USS Ranger (CV-4)

USS Ranger underway at sea, 1930s
Class overview
Operators United States Navy
Preceded byLexington class
Succeeded byYorktown class
Built1931–1934
In commission1934–1946
Completed1
Scrapped1
History
United States
NameUSS Ranger
Ordered1 November 1930
BuilderNewport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.
Laid down26 September 1931
Launched25 February 1933
Sponsored byLou Henry Hoover (the wife of the President of the United States)
Commissioned4 June 1934
Decommissioned18 October 1946
Stricken29 October 1946
Honors and
awards
  • American Defense Service Medal ("A" device)
  • American Campaign Medal
  • European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (2 stars)
  • Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
  • World War II Victory Medal
FateAcquired for scrap for $259K on 31 January 1947
Badge
General characteristics
TypeAircraft carrier
Displacement
  • As built: 14,576 long tons (14,810 t) (standard)
  • 17,577 long tons (17,859 t) (full load)
Length
  • 730 ft (222.5 m) (w/l)
  • 769 ft (234.4 m) (o/a)
  • 709 ft (216.1 m) (fd)
Beam
  • 80 ft (24.4 m) (waterline)
  • 109 ft 5 in (33.4 m) (overall)
Draft22 ft 4.875 in (6.8 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed29.3 knots (54.3 km/h; 33.7 mph)
Range10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement
  • 216 officers and 2,245 enlisted men including embarked air group (as built)
  • 2,148 (1941)
Sensors and
processing systems
CXAM-1 radar
Armament
Armor
  • Belt 2 in (5.1 cm)
  • Bulkheads: 2 in (5.1 cm)
  • Deck: 1 in (2.5 cm) (over steering gear)
Aircraft carried
  • 86 (maximum)
  • 76 (normal)
Aviation facilities

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.

  1. ^ Ford, Roger (2001) The Encyclopedia of Ships, pg. 343. Amber Books, London. ISBN 978-1-905704-43-9