Figure 1: USS Princeton (CV-23) underway in the Delaware River, off the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 28 March 1943. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Princeton (CV-23) underway in the Delaware River, off the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 28 March 1943. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Princeton (CV-23) underway in the Atlantic area during her shakedown cruise, 31 May 1943. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Princeton (CV-23) underway in the Atlantic area during her shakedown cruise, 31 May 1943. Planes parked aft include nine SBD scout bombers and twelve F4F fighters. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Princeton (CVL-23) off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, 1 January 1944. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: USS Princeton (CVL-23) off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, 1 January 1944. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: USS Princeton (CVL-23) steaming at 20 knots off Seattle, Washington, 3 January 1944. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: Carrier
raids on Formosa, October 1944.
A Japanese airplane crashes near USS Princeton (CVL-23) during an air
raid off Formosa, 14 October 1944. Battleship in the left distance is probably
USS South Dakota (BB-57) or USS Alabama (BB-60). Official US Navy
Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 9:
Battle of Leyte Gulf, October 1944. USS
Princeton (CVL-23) burning, but still underway, about 20 minutes after she was
hit by a Japanese air attack, 24 October 1944. Photographed from USS South
Dakota (BB-57). Official US Navy Photograph, National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: Smoke rises after a
massive explosion in Princeton's (CVL-23) hangar deck, shortly after she
was hit by a Japanese bomb while operating off the Philippines on 24 October
1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. A destroyer is visible at right. Official
US Navy Photograph, National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 11: Smoke rises from an
explosion in Princeton's (CVL-23) hangar deck at 1000.5 hours on 24
October 1944, shortly after she was hit by a Japanese bomb while operating off
the Philippines during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Photographed from USS South
Dakota (BB-57). Official US Navy Photograph, National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 12: Princeton (CVL-23)
burning soon after she was hit by a Japanese bomb while operating off the Philippines
on 24 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. This view, taken from USS South
Dakota (BB-57) at about 1001 hours, shows the large smoke column passing
aft following a heavy explosion in the carrier's hangar deck. Official US Navy
Photograph, National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 13: USS Princeton
(CVL-23) on fire at about 1004 hours on 24 October 1944, soon after she was hit
by a Japanese bomb during operations off the Philippines during the Battle of
Leyte Gulf. This view shows smoke rising from the ship's second large explosion
as USS Reno (CL-96) steams by in the foreground. Photographed from USS South
Dakota (BB-57). Official US Navy Photograph, National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 14: USS Reno (CL-96)
fighting fires from alongside the port quarter of the burning USS Princeton
(CVL-23) on 24 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Princeton was hit by a Japanese air
attack earlier in the day. Official US Navy Photograph, National Archives.
Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 15: USS Birmingham (CL-62) comes alongside
the burning USS Princeton (CVL-23) to assist with fire fighting on 24
October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Official US Navy Photograph,
now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger
image.
Figure 16:
Crewmen on USS Birmingham
(CL-62) aim fire hoses on the burning USS Princeton (CVL-23) as their
ship comes alongside to assist in damage control measures, 24 October 1944. Official
US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 17:
Princeton's (CVL-23) port forward area, as seen from USS Birmingham
(CL-62) during attempts to control her fires during the afternoon of 24 October
1944. She had been hit by a Japanese air attack while operating off the
Philippines during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Note damage to Princeton's
40-mm gun position and catwalk, caused by Birmingham's Number Two 6-inch
gun turret as the two ships grind together. Also note flight deck tractor
partially hung up on Princeton's deck edge, F6F and TBM airplanes parked
forward, and floater nets and life rafts on Birmingham's gun turret. Official
US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 18:
View of Princeton's
(CVL-23) after port side and flight deck, seen from USS Birmingham
(CL-62) as she came alongside to help fight fires during the afternoon of 24
October 1944. Note aircraft elevator blown out of position and turned upside
down and flight deck buckled by the hangar deck explosions that followed a
Japanese bomb hit. The ships were operating off the Philippines during the
Battle of Leyte Gulf. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of
the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 19: Heavy explosion aft
on USS Princeton (CVL-23), with USS Birmingham (CL-62) alongside,
24 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Official US Navy
Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 20:
USS Birmingham
(CL-62), at left, and a destroyer pull away from USS Princeton (CVL-23)
following the big explosion that destroyed the carrier's stern at about 1523
hours on 24 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. This blast killed
more than 200 men aboard Birmingham, which was alongside Princeton
fighting fires. Note the light smoke over Birmingham's amidships and
stern areas. Princeton's stern, and a good deal of her after
superstructure, have been blown off. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the
collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 21: Princeton (CVL-23)
survivors jumping from a motor whaleboat to swim to USS Cassin Young
(DD-793) on 24 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Official U.S.
Navy Photograph, National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 22:
USS Princeton
(CVL-23) blows up after being torpedoed by USS Reno (CL-96) on 24
October 1944. Princeton had been fatally damaged by a Japanese air
attack earlier in the day during the Battle of Leyte Gulf and was scuttled by
torpedoing to permit US forces to clear the area. Official US Navy
Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Named after the famous town in New Jersey, the 13,000-ton USS Princeton
was an Independence class aircraft carrier that was built by the New
York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, New Jersey. Originally laid down as
the light cruiser Tallahassee (CL-61), the ship was converted into a
carrier before launching and re-designated USS Princeton (CV-23). The
aircraft carrier was commissioned on 25 February 1943 and her hull number was
changed to CVL-23 (for “aircraft carrier, light,” number 23) on 15 July. Princeton
was approximately 622 feet long and 71 feet wide, had a top speed of 31 knots,
and had a crew of 1,569 officers and men. The ship was armed with 22 40-mm
guns, 16 20-mm guns, and could carry roughly 45 aircraft (depending on their
size).
Following a shakedown cruise in the Caribbean, Princeton was
assigned to the Pacific theater of operations and arrived at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, on 9 August 1943. Princeton served as flagship and provided air
cover for the occupation of Baker Island, located in the central Pacific Ocean,
on 25 August. In September, Princeton’s aircraft pounded Japanese
targets on Makin and Tarawa islands. The aircraft carrier also was very active
in November, supporting the American landings on Bougainville, New Guinea, raiding the
Japanese bases at Rabaul and Nauru, and participating in the invasion of the
Gilbert Islands.
Following a brief overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton,
Washington, Princeton returned to combat and assisted in the successful
amphibious assaults on the Marshall Islands in January and February 1944. Over
the next four months, Princeton’s aircraft attacked Japanese targets in
the central Pacific and supported amphibious landings at Hollandia, New Guinea.
In June 1944, the ship participated in the invasion of Saipan, in the Mariana
Islands, and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. During the battle, Princeton’s
planes shot down 30 enemy aircraft and the gunners on board the ship shot down
another three. From August to October 1944, the ship assisted in air raids on
the Palau Islands, the Philippines, Okinawa, and Formosa. During the raid on Formosa, Japanese aircraft
came close to hitting Princeton, but their attacks failed.
But a much bigger, much more savage battle was about to take place. On
24 October 1944, Princeton was steaming off the northern Philippines,
taking part in attacks on the island of Luzon in support of the American
invasion of Leyte. At roughly 1000 hours that morning, a single Japanese dive
bomber descended from the clouds right above Princeton. At 1,500 feet,
the pilot released his bomb and it hit the carrier between its elevators,
crashed through the flight deck and the hanger, and then exploded. A major fire
erupted after the explosion and soon additional explosions sent huge clouds of
black smoke high into the air. The ship’s island and stern were also engulfed in
flames. Ships that were escorting Princeton soon provided rescue and
fire-fighting assistance and protected the severely damaged carrier from
further attacks.
At approximately 1524 hours, another, much heavier, explosion (possibly
from a bomb magazine) blew off the carrier’s stern and with it the aft end of
the flight deck. The cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-62), which was alongside
Princeton providing fire-fighting support, was severely damaged by the
blast. Over half of the cruiser’s crew became casualties since virtually
everyone on the starboard side of the ship was either killed or wounded. The
blast killed 233 men and seriously wounded 211 on board Birmingham, with
another 215 suffering minor wounds. Birmingham’s deck literally ran with
blood and her crewmembers were forced to throw sand on the deck to provide a
firm footing for the survivors, as was the case during the age of sail. Birmingham’s
crew eventually extinguished several fires that were burning on board their
ship and then began to care for the wounded. The cruiser limped away from Princeton
as other ships cautiously circled the carrier, fearing that yet another major
explosion would occur.
Efforts to save Princeton continued. But by 1604 hours, it was
clear that the ship was lost. Boats were requested by Princeton’s
captain to take off what was left of the crew. Incredibly, roughly 90 percent
of the carrier’s crewmen survived the ordeal. This was because many of the
ship’s men were transferred to escorting rescue ships before the major
explosions took place. But Princeton still lost 108 men killed and 190
wounded. Ironically, the cruiser Birmingham, which came to Princeton’s
assistance, suffered far greater casualties than the carrier.
