USS Saratoga (CV-3) was the second
aircraft carrierAn 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 great distances without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
of the
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
, 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 classThe 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...]
Battle Cruiser #3 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, a division of the American Brown-Boveri Electric Corporation at
Camden, New JerseyThe City of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey, in the United States. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
; construction cancelled and re-ordered as an aircraft carrier and reclassified
CV-3 on 1 July 1922, in accordance with the
Washington Naval TreatyThe Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, limited the naval armaments of its five signatories: the United States of America, the British Empire, the Empire of Japan, the French Third Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. The treaty was agreed at the Washington Naval...
limiting naval armaments; launched on 7 April 1925; sponsored by Mrs.
Curtis D. WilburCurtis Dwight Wilbur was born in Boonesboro, 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...
, wife of the Secretary of the Navy; and commissioned on 16 November 1927,
CaptainCaptain 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.The equivalent rank in many navies is Ship-of-the-Line Captain...
Harry E. YarnellAdmiral 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, moored to
Saratogas stern and took on fuel and stores. The same day,
Saratoga sailed for the Pacific via the
Panama CanalThe Panama Canal is a ship canal which joins the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific ocean. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, it had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans, replacing the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn...
. She was diverted briefly 14-16 February to carry Marines to Corinto,
NicaraguaNicaragua officially the Republic of Nicaragua , is a representative democratic republic. It is the largest country in Central America with an area of 130,373 km
2. The country is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west of...
, and finally joined the
Battle FleetThe 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.
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
cruiserA cruiser is a large type of warship, which had its prime period from the late 19th century to the end of the Cold War. The first cruisers were intended for individual raiding and protection missions on the seas...
as escort to make a wide sweep to the south and "attack" the Panama Canal, which was defended by the
Scouting FleetThe 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
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
. 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, VirginiaNorfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 234,403 as of the 2000 census, it is Virginia's second-largest incorporated city behind its eastern neighbor, Virginia Beach....
, in May and returned to San Pedro on 21 June 1930.
During the remaining decade before
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into 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
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
and, by coincidence, occurred during the peak of the furor following the "
Manchurian incidentThe Mukden Incident represented an early event in the Second Sino-Japanese War, although full-scale war would not start until 1937. On September 18, 1931, near Mukden in southern Manchuria, a section of railroad owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway was dynamited...
", in which
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of 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-19 March and returned to Hawaii for fleet exercises the following year from 23 January-28 February 1933. On the return trip to the West Coast, she launched a successful air "attack" on the
Long BeachLong Beach is a large city located in southern California, USA, on the Pacific coast. It is situated in Los Angeles County, about south of downtown Los Angeles. Long Beach borders Orange County on its southeast edge....
area.
Exercises in 1934 took
Saratoga to the Caribbean and the
AtlanticThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
for an extended period, from 9 April-9 November, and were followed by equally extensive operations with the
United States FleetThe United States Fleet was an organization in the United States Navy from 1922 until after World War II. Initially the abbreviation CINCUS, pronounced as "sink us", was used for Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet, officially replaced by COMINCH in December 1941.-Establishment:The General...
in the Pacific the following year. From 27 April-6 June 1936, she participated in a Fleet Problem in the
Panama Canal ZoneThe Panama Canal Zone was a 553 square mile territory inside 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 fallen in part within the limits of the Canal Zone...
, and she then returned with the fleet to Hawaii for exercises from 16 April-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 HarborPearl Harbor is a 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 off
OahuOahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the 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 IslandMare 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
AlamedaAlameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on a small island of the same name next to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. An additional part of the city is Bay Farm Island, which is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. The city has a small town feeling...
.
Saratoga was under overhaul during the 1939 fleet concentration, but from 2 April-21 June 1940, she participated in Fleet Problem XXI, the last to be held due to the deepening world crisis.
1941
From 14–29 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 widening her flight deck forward, fitting a blister on her starboard side and additional small antiaircraft guns.
Saratoga was one of fourteen ships to receive the early
RCARCA Corporation, founded as Radio Corporation of America, was an electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. Currently, the RCA trademark is owned by the French conglomerate Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson...
CXAM-1The 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...
RADARRadar is an object detection system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range, altitude, direction, or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as aircraft, ships, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The term RADAR was coined in 1941 as an acronym for RAdio Detection And...
. Departing Bremerton on 28 April 1941, the carrier 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,
Saratoga sailed for Puget Sound and a West Coast refit.
When the Japanese
struck at Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 , later resulting in the United...
on 7 December 1941,
Saratoga was just entering San Diego after an interim drydocking at Bremerton. She hurriedly got underway the following day as the nucleus of a third carrier force (
Lexington and were already at sea), carrying Marine aircraft intended to reinforce the vulnerable garrison on
Wake IslandWake Island is a coral atoll having a coastline of 12 miles in the North Pacific Ocean, located about two-thirds of the way from Honolulu to Guam...
. The presence of these aircraft on board
Saratoga made her the logical choice for the actual relief effort. She reached Pearl Harbor on 15 December and stopped only long enough to fuel. She then rendezvoused with , which had relief troops and supplies on board, while
Lexington and
Enterprise provided distant cover for the operation. However,
Saratoga force was delayed by the low speed of its
oilerA 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. It is used by several countries around the world....
and by a decision to refuel
destroyerIn 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, short-range but powerful attackers .Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels without the endurance...
s on 21 December. After receiving reports of Japanese carrier aircraft over the island and Japanese landings on it, the relief force was recalled on 22 December. Wake
fell the next dayThe Battle of Wake Island began simultaneously with the Attack on Pearl Harbor and ended on December 23, 1941, with the surrender of the American forces to the Japanese....
.
1942
Saratoga continued operations in the Hawaiian Island region, but on 11 January 1942, when heading towards a rendezvous with
Enterprise south-west of Oahu, she was hit without warning by a deep-running torpedo fired by . Although six men were killed and three firerooms were flooded, the carrier reached Oahu under her own power. There her guns, which were useless against aircraft, were removed for installation in shore defenses, and the carrier proceeded to the Bremerton Navy Yard for permanent repairs and installation of a modern anti-aircraft battery. The original twelve 5"/25 caliber guns were replaced by sixteen 5"/38 caliber guns.
Saratoga departed
Puget SoundPuget Sound is a sound or complex of inland marine waterways in the northwestern part of Washington, United States, extending from the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca south to the head of the sound at the state capital of Olympia. It branches out from Admiralty Inlet and Deception Pass...
on 22 May for San Diego. She arrived there on 25 May and was training her air group when intelligence was received of an impending Japanese assault on Midway. Due to the need to load planes and stores and to collect escorts, the carrier was unable to sail until 1 June and arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 6th, after the
Battle of MidwayThe 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 seven months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
had ended. She departed Pearl Harbor on 7 June after fueling and, on 11 June, transferred 34 aircraft to and
Enterprise to replenish their depleted air groups. The three carriers then turned north to counter Japanese activity reported in the Aleutians, but the operation was canceled, and
Saratoga returned to Pearl Harbor on 13 June.
From 22–29 June,
Saratoga ferried Marine and Army aircraft to the garrison on Midway. On 7 July, she sailed for the southwest Pacific, and from 28 July–30 July, she provided air cover for landing rehearsals in the
FijiFiji , officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands , is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean east of Vanuatu, west of Tonga and south of Tuvalu. The country comprises an archipelago of about 322 islands, of which 106 are permanently inhabited, and 522 islets...
Islands in preparation for landings on
GuadalcanalGuadalcanal is a 2,510-square mile island in the Pacific Ocean and a province of the Solomon Islands. The World War II Guadalcanal Campaign took place on and around the island...
. As
flagshipA flagship is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, a designation given on account of being either the largest, fastest, newest, most heavily armed or, for publicity purposes, the best known. In military terms, it is a ship used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships...
of
Rear AdmiralRear 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" and/or "Flag ranks"...
Frank Jack FletcherFrank 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 the
Guadalcanal assaultThe Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal, was fought between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theater of World War II...
early on 7 August when she turned into the wind to launch aircraft. She provided air cover for the landings for the next two days. On the first day, a Japanese air attack was repelled before it reached the carriers, but since further attacks were expected, the carrier force withdrew on the afternoon of 8 August towards a fueling rendezvous. As a result, it was too far away to retaliate after four Allied cruisers were sunk that night in the
Battle of Savo IslandThe 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...
. The carrier force continued to operate east of the
Solomon IslandsThe Solomon Islands is a country in Melanesia, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. Together they cover a land mass of 28,400 square kilometres . The capital is Honiara, located on the island of Guadalcanal.The Solomon Islands are believed to have been...
, protecting the sea-lanes to the beachhead and awaiting a Japanese naval counterattack.
The counterattack began to materialize when a Japanese transport force was detected on 23 August, and
Saratoga launched a strike against it. The aircraft were unable to find the enemy, however, and spent the night on
GuadalcanalGuadalcanal is a 2,510-square mile island in the Pacific Ocean and a province of the Solomon Islands. The World War II Guadalcanal Campaign took place on and around the island...
. As they were returning on board the next day, the first contact report on enemy carriers was received. Two hours later,
Saratoga launched a strike which sent to the bottom. Later in the afternoon, as an enemy strike from other carriers was detected,
Saratoga hastily launched the aircraft on her deck, and these found and damaged . Meanwhile, due to cloud cover,
Saratoga escaped detection by the Japanese aircraft, which concentrated their attack on, and damaged,
Enterprise. The American force fought back fiercely and weakened enemy air strength so severely that the Japanese recalled their transports before they reached Guadalcanal.
After landing her returning aircraft at night on 24 August,
Saratoga refueled on the 25th and resumed her patrols east of the Solomons. A week later, a destroyer reported
torpedoThe modern torpedo is a self-propelled explosive projectile weapon, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater toward a target, and designed to detonate on contact or in proximity to a target...
wakes heading toward the carrier, but the flattop could not turn quickly enough. A minute later, a torpedo from slammed into the blister on her starboard side. The torpedo killed no one and only flooded one fireroom, but the impact caused short circuits which damaged
Saratogas turbo-electric propulsion system and left her dead in the water. took the carrier under tow while she flew her aircraft off to shore bases. By early afternoon,
Saratogas engineers had improvised a circuit out of the burned wreckage of her main control board and had given her a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h). After repairs at
TongatapuTongatapu 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...
from 6–12 September, escorted by ,
Saratoga arrived at Pearl Harbor on 21 September for permanent repairs.
1943
Saratoga sailed from Pearl Harbor on 10 November 1942, and proceeded via
FijiFiji , officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands , is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean east of Vanuatu, west of Tonga and south of Tuvalu. The country comprises an archipelago of about 322 islands, of which 106 are permanently inhabited, and 522 islets...
to
NouméaNouméa 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,...
, 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. From 17 May–31 July 1943, she was reinforced by , and on 20 October, she was joined by . As troops stormed ashore on
Bougainville IslandPolitically, Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, part of Papua New Guinea . This region is also known as Bougainville Province or the North Solomons. The population of the province is 175,160 . It includes the adjacent island of Buka, and assorted...
on 1 November,
Saratogas aircraft neutralized nearby Japanese airfields on
Buka IslandBuka 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
RabaulRabaul 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 feet into the air. It caused...
to counterattack the Allied landing forces,
Saratoga conducted perhaps her most brilliant strike of the war. Her aircraft penetrated the heavily defended port and disabled most of the Japanese cruisers, 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 IslandsThe Gilbert Islands are a chain of 16 atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of the 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...
, and after striking
NauruNauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island nation in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbor is Banaba Island in Kiribati, 300 km to the east...
on 19 November, they rendezvoused on 23 November with the transports carrying garrison troops to
MakinMakin is the name of a chain of islands located in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati, specifically in the Gilbert Islands.-Geography:...
and
TarawaTarawa 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 1943–3 January 1944, and had her antiaircraft battery augmented for the last time, receiving 60 40 millimeter guns in place of 36 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 IslandsThe Marshall Islands , officially 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. This nation of roughly 62,000 people is located north of Nauru and...
. Her aircraft struck Wotje and
TaroaTaroa, 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, from 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
CAPCombat 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.
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
MajuroMajuro , population 25,400 people , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Built on an atoll of 64 islands, the Majuro Atoll, Majuro has a port, shopping district, hotels, and an international airport...
with an escort of three destroyers, and sailed via
Espiritu SantoEspiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of 3955.5 km². It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia...
;
HobartHobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1803 as a penal colony, Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2008, the city had a greater area population of approximately 209,287...
,
TasmaniaTasmania is an Australian island and state. It is located south of the eastern side of the continent, from which it is 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 500,000 ,...
; and
FremantleFremantle is a port city in Western Australia, located southwest of Perth, the state capital, at the mouth of the Swan River on Australia's western coast. It was the first settlement of the Swan River colonists in 1829...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
, to join the
British Eastern FleetThe British Eastern Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed from 1904 to 1971...
in the
Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
. She rendezvoused at sea on 27 March with the British force, composed of , , and with escorts, and arrived with them at
TrincomaleeTrincomalee is a port city on the east coast of Sri Lanka, about 110 miles northeast of Kandy. The city is built on a peninsula, which divides the inner and outer harbours. It is one of the main centers of Tamil speaking culture on the island...
, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), on 31 March. On 12 April, the French battleship
RichelieuThe 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 and the Netherlands. During the next two days, the carriers conducted intensive training at sea during which
Saratogas fliers tried to impart some of their experience to the British pilots.
On 16 April, the Eastern Fleet, with
Saratoga, sailed from Trincomalee, and on the 19th, the aircraft from the two carriers struck the port of
SabangSabang is a city in Aceh, Indonesia. The city is located on Weh Island, 17 km north of Banda Aceh. It has an area of 118 km² and population of 23,654...
off the northwest tip of
SumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world .-Etymology:Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit...
(
Operation CockpitOperation 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, Royal Netherlands Navy, Royal New Zealand Navy, and United States Navy...
). The Japanese were caught by surprise by the new offensive ("
caught with their kimonos up"), and much damage was done to port facilities and
oil reservesOil reserves are the estimated quantities of crude oil that are claimed to be recoverable under existing economic and operating conditions.The total estimated amount of oil in an oil reservoir, including both producible and non-producible oil, is called oil in place...
, with minimal losses. The raid was so successful that
Saratoga delayed her departure in order to carry out a second. Sailing again from Ceylon on 6 May, the force struck at Soerabaja, Java, on 17 May with equally successful results.
Saratoga was detached the following day, and passed down the columns of the Eastern Fleet as the Allied ships rendered honors to and cheered each other.
Saratoga arrived at
Bremerton, WashingtonBremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 37,259 at the 2000 census. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...
, on 10 June 1944, for overhaul. On 24 September, she arrived at 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 doctrine.
Saratoga continued this important training duty for almost four months, but as early as October, her division commander was warned 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 proved too small for safe night operations, and
Saratoga was rushed out of Pearl Harbor on 29 January 1945, to form a night fighter task group with
Enterprise for the
Iwo JimaIwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which makes up the southern end of the Ogasawara Islands. The island is located 1,200 kilometers south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
operation.
1945
Saratoga arrived at
UlithiUlithi 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 wide—at the fourth largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia....
on 7 February and sailed three days later with
Enterprise and four other carrier task groups. After landing rehearsals with Marines at
TinianTinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands . It is perhaps best known for being the base from which the United States lauched their atomic bomb attacks on Japan during World War II.- Geography :Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister...
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 JimaThe Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a battle in which the United States fought for and captured Iwo Jima from Japan...
.
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 February 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, and taking advantage of low cloud cover and
Saratogas insufficient escort, six Japanese planes scored five 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, while she lost 123 of her crew dead or missing. Another attack at 1900 scored an additional bomb hit. By 2015, the fires were under control, and the carrier 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 under
Operation Magic CarpetOperation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II effort by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and CBI theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships, and troop transports began repatriating soldiers from...
. 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.
Post-War
With the arrival of large numbers of
Essex-classEssex was a class of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy, which constituted the 20th century's most numerous class of heavy warships, with 24 ships built in both "short-hull" and "long-hull" versions. Thirty-two were originally ordered, however six were canceled before construction, and two...
carriers,
Saratoga was surplus to postwar requirements, and she was assigned to
Operation CrossroadsOperation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in the summer of 1946. Its purpose was to test the effect of nuclear weapons on naval ships...
at
Bikini AtollBikini Atoll is an atoll in one of the Micronesian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands. It consists of 23 islands surrounding a lagoon...
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 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 beneath the surface of the lagoon. She was struck from the
Naval Vessel RegisterThe 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 below the surface, has become a
scuba divingScuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater for recreation, commercial or industrial reasons.Unlike early diving, which relied exclusively on air pumped from the surface, scuba...
destination, one of only two (the other being , in the Gulf of Mexico) carrier wrecks accessible to recreational divers.
Saratoga in Popular Culture
The 1931 movie
Hell DiversHell 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 BeeryWallace Beery was an American actor, known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, his titular role in a series of films featuring the character Sweedie, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
and a young
Clark GableWilliam Clark Gable was an American film actor, nicknamed "The King of Hollywood" in his heyday. In , the American Film Institute named Gable seventh among the greatest male stars of all time....
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 HelldiverThe 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.
See also
External links