US Navy light aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVL-22)

USS Independence (CVL-22)

(USN Photo)

U.S. Navy light aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVL-22) in San Francisco Bay (USA) on 15 July 1943. Note that she still carries Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers. Before entering combat the air group would only consist of Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters and TBF Avenger torpedo bombers.

USS Independence (CVL-22) (also CV-22) was a United States Navy light aircraft carrier. The lead ship of her class, she served during the Second World War. Converted from the hull of a Cleveland-class light cruiser USS Amsterdam (CL-59), she was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation and commissioned in January 1943. She took part in the attacks on Rabaul and Tarawa before being torpedoed by Japanese aircraft, necessitating repairs in San Francisco from January to July 1944.

After repairs, she launched many strikes against targets in Luzon and Okinawa. Independence was part of the carrier group that sank the remnants of the Japanese Mobile Fleet in the Battle of Leyte Gulf and several other Japanese ships in the Surigao Strait. Until the surrender of Japan, she was assigned to strike duties against targets in the Philippines and Japan. She finished her operational duty off the coast of Japan supporting occupation forces until being assigned to return American veterans back to the United States as part of Operation Magic Carpet.

Independence was later used as a target during the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb tests. After being transported back to Pearl Harbor and San Francisco for study, she was later sunk near the Farallon Islands. (Wikipedia)

(USN Photo)

U.S. Navy light aircraft carrier USS Independence (CV-22) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, on 13 July 1943. Her hull number was changed to CVL-22 two days later.

(USN Photo)