coral Sea and of Midway. He was the nephew of Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher.-Early life and early Navy career:Fletcher was born in Marshalltown, Iowa...
, Saratoga opened up the Guadalcanal campaign
Guadalcanal campaign
The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II...
early on 7 August when she launched warplanes to attack Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
, Tulagi
Tulagi
Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida Island. The town of the same name on the island Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island (5.5 km by 1 km) in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida...
, and nearby islands. For the next two days, she also helped provide air cover for the amphibious landing of the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal and a smaller force on Tulagi.
On the first day of the assault, a Japanese air attack was repelled by fighter planes before it got close to the American fleet. However, since further air attacks were expected, the three carriers and their escort withdrew southwards on the afternoon of 8 August to make it to a refueling rendezvous with oilers. As a result, this task force was too far south to retaliate after four heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
s and several destroyers were sunk that night in a naval surface action, the disastrous Battle of Savo Island
Battle of Savo Island
The Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island and, in Japanese sources, as the , was a naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II, between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval forces...
, wherein the U.S. Navy found out the hard way the Imperial Japanese Navy had a excellent night warfare doctrine and that they were well practiced in it due to ample night live fire exercises.
The carrier task force departed to the east of the Solomon Islands, guarding the sea lanes to Guadalcanal expectantly alert for an Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
counterattack.
This counterattack, the third of five carrier versus carrier encounters during the war and now known as Battle of the Eastern Solomons
Battle of the Eastern Solomons
The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons (also known as the Battle of the Stewart Islands and, in Japanese sources, as the , took place on 24–25 August 1942, and was the third carrier battle of the Pacific campaign...
began to materialize on 23 August, when a force of Japanese troop transports was detected. Saratoga and the other carries launched an air raid
Air raid
Air raid refers to an attack by aircraft. See strategic bombing or the smaller-scale airstrike.Air raid may also refer to:*Air Raid , by the improvisational collective Air...
against the Japanese ships, but their aircraft were unable to find the enemy and, running low on fuel, they had to spend the night at Henderson Field
Henderson Field
Henderson Field is the name of several airports:* Henderson Field on Guadalcanal Island in the Solomon Islands, renamed to Honiara International Airport in 2003....
on Guadalcanal. When these aircraft returned on the next day, the first contact report with an accurate location of enemy aircraft carriers was received from scouting forces sent out at dawn. Two hours later, Saratoga and her companions launched a strike that sank the Japanese light aircraft carrier Ryūjō
Japanese aircraft carrier Ryujo
Ryūjō was a light aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was laid down by Mitsubishi at Yokohama in 1929, launched in 1931 and commissioned on 9 May 1933. Her final design resulted in a top-heavy unstable vessel and within a year she was back at Kure Naval Yard for modification...
.
Later on in the afternoon, when an air raid from two other Japanese aircraft carriers was detected, Saratoga quickly launched the warplanes on her flight deck
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 and other VTOL aircraft is also referred to as the...
, and these planes found and damaged the seaplane tender Chitose
Japanese aircraft carrier Chitose
was a light aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. It should not be confused with the earlier cruiser of the same name. First laid down as a seaplane tender in 1934 at Kure Navy yard, the ship originally carried Kawanishi E7K Type 94 "Alf" and Nakajima E8N Type 95...
.
Meanwhile, due to covering clouds, Saratoga escaped detection by the Japanese. Their air strike concentrated on Enterprise and damaged her. The American aviators fought back valiantly, and enemy air strength was weakened so severely the Japanese Navy recalled its troop transports before they got close to Guadalcanal.
After recovering her returning planes in the evening of 24 August, Saratoga withdrew for refueling on the 25th, and then she resumed her sea patrols in the uncongested waters east of the lower Solomon Islands.
One week later, a U.S. Navy destroyer reported the bubbles of Japanese torpedo wakes heading towards the Saratoga, but the 888 feet (271 m)-long carrier could not turn quickly enough to evade the torpedoes. A moment later, a torpedo from the slammed into the underwater blister on her starboard side. The torpedo killed none of her sailors, and it flooded just one fireroom -- but its explosion caused multiple electical short circuits. These damaged Saratogas turboelectric propulsion system, leaving her dead in the water. The cruiser took Saratoga in tow while she launched her aircraft off to reinforce shore airfields. By early afternoon, Saratogas engineroom crew had improvised repairs to her electrical system from the burned wreckage of her main control board. She was then able to achieve 10 kn (12.2 mph; 19.6 km/h).
After some temporary repair work at Tongatapu
Tongatapu
Tongatapu is the main island of the Kingdom of Tonga and the location of its capital Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with approximately 71,260 residents , 70.5% of the national population...
during 6 – 12 September, the Saratoga was able to steam northwards again, and she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 21 September for more solid repairs in a Pearl Harbor drydock. She returned to the Solomons area in November.
1943
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
to the allied Naval base on Nouméa
Nouméa
Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...
southeast of Guadalcanal, which she reached on 5 December 1942. She operated in the vicinity of Nouméa for the next twelve months, providing air cover for minor operations and protecting American forces in the Eastern Solomons should the Japanese send an invasion fleet covered by aircraft carriers.
From 17 May to 31 July 1943, she was reinforced by the British Illustrious class carrier Victorious
HMS Victorious (R38)
HMS Victorious was the second Illustrious-class aircraft carrier ordered under the 1936 Naval Programme. She was laid down at the Vickers-Armstrong shipyard at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1937 and launched two years later in 1939...
, and on 20 October, she was joined by the Independence=class
Independence class aircraft carrier
The Independence class aircraft carriers were a class of light carriers built for the United States Navy that served during World War II.This class were a result of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's interest in Navy shipbuilding plans...
light aircraft carrier Princeton
USS Princeton (CVL-23)
The fourth USS Princeton was a United States Navy lost at the battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944.-Construction and deployment:The ship was laid down as the Tallahassee by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, 2 June 1941...
.
As troops stormed ashore on Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. This region is also known as Bougainville Province or the North Solomons. The population of the province is 175,160 , which includes the adjacent island of Buka and assorted outlying islands...
on 1 November, Saratogas aircraft neutralized nearby Japanese airfields on Buka Island
Buka Island
Buka Island is the second largest island in the Papua New Guinean province of Bougainville.- History :Buka was first occupied by humans in paleolithic times, some 30,000 years ago...
. Then, on 5 November, in response to reports of Japanese cruisers concentrating at Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
to counterattack the Allied landing forces, Saratoga conducted perhaps her most brilliant strike of the war. Her aircraft penetrated the heavily defended port and attacked the shipping, disabling a number of the Japanese cruisers and ending the surface threat to Bougainville. Saratoga herself escaped unscathed and returned to raid Rabaul again on 11 November.
Saratoga and Princeton were then designated the Relief Carrier Group for the offensive in the Gilbert Islands
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...
, and after striking Nauru
Nauru
Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...
on 19 November, they rendezvoused on 23 November with the transports carrying garrison troops to Makin
Makin (islands)
Makin is the name of a chain of islands located in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati, specifically in the Gilbert Islands.-Geography:...
and Tarawa
Tarawa Atoll
Tarawa is an atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, previously the capital of the former British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. It is the location of the capital of the Republic of Kiribati, South Tarawa...
. The carriers provided air cover until the transports reached their destinations and then maintained air patrols over Tarawa. By this time, Saratoga had steamed over a year without repairs, and she was detached on 30 November to return to the United States. She underwent overhaul at San Francisco from 9 December 1943 to 3 January 1944, and had her antiaircraft battery augmented for the last time, receiving sixty 40 millimeter guns in place of thirty-six 20 millimeter guns.
1944
The carrier arrived at Pearl Harbor on 7 January, and after a brief period of training, sailed from Pearl Harbor on 19 January with and Princeton, to support the drive in the Marshall IslandsMarshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
. Her aircraft struck Wotje and Taroa
Taroa
Taroa, also known as Tarawa, 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...
for three days, 29–31 January, and then pounded Engebi, the main island at Eniwetok, 3–6 February and again 10–12 February. Her planes delivered final blows to Japanese defenses on 16 February, the day before the landings, and provided close air support and CAP
Combat air patrol
Combat air patrol is a type of flying mission for fighter aircraft.A combat air patrol is an aircraft patrol provided over an objective area, over the force protected, over the critical area of a combat zone, or over an air defense area, for the purpose of intercepting and destroying hostile...
over the island until 28 February.
Majuro
Majuro , is a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll itself has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of...
with an escort of three destroyers, and sailed via Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....
; Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
; and Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, to join the British Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
. She rendezvoused at sea on 27 March with the British force, composed of , , and with escorts, and arrived with them at Trincomalee
Trincomalee
Trincomalee is a port city in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka and lies on the east coast of the island, about 113 miles south of Jaffna. It has a population of approximately 100,000 . The city is built on a peninsula, which divides the inner and outer harbours. Overlooking the Kottiyar Bay,...
, Ceylon, on 31 March. On 12 April, the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
battleship Richelieu
French battleship Richelieu (1939)
The Richelieu was a battleship of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She served during World War II, on the Vichy Regime side, notably fending off an Allied attempt on Dakar, and later with Allied forces in the Indian Ocean in 1944 and 1945...
arrived, adding to the international flavor of the force, which also included warships from Australia, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. During the next two days, the carriers conducted intensive training at sea during which the aviators of Saratoga tried to impart some of their experience to the British pilots.
On 16 April, the British Eastern Fleet, with Saratoga in company, steamed out from Trincomalee, and on the 19th, aircraft from Illustrious and Saratoga struck the port city of Sabang
Sabang
Sabang is a city consisting of several islands in Aceh, Indonesia. The metropolitan area is located on Weh Island, 17 km north of Banda Aceh. The city covers an area of 118 square kilometres and according to the 2000 census had a population of 23,654 people...
(Operation Cockpit
Operation Cockpit
Operation Cockpit was a bombing raid by aircraft from two Allied naval forces on 19 April 1944. The forces were made up of 22 warships, including two aircraft carriers, from the Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy, French Navy, Royal Netherlands Navy, Royal New Zealand Navy, and United States Navy...
. The Japanese were caught by surprise by the new offensive and much damage was done to port facilities and oil reserves, with minimal losses. The raid was so successful Saratoga delayed her departure to carry out a second attack. Sailing again from Ceylon on 6 May, the task force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
struck at Surabaya
Surabaya
Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...
, Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, on 17 May with equally successful results. Saratoga was detached the following day, and passed down the columns of the British Eastern Fleet as the Allied ships rendered honors to and from and cheered each other on .
Bremerton, Washington
Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...
, on 10 June 1944, for an overhaul. On 24 September, she returned to Pearl Harbor and commenced her second special assignment, training night fighter squadrons. Saratoga had experimented with night flying as early as 1931, and many carriers had been forced to land returning aircraft at night during the war, but only in August 1944 did a carrier, , receive an air group specially equipped to operate at night. At the same time, Carrier Division 11, composed of Saratoga and , was commissioned at Pearl Harbor to train night pilots and develop night flying techniques and procedures. Saratoga continued this night training duty for nearly four months, but as early as October, her division commander was notified that "while employed primarily for training, Saratoga is of great value for combat and is to be kept potentially available for combat duty." The call came in January 1945. Light carriers like Independence had proven too small for most safe night flights, and Saratoga was rushed out of Pearl Harbor on 29 January 1945, to form a night fighter task group, along with Enterprise≤ for the invasion of Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
.
In September 1944, a Navy SBD dive bomber
Dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...
made the 75,000th landing on Saratoga. It was sixteen years earlier when Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
Marc Mitscher
Marc Mitscher
Admiral Marc Andrew "Pete" Mitscher was an admiral in the United States Navy who served as commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force in the Pacific in the latter half of World War II.-Early life and career:...
had made the first landing on Saratogas flight deck.
1945
Ulithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
on 7 February and sailed three days later with Enterprise and four other carrier task groups. After landing rehearsals with Marines at Tinian
Tinian
Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....
on 12 February, the carrier force carried out diversionary strikes on the Japanese home islands on the nights of 16 February and 17 February, before the landings on Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...
. Saratoga was assigned to provide fighter cover while the remaining carriers launched the strikes on Japan, but in the process, her fighters raided two Japanese airfields. The force fueled on 18 and 19 February, and on 21 February, Saratoga was detached with an escort of three destroyers to join the amphibious forces and carry out night patrols over Iwo Jima and night heckler missions over nearby Chi-chi Jima. However, as she approached her operating area at 1700 on the 21st, an air attack developed. Taking advantage of low cloud cover and Saratogas insufficient escort, six Japanese planes scored five bomb hits on the carrier in three minutes. Saratogas flight deck forward was wrecked, her starboard side was holed twice and large fires were started in her hangar deck; she lost 123 of her crew dead or missing. An attack at 1900 scored an additional bomb hit. By 2015, the fires were under control, and Saratoga was able to recover aircraft, but she was ordered to Eniwetok and then to the West Coast for repairs, arriving at Bremerton on 16 March.
Post-war
With the arrival of large numbers of Essex-classEssex class aircraft carrier
The Essex class was a class of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy, which constituted the 20th century's most numerous class of capital ships with 24 vessels built in both "short-hull" and "long-hull" versions. Thirty-two were originally ordered; however as World War II wound down, six were...
carriers, Saratoga was surplus to postwar requirements, and she was assigned to Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. It was the first test of a nuclear weapon after the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945...
at Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....
to test the effect of the atomic bomb on naval vessels. She survived the first blast (Test Able), an air burst on 1 July, with only minor damage, but was damaged beyond repair by the second (Test Baker) on 25 July, an underwater blast which was detonated under 500 yards (457.2 m) from the carrier. Salvage efforts were prevented by radioactivity, and seven and one-half hours after the blast, with her funnel collapsed across her deck, Saratoga slipped, stern first, beneath the surface of the lagoon. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 15 August 1946.
Wreck
In recent years, the submerged wreck, the top of which is only 40 ft (12 m) below the surface, has become a scuba divingScuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
destination, one of only two carrier wrecks accessible to recreational divers. (The other is , in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
.) The site was closed to divers in 2008 by the Kili/Bikini/Ejit Local Government Council. A combination of a failing global economy, high fuel prices, an unreliable airline and poor onsite management by the final divemaster ruined the profitability of the dive operation.
Saratoga in Popular Culture
The 1931 movie Hell DiversHell Divers
Hell Divers is a 1931 movie starring Wallace Beery and Clark Gable as a pair of competing chief petty officers on board the USS Saratoga...
starred Wallace Beery
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
and a young Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
as a pair of competing pilots aboard Saratoga. The 1933 Joe E. Brown
Joe E. Brown (comedian)
Joseph Evans Brown was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his amiable screen persona, comic timing, and enormous smile. In 1902 at the age of nine, he joined a troupe of circus tumblers known as the Five Marvelous Ashtons which toured the country on both the circus and vaudeville...
film comedy Son of a Sailor was also filmed aboard Saratoga and featured flight deck musters of the ships' company. Both films depicted actual carrier operations of F8C Helldiver
Curtiss Falcon
The Curtiss Falcon is a family of military biplane aircraft built by the United States aircraft manufacturer Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company during the 1920s. Most saw service as part of the United States Army Air Corps as observation aircraft with the designations O-1 and O-11, or as the...
aircraft.
In 1946, Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
's radio show aired on board the ship as a farewell to her, four days before she was sunk.
See also
- List of aircraft carriers
- List of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy
- List of World War II ships
External links
- USS Saratoga Association homepage
- General Plan for the U.S.S. Saratoga (CV-3), hosted by the Historical Naval Ships Association (HNSA) Digital Collections
- Navy photographs of Saratoga (CV-3)
- Saratoga under construction as a battlecruiser
- Image from the launching of the U.S.S. Saratoga
- "How Swift Navy Planes Hit the Spot On Carriers Deck", December 1931, Popular Science large 1931 on aircraft operation on CV-3
- Scuba diving to the U.S.S. Saratoga