USS Bataan (CVL-29/AVT-4), originally planned as USS Buffalo (CL-99) and also classified as CV-29, was an 11,000 ton light aircraft carrier which was commissioned in the United States Navy during World War II on 17 November 1943. Serving in the Pacific Theatre for the rest of the war, taking part in operations around New Guinea, the Invasion of the Mariana Islands, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Battle of Okinawa, and attacks on the Japanese home islands. After World War II's end she was converted into an anti-submarine carrier and placed in reserve on 11 February 1947.
She was reactivated on 13 May 1950 at Philadelphia in order to participate in the Korean War. After the war she returned to Pearl Harbor, and reported for a preinactivation overhaul on 26 August 1953. After moving to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, Bataan was decommissioned on 9 April 1954 and assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Francisco. Although she was reclassified an auxiliary aircraft transport and redesignated AVT-4 on 15 May 1959, her name was struck from the Navy List on 1 September 1959. She was sold to Nicolai Joffe Corp., Beverly Hills, California, on 19 June 1961 for scrapping.
Design and construction
The vessel that eventually became the light aircraft carrier Bataan was originally planned as the Buffalo (CL-99). Following the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the need for more carriers became urgent. In response, the Navy ordered the conversion of nine Cleveland-class light cruisers then under construction to completion as light aircraft carriers. These became known as the s. Thus, CL-99 was reclassified CV-29 and renamed Bataan on 2 June 1942. She was further reclassified as CVL-29 on 15 July 1943.
Bataan displaced light and at full load. She had an overall length of and a waterline length of . Her extreme beam was and her beam at the waterline was . Her draft was maximum. For armament she was equipped with 24 Bofors 40 mm gun and 22 Oerlikon 20 mm cannon for anti-aircraft protection. She normally carried 30 aircraft. Her armor consisted of of belt armor, on the decks, and on the conning tower. She was powered by four Babcock & Wilcox steam boilers and General Electric geared turbines producing for her four screws. She had a design speed of and had a range of at . She normally carried a complement of 1569.
The vessel was ordered 16 December 1940 as a light cruiser and reordered as a light aircraft carrier on 2 June 1942. She was laid down on 31 August 1942 and launched on 1 August 1943 at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey, sponsored by Mrs. Corinne DeForest Murray, wife of Rear Admiral George D. Murray. She was commissioned on 17 November 1943.
Bataan was named after Bataan Peninsula and the Battle of Bataan where American and Filipino troops were besieged by Japanese forces from 24 December 1941 until 9 April 1942 when the remaining 78,000 troops surrendered to avoid unnecessary slaughter.
Service history World War II After fitting out at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Bataan conducted preliminary shakedown training in Chesapeake Bay before sailing to the West Indies on 11 January 1944. Two days later, while en route to Trinidad, she suffered her first loss when a Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter crashed into her number 2 stack and burst into flames, killing three crewmen.
Returning to Philadelphia on 14 February, she underwent post-shakedown repairs and inspections until 2 March when she got underway for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal on 8 March, she arrived in San Diego on the 16th. Two days later, she sailed for Hawaii with her flight and hangar decks full with passengers, aircraft and cargo. Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 22 March, she conducted a week of pilot qualification drills in preparation for "forward area deployment". The warship lost her second aircraft on 31 March when a "Hellcat" crashed the landing barrier and went over the side, although the pilot survived without injury.
Bataan departed Pearl Harbor on 4 April accompanied by her escorting destroyers and steamed to the Marshall Islands. She arrived at Majuro Atoll on 9 April and reported for duty with the fast carriers of Task Force 58 (TF 58) that same day. On 13 April, she sailed with the carriers , , and the rest of Task Group (TG) 58.1 for air operations against Hollandia, New Guinea (now known as Jayapura). These raids were intended to support American amphibious operations in the Humboldt Bay-Tanahmerah Bay region of New Guinea.
On 21 April, Bataan launched five fighter sweeps to attack Japanese aircraft and ground installations on New Guinea. The pilots claimed hits on numerous buildings, flak guns, coastal barges and three aircraft on the ground. Meanwhile, the carrier's Combat Air Patrol (CAP) shot down a Mitsubishi G4M1 Betty bomber and a Mitsubishi Ki-21 Sally.
The Task Group then headed north and struck the Japanese base at Truk Lagoon on 29 April. Bataan launched a fighter sweep and three bombing raids, with the Grumman/General Motors TBM Avenger torpedo bombers dropping of bombs on the Japanese base. One TBM Avenger was shot down during the attack, but the crew was rescued by submarine , which was engaged in lifeguard duty - patrolling for such survivors during the battle. On 30 April, Bataans task group turned toward Ponape (now Pohnpei), Caroline Islands; and, the next day, she flew CAP and Anti-Submarine Patrol (ASP) missions over the battleships bombarding that island. The warships then steamed to the Marshall Islands, arriving at Kwajalein lagoon on 4 May.
Invasion of the Mariana Islands Bataan moved to Majuro on 14 May for repairs to her forward elevator but local repair crews could not fix the problem. She sailed to Pearl Harbor for repairs and returned to Majuro on 2 June. Once there, Bataan began hurried preparations for Operation Forager, the planned invasion of the Marianas. Tasked with neutralizing Japanese airfields in the Marianas, the 15 fleet carriers of TF 58 planned to attack Saipan, Guam, and nearby island groups. They also prepared for a major fleet battle in case the Japanese carriers attempted to interfere.
Bataan joined Hornet, , and Belleau Wood in TG 58.1 and put to sea on 6 June. Five days later, Bataan launched fighters against the Japanese base on Rota in support of operations against Saipan. One section of four F6F Hellcats flying "rescue submarine cover patrol" near that island shot down three Mitsubishi A6M Zeke carrier fighters without American losses. Another F6F Hellcat, flying CAP over Bataan, shot down a Japanese Army Nakajima Ki-49 Helen bomber. That evening, TG 58.1 sailed south toward Guam.
On 12 June, Bataan flew CAP and ASP over the task group while the three other carriers launched strikes at Orote air field on Guam. Her F6F Hellcats spotted two Japanese Yokosuka D4Y Judy bombers close to the task group and shot both down. Another attack of Rota on 13 June, Bataan aircraft concentrated on bombing Japanese antiaircraft gun positions and Piti Harbor. During recovery operations, a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bomber jumped Bataans landing barrier and damaged four aircraft. The task group sailed for the Bonin Islands on the evening of 14 June.
The task group was ordered to strike Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima in an effort to catch the airfields full of Japanese aircraft staging to the Marianas, fighter and bomber raids hit the islands on 15 June. Meanwhile, Bataans aircraft, flying CAP and ASP as usual, bombed and heavily damaged the Tatsutagawa Maru. On 16 June, after a morning fighter sweep over Iwo Jima, the task group received reports of a large Japanese force closing the Marianas from the Philippines. The planned afternoon strikes on Iwo Jima were canceled and Bataans task group hurried south to rejoin TF 58.
Battle of the Philippine Sea
Bataan and her task group rendezvoused with the other three fast carrier groups about noon on 18 June, approximately west of Saipan. On the morning of 19 June, while waiting to hear from dawn search missions, Bataan launched CAP and ASP aircraft to guard TG 58.1. At 0925, a TBM Avenger shot down a Nakajima A6M2-N Rufe seaplane fighter. Less than an hour later, starting at 1014, reports of multiple enemy raids caused the light carrier to launch all her available fighters. Over the next six hours, Bataans fighters helped break up four major raids, disrupting the Japanese attacks. Only one enemy formation approached TG 58.1 and only one out of the 16 torpedo bombers got close enough to be shot down by antiaircraft fire from the screening ships. The light carrier also sent a TBM Avenger strike against Rota around mid-day to help suppress Japanese land-based aircraft. During the first day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Bataans aircraft claimed 10 Japanese aircraft out of the approximately 300 enemy aircraft lost in the battle dubbed the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot."
On the morning of 20 June, Bataan launched CAP and ASP as normal and steamed west as the task force prepared for a second day of battle. The enemy carriers, however, had turned toward Japan the previous evening, and American search aircraft could not find them. The only activity for Bataans aircraft occurred at 1320 when a Hellcat splashed a lone Betty near the task group. Finally, upon hearing a sighting report at 1613, the light carrier launched 10 fighters to accompany a massive 206-aircraft strike. The raid, catching the retreating Japanese at dusk, sank and damaged another. The American aircraft then returned to their carriers, landing with difficulty in the darkness after the task force turned on its deck and search lights. Eventually, two of Yorktowns aircraft landed on Bataan, the second of which crashed and fouled the deck. Nine of Bataans own fighters landed on other carriers, and one was lost.
After a futile search for the Japanese carriers on 22 June, the American task force turned back toward the Marianas. On 23 June, Bataans aircraft bombed Pagan Island, damaging the airfield and shooting down four Zekes and a Betty. That afternoon, TG 58.1 turned northwest toward the Bonin Islands, attempting to complete the attacks canceled on 16 June. Bataan launched 17 fighters for the attack on Iwo Jima at dawn on 24 June but these, and the 34 Hellcats from Yorktown and Hornet, met a Japanese incoming strike about halfway to the target. A second melee developed near the carriers when another Japanese raid met with task force's CAP. Bataans air group lost three aircraft in these battles but claimed 25 in return. The task group then retired toward the Marshalls, anchoring at Eniwetok on 27 June.
The brief rest ended when the task group sailed back to the Bonins on 30 June. The task force's aircraft struck at Iwo Jima on 3 and 4 July, interdicting Japanese efforts to reinforce Guam. The warship's crew, however, suffered another loss on 4 July when an arresting gear cable snapped and killed one man and injured three others. In preparation for the landings planned for Guam in mid-July, Bataans aircraft conducted sweeps over Pagan Island on 5 July and then repeatedly bombed Guam from 6 to 11 July. On 12 July, her forward elevator failed permanently and she received orders to head home for repairs. She steamed by way of Eniwetok and Oahu before arriving in San Francisco on 30 July.
Drydock refit and training Bataan entered the naval dry docks at Hunters Point on 30 July 1944 and, over the next two months, the yard workers repaired her elevator, painted the hull, and installed a second catapult, an air-search radar, deck lighting, rocket stowage, and a second aircraft landing barrier. She got underway for Hawaii on 7 October, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 13 October.