USS Shangri-La

USS Shangri-La underway with crew on parade, 17 August 1946
History
United States
Name	Shangri-La
Namesake	Shangri-La
Ordered	7 August 1942
Builder	Norfolk Naval Shipyard
Laid down	15 January 1943
Launched	24 February 1944
Commissioned	15 September 1944
Decommissioned	7 November 1947
Recommissioned	10 May 1951 10 January 1955
Decommissioned	14 November 1952 30 July 1971
Reclassified	CVA-38, 1 October 1952 CVS-38, 30 June 1969
Stricken	15 July 1982
Fate	Scrapped, 1988
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 Shangri-La (CV/CVA/CVS-38) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy.

Commissioned in 1944 and named after the mythical paradise of the same name, Shangri-La participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations in World War II, earning two battle stars. Like many of her sister ships, she was decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, but was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s, and redesignated as an attack carrier (CVA). She operated in both the Pacific and Atlantic / Mediterranean for several years, and late in her career was redesignated as an anti-submarine carrier (CVS). She earned three battle stars for service in the Vietnam War.

Shangri-La was decommissioned in 1971 and sold for scrap in 1988.