USS Saratoga

Click on one of the icons below to purchase my book.

The U.S. Navy laid the keel of the fifth ship whose name had a long, rich history at the New York Shipbuilding Company at Camden, New Jersey on September 25, 1920. She was the USS Saratoga (CV-3) and originally intended to be a battlecruiser. The Americans decided to converted her to an aircraft carrier on July 1, 1922 to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty that limited the signatories number of capital ships. The Navy launched the ship on April 7, 1925 and commissioned her on November 16, 1927.

She was a Lexington-class carrier and, along with her sister ship, the Lexington, one of the first two fast carriers the Americans commissioned. Displacing 37,681 tons and more than 43,000 tons fully loaded, her flight deck was 888-feet long and slightly more than 105-feet wide. Powered by four steam turbines supplied with steam by 16 boilers, she had a rated speed of more than 33 knots. When commissioned, she carried eight 8-inch guns. During her missions, she carried 90 aircraft.

The big carrier integrated with the Fleet and participated in many fleet exercises during the prewar years. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the Saratoga had just entered San Diego's harbor after being dry-docked in Bremerton, Washington. The U.S. Navy desperately needed her in the Pacific now that America was at war. She quickly got underway and headed for Hawaii to join the Enterprise and Lexington. The three carriers then ferried aircraft to Wake Island. She finally entered Pearl Harbor on December 15, 1941, stopped just long enough to be refueled, and went sea to rendezvous with the tender Tangier to be part of the relief expedition for the beleaguered defenders of Wake Island. When reports arrived that Japanese carriers were near the island and that Japanese troops had landed, the Navy canceled the mission and ordered the ships to return to Pearl Harbor on December 22.

While operating in Hawaiian waters about 500 miles southwest of Oahu on January 11, 1942, a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-16 struck the carrier. The damage from the explosion killed six men and flooded three fire rooms. She managed to steam to Oahu under her own power. While in Pearl Harbor, the Navy removed the obsolete 8-inch guns to be used for shore defenses. The Saratoga then steamed to the Bremerton, Washington shipyard for repairs and installation of 5-inch dual purpose guns, which were far more suitable for antiaircraft defense.

After sailing for San Diego on May 22 and then for Pearl Harbor on June 1, the carrier arrived too late to be part of the Battle of Midway. But she was too valuable an asset to be kept from the war. After ferrying planes to Midway on June 22 and 29, she steamed for the South Pacific on July 7 and joined Adm. Jack Fletcher's task force as his flagship to provide air cover for the American invasion of Guadalcanal. On August 7, 1942 -- the day of actual invasion, she launched aircraft to provided air cover to Adm. Kelly Turner's invasion fleet and the Marines going ashore. Her aircraft continued that support the next day. After Japanese bombers attacked Turner's ships, Fletcher withdrew the Saratoga and all his task force's ships to get out of range of any Japanese aircraft. Fletcher kept his force east of the Solomon Islands waiting until it would safe to again move his carriers close enough to resume air support for the invasion.

After the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Savo Island, American naval intelligence reported the movement of Japanese carriers toward the southern Solomons that seemed to be linked to a Japanese attempt to reinforce their troops on Guadalcanal. Coastwatchers also reported a Japanese transport force moving southeasterly in a body of water between the Solomon Islands given the name "The Slot" by the Americans. The Saratoga launched an air strike on August 23 to attack the Japanese transports, but the aircraft could not find them. They landed on the new American-held airfield called Henderson Field on Guadalcanal to refuel and returned to the Saratoga the next day. As the planes landed on the carrier, reports arrived that Japanese carriers were within aircraft range. Two hours after landing, the planes took off, attacked the Japanese light carrier Ryujo, and sank her. The Battle of the Eastern Solomons thus began. Meanwhile, Japanese planes approached to attack the American carrier task force. The Enterprise took several aircraft hits that damaged her. The desperate battle forced the Japanese to order their transports to retreat to their base up the Slot.

After the Saratoga landed her aircraft on August 24, she refueled on August 25 and resumed her patrols east of the Solomons. On August 31, a destroyer's lookouts saw torpedo wakes heading for the carrier. One torpedo struck the big ship and exploded into her. The explosion did not fortunately kill anyone but did blow a hole large enough for water to flood one fire room and caused short circuits that damaged the carrier's propulsion system. She was dead in the water. The heavy cruiser Minneapolis had to tow her, The carrier's damage control parties restored enough power to make it to Tonga Abu under her own power. After making repairs to her to make her seaworthy between September 6 and 12, she steamed into Pearl Harbor on September 21 for permanent repairs. She sailed once more to Nouméa on November 10, 1942 to provide air protection for the burgeoning American base on Guadalcanal. Her time to help the Guadalcanal campaign ended when the Americans declared Guadalcanal clear of all Japanese opposition on February 9, 1943.

She continued to serve with distinction for the rest of the Pacific war. Now that the Essex-class carrier had rendered obsolete, the U.S. Navy declared her as surplus. She participated in the atomic tests at Bikini Atoll. After surviving the first blast on July 1, 1946, a second atomic explosion on July 25 mortally wounded the big ship. An underwater explosion under a landing craft 500 yards from the carrier sank her. The Navy took her off the fleet's list on August 15, 1946.

The Navy launched a Forrestal-class carrier and the sixth named the USS Saratoga (CV-60) on April 14, 1956. After serving her country with honor, the Navy decommissioned her on on August 20, 1994. She is now at the Naval Station at Newport, Rhode Island waiting to be donated to anyone who wishes to preserve her.