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The thirteen aircraft carriers of the United States Navy's Ticonderoga class were an outgrowth of the closely-related Essex-class carriers (often these are classified as Essex class vessels), while the Oriskany (CV-34), a highly modified Essex ship that was the prototype of the SCB-27 modernization program, is also considered as either an Essex- or Ticonderoga- class vessel. Together they constituted the industrial age's largest class of heavy warships and with the three much larger Midway-class carriers, the backbone of the post-war Navy's combat strength.
General Characteristics
- Lead Ship: Ticonderoga (CV-14)
- Number of Ships: 21 ordered, 15 laid down, 13 commissioned
- Displacement: 27,200 tons/ 34,880 tons (standard)
- Length: 888 ft (271 m)
- Beam: 93 ft (28.3 m)
- Height: 147 ft (45 m)
- Draft:' 23 ft (7.0 m)
- Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h)
- Range: 15,000 nautical miles (28,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
- Patrol Endurance: 75 days
- Propulsion: Westinghouse geared turbines; 8 - Babcock & Wilcox boilers connected to four shafts
- Performance: 150,000 horsepower (112 MW)
- Complement: '340 Officers/ 2900 Enlisted
Overview
Throughout the very large program to build Essex class aircraft carriers, modifications were constantly made. The number of 40 mm and 20 mm anti-aircraft machine guns was greatly increased, new and improved radars were added, the original hangar deck catapult installation was deleted, the ventillation system was massively revised, details of protection were altered and hundreds of other large and small changes were executed. In fact, to the skilled observer, no two ships of the class looked exactly the same.
Beginning in March 1943, one visually very significant change was authorized for ships then in the early stages of construction. This involved reshaping the bow into a rather elegant "clipper" form to provide deck space for two 40mm quadruple gun mountings, thus greatly improving forward air defences. Thirteen ships were completed to this "long-hull", or Ticonderoga, class. Four of these were finished in 1944, in time to join their Essex class near-sisters in Pacific combat operations. The rest went into commission between early 1945 and late 1946.
Five of the Ticonderoga class were laid up in 1946-47, along with all of the Essexes. Eight stayed on active duty to form, with the three much larger Midways, the backbone of the post-war Navy's combat strength. Though the Truman administration's defense economies sent three of the active Ticonderogas into "mothballs" in 1949, these soon came back into commission after the Korean War began. Ultimately, all thirteen had active Cold War service. Five of them were thoroughly rebuilt in the early 1950s under the SCB-27 program, and four of these were further modernized a few years later to the SCB-125 design. Another got a combined SCB-27 and SCB-125 redo, while yet another was given a modest reworking to test the revolutionary "angled deck" landing area.
Of the six unmodernized Ticonderogas, three decommissioned in the late 1950s and early 1960s and were promptly reclassified as aircraft transports (AVT), reflecting their very limited ability to safely operate modern aircraft. The other three, converted to amphibious assault ships (LPH), were active until about 1970. The two least modernized units went into reserve in the mid-1960s, and the rest passed out of the active fleet between 1969 and 1976. All were scrapped, most in the 1970s, although Shangri La survived until the late 1980s.
The Ticonderoga class ships
In addition to these thirteen carriers, the Oriskany (CV-34) ordered and laid down as an Essex-class vessel, was completed in 1950 to the much modified SCB-27A design; Reprisal (CV-35), laid down in July 1944 at the New York Navy Yard and launched in 1945, was scrapped incomplete after tests; and Iwo Jima (CV-46) was laid down at Newport News Shipbuilding yards in January 1945 but cancelled in August 1945 and broken up on the shipways. Six Fiscal Year 1945 ships, none of which received names, were assigned to Bethlehem Steel Company (CV-50), New York Navy Yard (CVs 51 & 52), Philadelphia Navy Yard (CV-53) and Norfolk Navy Yard (CVs 54 and 55). Their construction was cancelled in March 1945.
This article includes information collected from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
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