USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Bunker Hill.
"CV-17" redirects here. For the Chinese CV-17, see Type 001A aircraft carrier.

USS Bunker Hill at sea in 1945
History
United States
NameBunker Hill
NamesakeBattle of Bunker Hill
BuilderFore River Shipyard
Laid down15 September 1941
Launched7 December 1942
Commissioned25 May 1943
Decommissioned9 January 1947
Reclassified
  • CVA-17, 1 October 1952
  • CVS-17, 8 August 1953
  • AVT-9, May 1959
Stricken2 November 1966
FateScrapped, 1973
General characteristics
Class and typeEssex-class aircraft carrier
Displacement
Length
  • 820 feet (249.9 m) (wl)
  • 872 feet (265.8 m) (o/a)
Beam93 ft (28.3 m)
Draft34 ft 2 in (10.41 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Range14,100 nmi (26,100 km; 16,200 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement2,600 officers and enlisted men
Armament
Armor
Aircraft carried
  • 36 × Grumman F4F Wildcat
  • 36 × Douglas SBD Dauntless
  • 18 × Grumman TBF Avenger

USS Bunker Hill (CV/CVA/CVS-17, AVT-9) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was named for the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War. Commissioned in May 1943 and sent to the Pacific Theater of Operations, the ship participated in battles in the Southwest Pacific, Central Pacific and the drive toward Japan through Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and air raids on the Japanese homeland.

While covering the invasion of Okinawa, Bunker Hill was struck by two kamikazes in quick succession on 11 May 1945, setting the vessel on fire. Casualties exceeded 600, including 396 killed or missing, with 264 wounded.[1][2] These were the second heaviest personnel losses suffered by any carrier to survive the war, after Franklin. After the attack, Bunker Hill returned to the U.S. mainland and was under repair when hostilities ended.

After the war, Bunker Hill was employed as a troop transport bringing American service members back from the Pacific, and was decommissioned in 1947. While in reserve the vessel was reclassified as an attack carrier (CVA), then an antisubmarine carrier (CVS) and finally an Auxiliary Aircraft Landing Training Ship (AVT), but was never modernized and never saw active service again. Bunker Hill and Franklin were the only Essex-class ships never recommissioned after World War II.[3]

Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1966, Bunker Hill served as an electronics test platform for many years in San Diego Bay. An effort to save her as a museum ship in 1972 was unsuccessful and she was sold for scrap in 1973.

  1. ^ "H-048-1: Kamikaze Attacks on U.S. Flagships off Okinawa". U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  2. ^ President on Tour, 1945/06/25. Universal Newsreels. 1945. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  3. ^ Friedman, p. 156