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USS Bunker Hill (CV/CVA/CVS-17, AVT-9) was one of 24 Essex Aircraft Carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was named for the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War and was commissioned in May 1943.

USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) at sea in 1945 (NH 42373).jpg
USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) at sea in 1945
Career (United States)
Name: Bunker Hill
Namesake: Battle of Bunker Hill
Builder: Fore River Shipyard
Laid down: 15 September 1941
Launched: 7 December 1942
Commissioned: 25 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: 2 November 1966
Motto: Never Surrender, Never Sink
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:
  • 27,100 tons standard
  • 36,380 tons full load
Length:
  • 820' (250m) waterline
  • 147'6" (45m) overall
    • Beam:
  • 93' (28m) waterline
  • 147'5"(45m) flight deck
    • Draft:
  • 28'5" (8.66m)light
  • 8 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers
  • 4 × twin 5 in (130 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:
  • 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) atop steering gear
    • Aircraft carried: 90–100

    While covering the invasion of Okinawa, Bunker Hill was struck by two kamikazes in quick succession, setting the vessel on fire. Casualties exceeded 600, including 346 confirmed dead and an additional 43 missing,[1]

    USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) Media

    • Bunker Hill under attack, 19 June 1944

    • Bunker Hill's flight deck after the carrier was struck by two Kamikazes on 11 May 1945

    • Bunker Hill as a stationary electronics test platform, 1967

    • Bunker Hill being scrapped, 1973

    • Bunker Hill underway at sea in 1943

    • The second kamikaze strike amidships at the island, 30 seconds after the first strike aft, on 11 May 1945

    • Smoke fills the sky as the fire rages on Bunker Hill on 11 May 1945

    • Burning Bunker Hill with Pasadena giving assistance on 11 May 1945

    • Bunker Hill moored at San Diego, California, in 1970

    • Bunker Hill arrives at Tacoma in April 1973.

    References

    1. ↑ (1945). President on Tour, 1945/06/25. Universal Newsreels.
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