USS Saipan (CVL-48)
Service
- as Saipan (1944-1965)14 July 1946 — 14 January 1970
- Name
- USS Saipan
- Pennant / hull number
- CVL-48
- Namesake
- Battle of Saipan
- Builder
- New York Shipbuilding Corporation
- Laid down
- 10 July 1944
- Launched
- 8 July 1945
- Commissioned
- 14 July 1946
- Decommissioned
- 3 October 1957
- Recommissioned
- 27 August 1966
- Struck
- 15 August 1975
- Fate
- Scrapped, 1 June 1976 (1976)
- Status
- Scrapped
Specifications
- Displacement, standard
- 14,500 long tons (14,733 t)
- Length
- 208.48 m (684 ft)
- Beam
- 23.16 m (76 ft)
- Draught
- 8.53 m (28 ft)
- Speed
- 33 knots (61.1 km/h, 38 mph)
- Complement
- 1,721
- Main gun
- 40 mm (1.6 in)
An island in the Marianas; the site of the initial Allied landings in that group on 15 June 1944. After bitter fighting ashore and at sea, the island was secured in mid-July and developed into an Allied air base.
The first Saipan (CVL-48) was laid down on 10 July 1944 by the New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.; launched on 8 July 1945; sponsored by Mrs. John W. McCormack; and commissioned on 14 July 1946, Capt. John G. Crommelin in command.
Commissioned eleven months after the close of World War II, Saipan trained student pilots out of Pensacola from September 1946 to April 1947 when, reassigned to Norfolk as homeport, she departed the Gulf of Mexico; participated in exercises in the Caribbean; then proceeded to Philadelphia for overhaul. In November, she returned to Pensacola; but, in late December, after training midshipmen, steamed back to the east coast to serve with the Operational Development Force.
Continue to the full service history About 1,814 words
From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Saipan I (CVL-48)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.
Armament and machinery
Armament and machinery
- Propulsion
- 4 × geared steam turbines
- 4 × shafts
- Power
- 120000 shp
- Armament
- 40 × Bofors 40 mm guns
- Aircraft
- 50+ aircraft
Sources
- Facts harvested from USS Saipan (CVL-48) on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Service history reproduced verbatim from Saipan I (CVL-48) , Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships — public domain, a work of the United States Government.
- Photograph: U.S. Navy — U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 2008.122.099 — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons