USS Kitty Hawk (AKV-1)

USS Kitty Hawk (AKV-1) underway in 1942
History
United States
NameUSS Kitty Hawk
NamesakeKitty Hawk, North Carolina
BuilderSun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania
Laid down1932, as SS Seatrain New York
Launched14 September 1932
Acquired25 June 1941
Commissioned26 November 1941 as APV-1 (Transport and Aircraft Ferry)
Decommissioned24 January 1946
RenamedKitty Hawk, 8 July 1941
ReclassifiedAKV-1 (Aircraft Transport), 15 September 1943
Stricken24 January 1946
IdentificationIMO number5316911
Fate
  • Returned to owner, 24 January 1946
  • Scrapped 1973
General characteristics
TypeAircraft transport
Displacement16,480 long tons (16,740 t) full load
Length478 ft (146 m)
Beam63 ft 6 in (19.35 m)
Draft26 ft 4 in (8.03 m)
Installed power8,800 shp (6,600 kW)
Propulsion
  • 1 × Geared steam turbine
  • 1 × shaft
Speed17 kn (20 mph; 31 km/h)
Complement245 officers and enlisted
Armament1 × 5 in (130 mm)/38 cal gun, 4 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal guns, 4 × 40 mm guns (2x2), 24 × 20 mm AA cannons (8x2, 16x1)
Aircraft carriedFerried a variety of aircraft, mainly fighter types

USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1/AKV-1), formerly SS Seatrain New York, was a cargo ship that was converted into an aircraft transport during World War II.

Seatrain New York was built in 1932 by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Corporation of Chester, Pennsylvania for Seatrain Lines, Inc. She was acquired by the United States Navy on 25 June 1941, and renamed Kitty Hawk on 8 July. She was named after Kitty Hawk, North Carolina where the Wright brothers made the world's first powered heavier than air flight on 17 December 1903. She was converted to an aircraft transport by Tietjin & Land Dry Dock Corporation, Hoboken, New Jersey and commissioned on 26 November 1941, at New York Navy Yard.