USS Bunker Hill (CV-17).html



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Career (United States of America)
Namesake:	The Battle of Bunker Hill
Laid down:	15 September 1941
Launched:	7 December 1942
Commissioned:	24 May 1943
Decommissioned:	9 January 1947
Reclassified:	CV to CVA 1 October 1952 CVA to CVS 8 August 1953 CVS to AVT May 1959
Struck:	1 November 1966
Nickname:	Holiday Express
Honors and awards:	Presidential Unit Citation American Campaign Medal Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (11 stars) World War II Victory Medal Philippine Presidential Unit Citation Philippine Liberation Medal
Fate:	Sold for scrap in 1973
General characteristics
Class and type:	Essex-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	As built: 27,100 tons standard 36,380 tons full load
Length:	As built: 820 feet (250 m) waterline 872 feet (266 m) overall
Beam:	As built: 93 feet (28 m) waterline 147 feet 6 inches (45 m) overall
Draught:	As built: 28 feet 5 inches (8.7 m) light 34 feet 2 inches (10.4 m) full load
Propulsion:	As designed: 8 × boilers 565 psi (3,900 kPa) 850 °F (450 °C) 4 × Westinghouse geared steam turbines 4 × shafts 150,000 shp (110 MW)
Speed:	33 knots (61 km/h)
Range:	20,000 nautical miles (37,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement:	As built: 2,600 officers and enlisted
Armament:	As built: 4 × twin 5 inch (127 mm) 38 caliber guns 4 × single 5 inch (127 mm) 38 caliber guns 8 × quadruple 40 mm 56 caliber guns 46 × single 20 mm 78 caliber guns
Armor:	As built: 2.5 to 4 inch (60 to 100 mm) belt 1.5 inch (40 mm) hangar and protectice decks 4 inch (100 mm) bulkheads 1.5 inch (40 mm) STS top and sides of pilot house 2.5 inch (60 mm) top of steering gear
Aircraft carried:	As built: 90–100 aircraft 1 × deck-edge elevator 2 × centerline elevators

USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) was an Essex-class aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, sometimes nicknamed the "Holiday Express" for her many attacks launched around the end of the year.^{citation needed}

Construction

The Bunker Hill was launched on 7 December 1942 at the Bethlehem Steel Company, Quincy, Massachusetts, sponsored by Mrs. Donald Boynton, and commissioned on 24 May 1943, with Captain J. J. Ballentine in command.

World War II service

1943-44

Reporting to the Pacific in the fall of 1943, Bunker Hill participated in carrier operations during the Rabaul strike (11 November 1943); Gilbert Islands operation, including support of the landings on Tarawa Atoll (13 November–8 December); the Kavieng strikes in support of the Bismarck Archipelago operation (25 December 1943, 1 January and 4 January 1944); Marshall Islands operation (29 January–8 February); strikes against Truk (17 February–18 February), during which eight Japanese combatant vessels were sunk; Marianas raid (23 February); Palau-Yap-Ulithi-Woleai raids (30 March–1 April); Truk-Satawan-Ponape raids (29 April–1 May); Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) operation (21 April–28 April); and Marianas operation (12 June–10 August), including the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

On 19 June 1944, during the opening phases of the Marianas battle, Bunker Hill was damaged when an enemy near-miss scattered shrapnel fragments across the ship. Two men were killed and over 80 were wounded. Bunker Hill continued to fight, with her aircraft shooting down some of the 476 Japanese aircraft destroyed during the battle, and assisting in the sinking of a Japanese carrier. During September, she participated in the Western Caroline Islands operation and then launched strikes at Okinawa, Luzon, and Formosa until November.

On 6 November, Bunker Hill retired from the forward area and steamed to Bremerton, Washington, for a period of yard availability.^clarify Repairs completed, she departed the west coast of the United States on 24 January 1945 and returned to the war front.

1945

During the remaining months of World War II, Bunker Hill participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima: the 5th Fleet raids against Honshū and the Nansei Shoto (15 February–4 March); and the 5th and 3rd Fleet raids in support of the Battle of Okinawa. On 7 April 1945 Bunker Hill’s planes took part in a Fast Carrier Task Force attack on a Japanese naval force in the East China Sea. The Japanese battleship Yamato, one cruiser, and four destroyers were sunk during Operation Ten-Go.

After two Kamikazes strikes in 30 seconds.

On the morning of 11 May 1945, while supporting the Okinawa invasion, Bunker Hill was hit and severely damaged by two kamikazes. A Japanese Zero fighter appeared from a low cloud, dived toward the flight deck and dropped a 250-kilogram bomb, which went through the vessel and exploded in the sea. The Zero then crashed onto the flight deck, destroying parked planes full of fuel, causing a huge fire. The remains of the Zero went over the deck and dropped into the sea. Then, a scant 30 seconds later, a second Zero, piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, plunged into a suicide dive. The Zero went through the AA fire, dropped a 250-kilogram bomb, and crashed into the flight deck near the control tower as Kamikaze were trained to aim for the island superstructure (as was the case with the Sangamon). The bomb penetrated Bunker Hill’s flight deck and exploded. Gasoline fires flamed up and several explosions took place. The ship suffered the loss of 346 men killed, 43 missing, and 264 wounded. This was the single most deadly kamikaze attack on a U.S. ship during World War II.^{citation needed} Although badly crippled, Bunker Hill managed to return to Bremerton via Pearl Harbor.

Kamikaze pilot Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, flying the second Zero, hit Bunker Hill on 11 May 1945.

Bunker Hill received the Presidential Unit Citation for the period 11 November 1943 to 11 May 1945. In addition, she received 11 battle stars for her World War II service.

Post-war

In September Bunker Hill reported for duty with the "Operation Magic Carpet" fleet, returning veterans from the Pacific. She remained on this duty as a unit of TG 16.12 until January 1946, when she was ordered to Bremerton for deactivation. She was decommissioned into reserve on 9 January 1947.

While laid up, she was reclassified three times, becoming CVA-17 in October 1952, CVS-17 in August 1953 and AVT-9 in May 1959, the latter designation indicating that any future commissioned duty would be as an aircraft transport. As all Essex-class carriers survived the war, the peacetime navy had no need for the services of Bunker Hill. She and sister ship Franklin, which also had sustained severe damage from aerial attack, were the only carriers in their class that did not see active duty after the end of World War II, despite being repaired. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in November 1966, Bunker Hill was used as a stationary electronics test platform at San Diego during the 1960s and early 1970s. She was sold for scrapping in May 1973.

See also

• List of aircraft carriers and list of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy
• List of World War II ships

Books

• Kennedy, Maxwell Taylor (2008). Danger's Hour: The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0743260805. 

External links

• history.navy.mil: USS Bunker Hill
• navsource.org: USS Bunker Hill
• CV-17 Personnel Roster at HullNumber.com

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.