Light Aircraft Carriers: Independence Class

[Brian James]

Independence Class Light Aircraft Carrier USS Cowpens pictured off Philadelphia Navy Yard on June 25th 1943.

[designeraccd]

The cvl LANGLEY rockinn n rollinn during a typhoon in 1945............where's the dramamine??? URRRP! DFO

[Brian James]

Flight deck of Independence Class Light Carrier USS Langley CVL-27 pictured under repair after being hit by a Kamikaze, off Formosa on January 21st 1945...Langley was taken out of mothballs, refurbished and transferred to France under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program on January 8th 1951. After more than a decade of French Navy service as La Fayette, she was returned to the United States on March 20th 1963 and sold to the Boston Metals Co., Baltimore, Maryland, for scrapping.

[Brian James]

Independence Class Light Aircraft Carrier USS Cowpens pictured off Mare Island Navy Yard on May 12th 1945.....Ordered as the Cleveland-Class Light Cruiser Huntington (CL-77). Contract awarded to New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J. Laid down on November 17th 1941. Reordered as an Aircraft Carrier in March 1942; renamed Cowpens and redesignated CV-25. Launched on January 17th 1943 and commissioned on May 28th 1943. Redesignated as a Light Aircraft Carrier (CVL-25) on July 15th 1943. Placed in commission, in reserve at Mare Island December 3rd 1946 and decommissioned January 13th 1947...Reclassified as an Aircraft Transport, with hull number AVT-1, on May 15th 1959, while in reserve.Stricken from the Navy List on November 1st 1959 and sold for scrap in 1960.

[Brian James]

Independence Class Light Carrier USS Princeton pictured off Philadelphia Navy Yard on March 28th 1943...She was laid down as the Cleveland Class Light Cruiser Tallahassee at New York Shipbuilding Corporation Shipyards, Camden, New Jersey, on June 2nd 1941. She was reclassified as the Independence-Class Light Aircraft Carrier CV-23 on February 16th 1942, renamed Princeton on March 31st 1942, launched on October 18th 1942 and commissioned at Philadelphia on February 25th 1943...She was scuttled after being severely damaged by Japanese air attack on October 24th 1944 in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Casualties on Princeton herself were relatively light considering the intensity of her fires; 108 men (10 officers and 98 enlisted men) were lost, while 1,361 crewmen were rescued. Casualties were much heavier aboard Cleveland Class Light Cruiser USS Birmingham who was alongside Princeton, assisting with fire control when she was devastated by secondary explosions aboard Princeton, with 233 killed and 426 wounded.

[Brian James]

Independence Class Light Aircraft Carrier USS San Jacinto pictured sporting her Measure 33, Design 7a camouflage livery, off Philadelphia Navy Yard on January 17th 1944.

[Brian James]

Independence Class Light Aircraft Carrier USS Bataan pictured in the Miraflores Locks, Panama Canal, on her way from Pearl Harbor to New York to participate in the Naval Victory Parade, October 10th 1945.

[Brian James]

Independence Class Light Fleet Carrier USS Cabot pictured off Philadelphia Navy Yard on August 27th 1943.

[Brian James]

Independence Class Light Carrier USS Cowpens pictured on July 17th 1943.