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USS Randolph (CV 15 / CVA 15 / CVS 15):
USS Randolph (CV/CVA/CVS-15) was one of 24 Essex-class
aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The
second US Navy ship to bear the name, she was named for Peyton Randolph,
president of the First Continental Congress. Randolph was commissioned in
October 1944, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of
Operations, earning three battle stars. Decommissioned shortly after the end
of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an
attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier
(CVS). In her second career she operated exclusively in the Atlantic,
Mediterranean, and Caribbean. In the early 1960s she served as the recovery
ship for two Project Mercury space missions, including John Glenn's historic
first orbital flight.
She was decommissioned in 1969 and sold for scrap in 1975.
History:
Randolph was one of the "long-hull" Essex-class ships. She was laid
down on 10 May 1943, at Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport
News, Virginia. She was launched on 28 June 1944, sponsored by Rose Gillette
(wife of Guy M. Gillette, a US Senator from Iowa). Randolph commissioned on 9
October 1944, Captain Felix Locke Baker, USN in command.
World War II
Following shakedown off Trinidad, Randolph got underway for the Panama Canal
and the Pacific. On 31 December, she reached San Francisco where Air Group 87
was detached and Air Group 12 reported on board for four months duty.
On 20 January 1945, Randolph departed San Francisco for Ulithi, from which
she sortied on 10 February with Task Force 58 (TF 58). She launched attacks
on 16–17 February against Tokyo airfields and the Tachikawa engine plant. The
following day, she made a strike on the island of Chichi Jima. On 20
February, she launched three aerial sweeps in support of ground forces
invading Iwo Jima and two against Haha Jima. During the next four days,
further strikes hit Iwo Jima and combat air patrols were flown almost
continuously. Three sweeps against airfields in the Tokyo area and one
against Hachijo Jima followed on 25 February before the carrier returned to
Ulithi.
Riding at anchor at Ulithi on 11 March, a Yokosuka P1Y1 "Frances"
kamikaze hit Randolph on the starboard side aft just below the flight deck,
killing 27 men (including four reported missing and five transferred to the
hospital ship Relief where they died) and wounding 105 during Operation Tan
No. 2. Repaired at Ulithi, Randolph joined the Okinawa Task Force on 7 April.
Combat air patrols were flown daily until 14 April, when strikes were sent against
Okinawa, Ie Shima, and Kakeroma Island. The following day, an air support
mission of fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes hit Okinawa and a fighter
sweep struck an airfield in southern Kyūshū. Under daily air attack
from 17 April on, Randolph continued to send her aircraft on CAP and support
missions throughout the month.
In May, planes from the carriers hit the Ryukyu Islands and southern Japan,
Kikai (Amami Islands) naval base and airfields, and Kyūshū
airfields. Becoming the flagship of TF 58 on 15 May, Randolph continued her
support of the occupation of Okinawa until 29 May, when she retired via Guam
to the Philippines.
On her next war cruise, as a part of Admiral Halsey's famed 3rd Fleet,
Randolph made a series of strikes up and down the Japanese home islands. With
Air Group 16 replacing Air Group 12, the ship launched eight raids on 10 July
against airfields in the Tokyo area, principally those on the peninsula east
of Tokyo Bay. On the 14th, her planes struck the airfields and shipping in and
near Tsugaru Strait. In this attack, two of the important
Honshū-Hokkaidō train ferries were sunk and three were damaged.
Attacks on the Japanese home islands continued for the next few days, and on
18 July, the Japanese battleship Nagato – lying camouflaged alongside a pier
at the Yokosuka Naval Base – was bombed.
Moving southwest, Randolph and other carriers were off the coast of Shikoku
on 24 July, for an anti-shipping sweep of the Inland Sea, during which the
carrier-battleship Hyūga was heavily damaged and airfields and
industrial installations on Kyūshū, Honshū, and Shikoku were
hit hard. Randolph 's pilots estimated that from 10–25
July they had destroyed 25 to 30 ships, ranging in size from small luggers to
a 6,000 long tons (6,100 t) freighter, and had damaged 35 to 40 others.
Randolph 's strikes continued right up to the morning of
the 15 August surrender, when her planes hit Kisarazu Airfield and
surrounding installations.
Post-war
Following the end of the war, Randolph headed home. Transiting the Panama
Canal in late September, she arrived at Naval Station Norfolkon 15 October,
where she was rigged for "Magic Carpet" service. Before the end of
the year, she completed two trips to the Mediterranean area to return
American servicemen. Then, in 1946, she became a training ship for reservists
and midshipmen, and made a Mediterranean cruise in the latter half of the
year. After another voyage to the Caribbean, she embarked midshipmen in the
early summer of 1947 for a cruise to northern European waters. Randolph was
placed out of commission, in reserve, 25 February 1948, and berthed at
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
In June 1951, Randolph commenced her SCB-27A modernization program at Norfolk
Naval Shipyard. To handle the new generation of carrier aircraft, the flight
deck structure was reinforced. Stronger elevators, more powerful hydraulic
catapults, and new arresting gear were installed. The island structure was
rebuilt, the anti-aircraft turrets were removed, and blisters were added to
the hull. Reclassified CVA-15 on 1 October 1952, Randolph recommissioned on 1
July 1953. After shakedown off Guantanamo Bay with Carrier Air Group 10, she
took on Carrier Air Group 14, departed Norfolk for the Mediterranean, and
joined the 6th Fleet on 3 February 1954. Deployed to the Mediterranean for 6
months of Fleet and NATO exercises in 1954–1955, Randolph entered the Norfolk
Naval Shipyard on 18 June 1955 for installation of an angled flight deck and
other SCB-125 modernizations.
Leaving the yard in January 1956, Randolph conducted air operations off the
East Coast for the next six months, and was the first Atlantic Fleet carrier
to launch a Regulus guided missile from her flight deck.
On 14 July 1956, Randolph again steamed east for a seven-month tour of duty
with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. When Israel, Britain, and France
invaded the United Arab Republic in October of that year, Randolph stood
ready. Operating near the Suez Canal, her aircraft provided air cover and
surface and air reconnaissance for the evacuation of U.S. nationals from
Alexandria. She returned to the United States on 19 February 1957.
After a few months operating off the East Coast, Randolph deployed to the
Mediterranean again on 1 July 1957. Between August and December, as political
turmoil in Syria threatened to further disturb the already turbulent Mideast,
she patrolled the eastern Mediterranean. Back in the United States on 24
February 1958, the flattop made her 5th Mediterranean deployment from 2
September 1958 – 12 March 1959.
Anti-submarine warfare
Randolph was reclassified CVS-15 on 31 March 1959, and conducted
anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations off the East Coast throughout that
year and the next, receiving her fourth consecutive Battle Efficiency Award
in September 1960. From October 1960 to March 1961, Randolph underwent the
SCB-144 upgrade as part of the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization
program. She received the new SQS-23 bow sonar, as well as improved displays
in the Combat Information Center.
In the summer of 1962, Randolph again steamed to the Mediterranean. Returning
to the western Atlantic as the Cuban Missile Crisis broke, she operated in
the Caribbean from the end of October through November. On 27 October,
Randolph and a group of eleven United States Navy destroyers entrapped a
nuclear-armed Soviet Foxtrot class submarine B-59 near Cuba and started
dropping practice depth charges, explosives intended to force the submarine
to come to the surface for identification. Allegedly, the captain of the submarine,
Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky, believing that a war might already have
started, prepared to launch a retaliatory nuclear-tipped torpedo, but Second
Captain Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov persuaded the captain to surface to
await orders from Moscow.
After a Norfolk overhaul, Randolph resumed her station in the Atlantic. Over
the next five years, she made two Mediterranean cruises and a northern
European cruise, while spending most of her time off the East Coast and in
the Caribbean.
NASA – Mercury Project
In July 1961, Randolph sailed for operations in the Caribbean and served as
the recovery ship after splashdown for astronaut Virgil Grissom on America's
second manned space flight, a suborbital shot. In February 1962, Randolph was
the primary recovery ship for astronaut John Glenn on his flight, the first
American orbital voyage in space. After his historic three-orbit flight, he
landed safely near USS Noa (DD-841) from which he was transferred, by
helicopter, to Randolph.
Elevator failure
On 1 April 1964, in an unusual accident, the Number Three deck elevator of
the USS Randolph tore loose from the ship during night operations and fell
into the Atlantic off Cape Henry, Virginia, taking with it a Grumman S-2D
Tracker, five crewman, and a tractor. Three crew were rescued by the USS
Holder (DD-819), but two were lost at sea.
Disposal
On 7 August 1968, the Defense Department announced that it would deactivate
Randolph and 49 other ships to reduce fiscal expenditures in 1969. Randolph
decommissioned on 13 February 1969 at Boston Navy Yard and was laid up in the
reserve fleet at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Randolph was stricken from the
Navy List on 1 June 1973. In May 1975, the Defense Reutilization and
Marketing Service sold the ship to Union Minerals & Alloys for
$1,560,000. Randolph was towed to Kearny, New Jersey, and broken up for
scrap. One of her anchors is located on the river front in Toms River, NJ
08753.
source: wikipedia
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another history:
The second Randolph (CV-15) was laid down 10
May 1943 by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va.;
launched 28 June 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Guy M. Gillette; and commissioned 9
October 1944, Capt. Felix Baker in command.
Following shakedown off Trinidad, Randolph got underway for the Panama Canal
and the Pacific. On 31 December she reached San Francisco where Air Group 87
was detached and Air Group 12 reported on board for 4 months duty.
On 20 January Randolph departed San Francisco, for Ulithi whence she sortied,
10 February, with TF 58. She launched attacks 16 and 17 February against
Tokyo airfields and the Tachikawa engine plant. The following day she made a
strike on the island of Chichi Jima. On 20 February, she launched three aerial
sweeps in support of ground forces invading Iwo Jima and two against Haha
Jima. During the next 4 days, further strikes hit Iwo Jima and combat air
patrols were flown almost continuously. Three sweeps against airfields in the
Tokyo area and one against Hachijo Jima followed on 25 February before the
carrier returned to Ulithi.
Riding at anchor at Ulithi 11 March, a kamikaze "Frances," a
twin-engine bomber, hit Randolph on the starboard side aft just below the
flight deck, killing 25 men and wounding 106. Repaired at Ulithi, Randolph
joined the Okinawa Task Force 7 April. Combat air patrols were flown daily
until 14 April, when strikes were sent against Okinawa, Ie Shima, and
Kakeroma Island. The following day, an air support mission of fighters,
bombers, and torpedo planes hit Okinawa and a fighter sweep struck an
airfield in southern Kyushu. Under daily air attack from 17 April on,
Randolph continued to send her aircraft on CAP and support missions
throughout the month.
During May planes from the carriers hit the Ryukyus and southern Japan,
Kikai-Amami Island naval base and airfields and Kyushu airfields. Becoming
flagship TF 58 on 15 May, Randolph continued her support of the occupation of
Okinawa Shima until 29 May, when she retired via Guam to the Philippines.
On her next war cruise, as a part of Admiral Halsey's famed 3d Fleet,
Randolph made a series of strikes up and down the Japanese home islands. With
Air Group 16 replacing Air Group 12, the ship launched eight raids on 10 July
against airfields in the Tokyo area, principally those on the peninsula east
of Tokyo Bay. On the 14th, her planes struck the airfields and shipping in
and near Tsugaru Strait. In this attack two of the important Honshu-Hokkaido
train ferries were sunk and three were damaged. Attacks on the Japanese home
islands continued for the next few days, and, on 18 July, Nagato lying
camouflaged alongside a pier at the Yokosuka Naval Base, was bombed.
Moving southwest, Randolph and other carriers were off the coast of Shikoku,
24 July, for an antishipping sweep of the Inland Sea, during which the
carrier-battleship Hyuga was heavily damaged and airfields and industrial
installations on Kyushu, Honshu, and Shikoku were hit hard. Randolph's pilots
estimated that, from 10 to 25 July they had destroyed 25 to 30 ships, ranging
in size from small luggers to a 6,000-ton freighter, and had damaged 35 to 40
others. Randolph's strikes continued right up to the morning of the 15 August
surrender, when her planes hit Kisarazu Airfield and surrounding
installations.
Following the end of the war, Randolph headed home. Transiting the Panama
Canal in late September, she arrived at Norfolk, 15 October, where she was
rigged for the "Magic-Carpet" service. Before the end of the year,
she completed two trips to the Mediterranean area to return American
servicemen. Then, in 1946, she became a training ship for reservists and
midshipmen, and made a Mediterranean cruise in the latter half of the year.
After another voyage to the Caribbean, she embarked midshipmen in the early
summer of 1947 for a cruise to northern European waters. Randolph was placed
out of commission, in reserve, 25 February 1948, and berthed at Philadelphia.
Reclassified CVA-15 on 1 October 1952, Randolph recommissioned 1 July 1953.
After shakedown off Guantanamo Bay with Carrier Air Group 10, she took on
Carrier Air Group 14, departed Norfolk for the Mediterranean, and joined the
6th Fleet on 3 February 1954. Deployed to the Mediterranean for 6 months of
Fleet and NATO exercises during 1954 and 1955, Randolph entered the Norfolk
Navy Yard 18 June 1955 for installation of an angled deck and other
modernization.
Leaving the yard in January 1956, Randolph conducted air operations off the
east coast for the next 6 months, and was the first Atlantic-Fleet carrier to
launch a Regulus guided missile from her flight deck.
On 14 July 1956, Randolph again steamed east for a 7-month tour of duty with
the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. When Israel, Britain, and France invaded
the United Arab Republic in October of that year, Randolph stood ready.
Operating near the Suez Canal, her aircraft provided air cover and surface
and air reconnaissance for the evacuation of U.S. nationals from Alexandria.
She returned to the United States 19 February 1957.
After a few months operating off the east coast, Randolph deployed to the
Mediterranean again 1 July 1957. Between August and December, as political
turmoil in Syria threatened to further disturb the already turbulent Mideast,
she patrolled the eastern Mediterranean. Back in the United States on 24
February 1958, the flattop made her 5th Mediterranean deployment 2 September
1958 to 12 March 1959.
Randolph was reclassified CVS-15 on 31 March 1959, and conducted ASW
operations off the east coast throughout that year and the next, receiving
her fourth Battle Efficiency "E" in a row in September 1960. After
overhaul at Norfolk, Randolph sailed for operations in the Caribbean and
served as the recovery ship for Astronaut Virgil Grissom on America's second manned
space flight, a suborbital shot. In February 1962, Randolph was the primary
recovery ship for Astronaut John Glenn on his flight, the first American
orbital voyage in space. After his historic three-orbit flight, he landed
safely near destroyer Noa (DD-841) from which he was transferred, by
helicopter, to Randolph.
In the summer of 1962, Randolph again steamed to the Mediterranean. Returning
to the western Atlantic as the Cuban missile crisis broke, she operated in
the Caribbean from the end of October through November. After a Norfolk
overhaul, Randolph resumed her station in the Atlantic. During the next 5
years she made two Mediterranean cruises and a northern European cruise,
while spending most of her time off the east coast and in the Caribbean.
On 7 August 1968, the Defense Department announced that it would inactivate
Randolph and 49 other ships to reduce fiscal expenditures in 1969. Randolph
was placed out of commission, in reserve, berthed at Philadelphia, 13
February 1969, where she remained until 1 June 1973 when she was stricken
from the Navy list.
Randolph earned three battle stars for World War II service.
source: US Naval History & Heritage Command
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