USS Ranger underway at sea, 1930s
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Class overview | |
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Operators | United States Navy |
Preceded by | Lexington class |
Succeeded by | Yorktown class |
Built | 1931–1934 |
In commission | 1934–1946 |
Completed | 1 |
Scrapped | 1 |
History | |
United States | |
Name | USS Ranger |
Ordered | 1 November 1930 |
Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. |
Laid down | 26 September 1931 |
Launched | 25 February 1933 |
Sponsored by | Lou Henry Hoover (the wife of the President of the United States) |
Commissioned | 4 June 1934 |
Decommissioned | 18 October 1946 |
Stricken | 29 October 1946 |
Honors and awards |
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Fate | Acquired for scrap for $259K on 31 January 1947 |
Badge | |
General characteristics | |
Type | Aircraft carrier |
Displacement |
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Length | |
Beam |
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Draft | 22 ft 4.875 in (6.8 m) |
Installed power | |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 29.3 knots (54.3 km/h; 33.7 mph) |
Range | 10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
Complement |
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Sensors and processing systems | CXAM-1 radar |
Armament |
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Armor | |
Aircraft carried |
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Aviation facilities |
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USS Ranger (CV-4) was an interwar United States Navy aircraft carrier, the only ship of its class. As a Treaty ship, Ranger was the first U.S. vessel to be designed and built from the keel up as a carrier. She was relatively small, just 730 ft (222.5 m) long and under 15,000 long tons (15,000 t), closer in size and displacement to the first US carrier—Langley—than later ships. An island superstructure was not included in the original design, but was added after completion.
Deemed too slow for use with the Pacific Fleet's carrier task forces against Japan,[1] she spent most of World War II in the Atlantic Ocean, where the German fleet, the Kriegsmarine, was a weaker opponent. Ranger saw combat in that theater and provided air support for Operation Torch. In October 1943, she fought in Operation Leader, air attacks on German shipping off Norway. She was sold for scrap in 1947.