USS Hawkins (DD-873, DDR-873)

Figure 1:  USS Hawkins (DDR-873) alongside the newly-completed USS Independence (CVA-62) during replenishment exercises, May 1959. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:  USS Hawkins (DDR-873) plowing through heavy seas, circa 1960. The original photograph bears the rubber stamped date 15 June 1960. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:  USS Hawkins (DDR-873) underway at sea, 30 October 1962. Photographed by Clements, of USS Enterprise (CVAN-65). Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.   

Figure 4:  USS Hawkins (DD-873) steams alongside USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) during refueling operations in the South China Sea, 19 February 1966. Taken by PH2 W.R. Mosier, USN. Official US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.  

Figure 5:  USS Hawkins (DD-873) underway on 30 May 1965. Photographed by PH3 Henry Craig Hensel. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.  

Figure 6:  USS Hawkins (DD-873) steaming toward Norfolk, Virginia, for a visit by the Standing Naval Force Atlantic, 6 July 1970. Photographed by PHC B.M. Anderson. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.   

Figure 7:  USS Hawkins (DD-873) jacket patch of the ship's insignia, as used in 1967. Courtesy of Captain G.F. Swainson, USN, 1969. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after US Marine Corps Medal of Honor winner William Deane Hawkins (1914-1943), the 2,425-ton USS Hawkins (DD-873) was a Gearing class destroyer that was built by the Consolidated Steel Company at Orange, Texas, and commissioned on 10 February 1945. The ship was approximately 390 feet long and 41 feet wide, had a top speed of 35 knots, and had a crew of 367 officers and men. Hawkins was armed with six 5-inch guns, 12 40-mm guns, 10 20-mm guns, 5 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges.

Hawkins was converted into a radar picket ship before steaming to the Pacific in June 1945 to begin combat operations. But Japan surrendered before she reached the war zone, so Hawkins spent the rest of the year, as well as the first few months of 1946, in peacetime service in the western and central Pacific. After briefly returning to the United States and based at San Diego, California, in October 1947, Hawkins was again deployed to the Far East from 1948 to 1949. The destroyer steamed back to San Diego and was re-designated DDR-873 in mid-March 1949. Hawkins was then transferred to the Atlantic Fleet.  

Hawkins made her first regular deployment to the Mediterranean Sea in mid-1950. But the ship was sent to the Pacific in early 1951 to participate in the Korean War. While serving four months off the coast of Korea, Hawkins screened the mobile carrier forces during strikes on enemy positions and supply lines, provided antisubmarine protection, and controlled jet aircraft during combat air patrols. She also acted as plane guard during operations in the Formosa Straits, which were designed to discourage Communist aggression against the island of Formosa (later Taiwan). Departing the Far East in June 1951, the destroyer returned to the east coast of the United States via the Mediterranean. 

After serving in the Korean War, Hawkins spent the bulk of the rest of her career in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. She completed a total of sixteen cruises with the US Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean and was present there during the 1956 Suez Crisis. From 1961 to 1963, Hawkins supported space flight operations, took part in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and assisted with the testing of the submarine-launched “Polaris” ballistic missile.

Hawkins was extensively overhauled and modernized in 1964 and was re-designated DD-873. She completed the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM I) program and received a new superstructure, an antisubmarine rocket (ASROC) launcher, and facilities for operating drone helicopters. In September 1965, Hawkins returned to the western Pacific for her fifth (and final) cruise in those waters. The ship steamed back to America’s east coast in April 1966. Two Sixth Fleet deployments followed from 1966 to 1967 and in 1968. In 1969 and 1971, Hawkins supported the Apollo space missions. In 1970, she operated with the Standing Naval Force Atlantic in northern European waters. Three more Mediterranean cruises followed from 1972 to 1973, from 1975 to 1976, and in 1977. The only break in this routine came in 1974, when the ship completed a long voyage around the Cape of Good Hope for operations in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.

In December 1977, Hawkins was used for Naval Reserve training at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. That mission lasted until the beginning of October 1979, when the destroyer was decommissioned, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register, and placed in the “mothball fleet” at Philadelphia. But Hawkins still had plenty of life left in her. Hawkins was sold to Taiwan in March 1983 and was re-named Tsu Yang. She remained in service with the Taiwanese Navy until 1998, when the ship was scrapped, ending a career that lasted almost 53 years.

USS Suisun (AVP-53)

Figure 1:  USS Suisun (AVP-53) off Houghton, Washington, on 17 September 1944, a few days after commissioning. She was the first of her class completed with the late war standard main armament of one 5-inch gun and one quadruple 40-mm mount, both forward. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32 Design 2Ax. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:  USS Suisun (AVP-53) off Houghton, Washington, on 17 September 1944, a few days after commissioning. She was the first of her class completed with the late war standard main armament of one 5-inch gun and one quadruple 40-mm mount, both forward. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32 Design 2Ax. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:  USS Suisun (AVP-53) off Houghton, Washington, on 17 September 1944, a few days after commissioning. She was the first of her class completed with the late war standard main armament of one 5-inch gun and one quadruple 40-mm mount, both forward. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32 Design 2Ax. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4:  USS Suisun (AVP-53) off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, on 5 October 1944. She was the first of her class completed with the late war standard main armament of one 5-inch gun and one quadruple 40-mm mount, both forward. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32 Design 2Ax. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives.  Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5:  USS Suisun (AVP-53) off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, on 5 October 1944. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.  

Figure 6:  USS Suisun (AVP-53) off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, on 5 October 1944. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.   

 

Figure 7:  USS Suisun (AVP-53) passing a line to USS Castle Rock (AVP-35), off Javapog, Saipan, in April 1945. Photographed by Ensign Thomas Binford, USNR, from one of Castle Rock's 40-mm gun tubs. Note Suisun's Measure 32 Design 2Ax camouflage. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.  

 

Figure 8:  USS Suisun (AVP-53) at New York on 17 August 1946. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.   

 

Figure 9:  USS Suisun (AVP-53) underway in a photograph dated 1952. The quadruple 40-mm gun mount on her fantail was added in around 1948. Note the small aviation insignia just forward of her small bow number. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

 

Figure 10:  Reserve Fleet Ships at San Diego, California, photographed circa 1960. Identifiable ships from left to right include USS Izard (DD-589), Halford (DD-480), Wiley (DD-597), Suisun (AVP-53), Bryant (DD-665), and Haraden (DD-585). The destroyers are all Fletcher class ships. Note the large aviation star on Suisun's bow. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

 

Named after a bay on the coast of California, the 2,592-ton USS Suisun (AVP-53) was a Barnegat class small seaplane tender that was built by the Lake Washington Shipyard at Houghton, Washington, and was commissioned on 13 September 1944. The ship was approximately 310 feet long and 41 feet wide, had a top speed of 18 knots, and had a crew of 367 officers and men. Suisun was armed with one 5-inch gun, eight 40-mm guns, and six 20-mm guns.

After completing her shakedown cruise off the coast of San Diego, California, on 21 November 1944, Suisun sailed for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December. After arriving at Pearl Harbor on 14 December, Suisun left for Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands four days later. From January to April 1945, Suisun tended to various seaplane squadrons in the Caroline and Marianas Islands. The ship steamed to Kerama Retto in the Ryukyu Islands with the Okinawa invasion force in April and remained there until the end of the war except for one trip to Saipan for supplies. Suisun was the eighth ship to enter Tokyo Bay in August 1945 and remained there until leaving for the United States in November 1945.

Assigned to the postwar Atlantic Fleet, Suisun arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, in January 1946 and, after completing an overhaul, patrolled along the east coast of the United States and in the Caribbean. In October 1946, Suisun’s home port was shifted to Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone. The ship returned to the Pacific in April 1947 and began a series of deployments throughout the Pacific basin, including China, Japan, the central Pacific islands, Alaska, and Mexico. During several of these deployments, Suisun also supported seaplanes from Whidbey Island, Washington.

From July to October 1950, during the early months of the Korean War, Suisun tended to seaplanes which operated in the vicinity of the Pescadores Islands and monitored mainland Chinese military activity. Suisun was sent to the Far East again from 12 February to 6 August 1951 and from 26 November 1951 to 25 May 1952. Suisun was deployed to the western Pacific for three more tours of duty after that.

On 2 March 1955, Suisun was assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet. The ship was in commission but placed in reserve on 10 May and then decommissioned and in reserve on 5 August 1955. USS Suisun was struck from the Navy list on 1 April 1966 and was sunk as a target in October of that year. Suisun received two battle stars for her service during World War II and two battle stars for her service during the Korean War.

Small but well-armed tenders like Suisun not only maintained and assisted seaplanes around the world, but they made excellent patrol boats as well. Suisun’s extensive deployment throughout the Pacific over many years is ample evidence of how effective and useful these unique ships were.

USS Shangri-La (CV-38, CVA-38, CVS-38)

Figure 1:  USS Shangri-La (CV-38) is christened by Mrs. James H. Doolittle, during launching ceremonies at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Norfolk, Virginia, 24 February 1944. Colonel James Doolittle commanded the famous B-25 raid on Tokyo on 18 April 1942, which was flown from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8). After the raid when President Franklin Roosevelt was asked where the American planes had come from, he replied, “Shangri-La.” Rear Admiral Felix X. Gygax, the Navy Yard commandant, is in the foreground holding a microphone close to the sponsor's champagne bottle as it smashes into the new carrier's bow. Courtesy of James Russell. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:  USS Shangri-La (CV-38) comes alongside USS Attu (CVE-102) to transfer personnel and supplies, 3 September 1945. Attu's cruise book claims that this was the first side-by-side underway replenishment by two aircraft carriers. Collection of Captain Hays R. Browning, USNR. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:  USS Shangri-La (CV-38) underway in the Pacific with her crew paraded on the flight deck, 17 August 1946. Note use of the letter "Z" on the flight deck instead of her hull number (38). Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4:  USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) in the mid-1950s with Point Loma, California, in background. Courtesy of  Pete Kocourek . Click on photograph for larger image.

 

Figure 5:  USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) at sea, launching F9F "Cougar" fighters, 10 January 1956. Note steam rising from her port catapult. Photographed by B.W. Kortge. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.   

 

Figure 6:  USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) underway at sea off Mayport, Florida, with Carrier Air Group Ten (CAG-10) embarked, August 1960. Aircraft parked on the forward flight deck include F8U and F4D fighters, A4D and AD attack planes. Photographed by PH1 R.A. Moulder. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

 

Figure 7:  USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) in the Mediterranean Sea on her fourth Mediterranean cruise and ninth overseas deployment, February 15 to September 20, 1965. The Air Wing embarked was CVW-10, tail code "AK." Official US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8:  Vought F-8C "Crusader" jet fighter (Bureau No. 146956, possibly after conversion to a F-8K) in flight over USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) in December 1968. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9:  USS Shangri-La (CVS-38) cruises toward Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, on 11 February 1970. Official US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.  

 

Figure 10: USS Shangri-La (CVS-38) cruises toward Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, on 11 February 1970. Official US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.  

 

Figure 11:  Lieutenant (Junior Grade) William Belden ejects from his Douglas A-4E "Skyhawk" attack aircraft (Bureau No. 150117) as it rolls into USS Shangri-La's port catwalk after suffering a brake failure following recovery, 2 July 1970. Belden ejected safely and was rescued by Shangri-La's helicopter. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

 

Figure 12:  USS Shangri-La (CVS-38) during her last voyage to New Zealand, November 1970. Official US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

 

Named after the fictitious Himalayan kingdom described by author James Hilton in his novel Lost Horizon, the 27,100-ton USS Shangri-La (CV-38) was a Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier built by the Norfolk Navy Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, and was commissioned on 15 January 1943. Colonel James Doolittle led the famous B-25 raid on Tokyo on 18 April 1942, which was flown from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8). After the raid when President Franklin Roosevelt was asked by reporters where the American planes had come from, he replied, “Shangri-La.” This name actually honors Hornet, which launched the Tokyo raiders and which was subsequently lost in the Battle of Santa Cruz Island on 27 October 1942. The carrier Shangri-La was approximately 888 feet long and 93 feet wide, had a top speed of 32 knots, and had a crew of 3,448 officers and men. The ship was heavily armed with 12 5-inch guns, 44 40-mm guns, and 60 20-mm guns, and could carry roughly 80 aircraft, depending on the type and size of the planes.

After completing her shakedown cruise in the Caribbean, Shangri-La steamed to the Pacific in early 1945 to join the war against Japan. On 24 April, the ship joined Task Group 58.4 and the next day her aircraft launched their first strike against the Japanese. The target was Okino Daito Jima, a group of islands several hundred miles southeast of Okinawa. Shangri-La’s planes successfully destroyed radar and radio installations there and upon their recovery the task group sailed for Okinawa. Once there, Shangri-La provided combat air patrols for the task group and close air support for Army troops on Okinawa.   

For the next four months, Shangri-La’s aircraft attacked the Japanese home islands. During much of that time, she served as flagship to Task Forces 38 and 58. On 2 and 3 June 1945, Shangri-La’s task force launched air strikes against Kyushu, the southernmost of the major Japanese Islands. On 14 and 15 July, the carrier’s planes pounded the Japanese home islands of Honshu and Hokkaido and, on 18 July, they attacked Tokyo, bombing the battleship Nagato that was anchored nearby. On 24 July, the ship’s aircraft attacked enemy shipping near Kure, Japan, and on 28 July attacked and damaged the cruiser Oyoda and the battleship Haruna, the latter so badly that she had to be beached to prevent her from sinking in deep water. Shangri-La’s planes attacked Tokyo once again on 30 July, causing much damage.

On 9 August 1945, Shangri-La sent her planes to bomb Honshu and Hokkaido once again. The next day, they raided Tokyo and central Honshu. After steaming away from the Japanese coastline on 11 and 12 August to avoid a typhoon, Shangri-La’s aircraft hit Tokyo again on 13 August. Two days later, her planes returned and struck airfields around Tokyo. Soon after that raid, Japan announced its surrender and the American fleet was ordered to cease hostilities. From 23 August to16 September, Shangri-La’s aircraft flew missions of mercy, air-dropping supplies to Allied prisoners of war in Japan.

After Japan’s surrender, Shangri-La remained in the western Pacific until October 1945. The carrier was active in 1946 and into 1947, participating in the Operation “Crossroads” atomic bomb tests and completing a cruise to Australia. The ship was decommissioned and placed in the Reserve Fleet at San Francisco, California, on 7 November 1947.
 

Shangri-La was re-commissioned on 10 May 1951 and served with the Atlantic Fleet until 14 November 1952, when she was decommissioned once again, but this time to be fully modernized and overhauled. The ship was sent to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Washington, and over the next two years Shangri-La was transformed into a modern carrier. At a cost of approximately $7 million (a large sum in those days), Shangri-La was given an angled flight deck,  a fully enclosed bow, a new and enlarged island, and twin steam catapults; her aircraft elevators and arresting gear were overhauled; and new electronic equipment was installed. All of these changes greatly altered the appearance of the ship and Shangri-La was re-classified CVA-38. The ship was commissioned for the third time on 10 January 1955 and spent the next five years in the Pacific, making several cruises with the US Seventh Fleet in the Far East.

Shangri-La was transferred to the Atlantic in March 1960 and began a series of deployments to the Mediterranean Sea early in the next year, alternating with US Second Fleet service closer to the United States. Shangri-La was re-classified CVS-38 in June 1969, in preparation for her new role as an anti-submarine warfare carrier. But she continued to carry an attack air group for her final overseas deployment. During this voyage (which began in March 1970), Shangri-La steamed across the south Atlantic, into the Indian Ocean, and went on to participate in combat operations in the South China Sea near Vietnam. For seven months, Shangri-La launched combat sorties from Yankee Station off the coast of Vietnam. The carrier returned to the east coast of the United States in December 1970 and was decommissioned for the last time on 30 July 1971. Shangri-La was placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in July 1982 and was sold for scrapping in August 1988. The ship was part of the fleet for 44 years and received two battle stars for her service in World War II and three battle stars for her service in the Vietnam War.