USS Kearsarge (CV-33)

USS Kearsarge at sea in 1966
History
United States
Name	Kearsarge
Namesake	USS Kearsarge (1861)
Builder	New York Naval Shipyard
Laid down	1 March 1944
Launched	5 May 1945
Commissioned	2 March 1946
Decommissioned	16 June 1950
Recommissioned	15 February 1952
Decommissioned	13 February 1970
Reclassified	CVA-33, 15 February 1952 CVS-33, 1 October 1958
Fate	Scrapped, February 1974
General characteristics
Class and type	Essex-class aircraft carrier
Displacement	27,100 long tons (27,500 t) standard
Length	888 feet (271 m) overall
Beam	93 feet (28 m)
Draft	28 feet 7 inches (8.71 m)
Installed power	8 × boilers 150,000 shp (110 MW)
Propulsion	4 × geared steam turbines 4 × shafts
Speed	33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Complement	3448 officers and enlisted
Armament	12 × 5 inch (127 mm)/38 caliber guns 32 × Bofors 40 mm guns 46 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons
Armor	Belt: 4 in (102 mm) Hangar deck: 2.5 in (64 mm) Deck: 1.5 in (38 mm) Conning tower: 1.5 inch
Aircraft carried	90–100 aircraft

USS Kearsarge (CV/CVA/CVS-33) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the third US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for a Civil War-era steam sloop. Kearsarge was commissioned in March 1946. Modernized in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), she served in the Korean War, for which she earned two battle stars. In the late 1950s she was further modified to become an anti-submarine carrier (CVS). Kearsarge was the recovery ship for the last two manned Project Mercury space missions in 1962–1963. She completed her career serving in the Vietnam War, earning five battle stars.

She was decommissioned in 1970, and sold for scrap in 1974.