The Ranger was the first US Carrier built from the keel up intended for such use.
Ranger was laid down on 26 September 1931,launched on 25 February 1933,and commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard on 4 June 1934.
USS Ranger (CV-4) was the first ship of the United States Navy to be designed and built from the keel up as an aircraft carrier.
She was a relatively small ship, closer in size and displacement to the first U.S. carrier — Langley — than later ships.
An island superstructure was not included in the original design, but was added after completion. Of the eight pre-war U.S. aircraft carriers CV-1 through CV-8, Ranger was one of only three to survive the entirety of World War II, the others being the USS Enterprise and the USS Saratoga, although, unlike the others, she spent most of the war in service in the Atlantic Ocean.
Ranger loaded 68 Curtiss P-40 planes and men of the United States Army Air Force's 33rd Pursuit Squadron, put to sea on 22 April 1942, and launched the Army squadron on 10 May to land at Accra, on the Gold Coast of Africa (Ghana).She returned to Quonset Point on 28 May, made a patrol to Argentia,Newfoundland, then steamed out of Newport on 1 July with another 72 Army P-40s, which she launched off the coast of Africa for Accra on 19 July. Both groups of P-40s were en route to relieve the Flying Tigers in China.After calling at Trinidad,she returned to Norfolk for local battle practice until 1 October, then based her training at Bermuda, in the company of four new Sangamon-class escort carriers: ships converted from oil tankers to increase U.S. air power in the Atlantic Ocean.
As the largest carrier in the Atlantic Fleet, Ranger led the task force that comprised herself and the four escort carriers. These provided air superiority during the amphibious invasion of Vichy-ruled French Morocco and the resulting Naval Battle of Casablanca, beginning on 8 November. Ranger departed from the Moroccan coast on 12 November,returning to Hampton Roads on 24 November and Norfolk on 14 December 1942.
F4F USS Ranger - Operation Torch
SBD Dauntless Operation Torch
Following training in Chesapeake Bay, Ranger underwent an overhaul at the Norfolk Navy Yard from 16 December 1942-7 February 1943. She next transported 75 P-40L Army fighters to Africa, arriving at Casablanca on 23 February.Next, she patrolled and trained pilots along the New England coast steaming as far north as Halifax, Nova Scotia.Departing from Halifax on 11 August,she joined the British Home Fleet at Scapa Flow, Scotland on 19 August, with which she patrolled the approaches to the British Isles.
P40Ls on Ranger
Ranger departed from Scapa Flow with the Home Fleet on 2 October to attack German shipping in Norwegian waters (Operation Leader).The objective of the force was the northern Norwegian port of Bodø - (SW of Trondheim). The task force reached launch position off Vestfjord before dawn on 4 October completely undetected. At 06:18, Ranger launched 20 SBD Dauntless dive bombers and an escort of eight Wildcats. One division of dive bombers attacked the 8,000 long tons (8,100 t) freighter LaPlata, while the rest continued north to attack a German ship convoy. The bombers severely damaged a 10,000 long tons (10,000 t) tanker and a smaller troop transport. They also sank two of four small German merchant ships in the Bodø roadstead.
A second attack group from Ranger, consisting of 10 TBF Avenger torpedo bombers and six Wildcats, destroyed a German freighter and a small coastal ship, and bombed a troop-laden transport. Three of the aircraft were lost to anti-aircraft fire. On the afternoon of 4 October, Ranger was located by three German aircraft; her combat air patrol shot down two of the enemy planes and chased away the third.
Ranger returned to Scapa Flow on 6 October.She patrolled with the British 2nd Battle Squadron in waters extending northwestward to Iceland, and then she departed from Hvalfjord on 26 November,arriving at Boston on 3 December.
On 3 January 1944, Ranger became a training carrier out of Quonset Point, Rhode Island. This duty was interrupted on 20 April when she steamed to Staten Island, New York, to take on 76 P-38 Lightning fighters — together with Army, Navy, and French Navy personnel — for transportation to Casablanca.Steaming out on 24 April, she arrived at Casablanca on 4 May.The new aircraft were replaced with damaged U.S. Army aircraft marked for repair in the U.S., while military passengers were embarked for the return to New York City.
1944 Camouflage Scheme
After arriving at New York Harbor on 16 May, Ranger entered the Norfolk Navy Yard to have her flight deck strengthened, new aircraft catapults installed, and radar equipment updated.This provided her with the capability of night fighter-interceptor training. On 11 July, she departed from Norfolk and headed for Panama. She transited the Panama Canal five days later, embarked several hundred U.S. Army passengers at Balboa, Panama, then sailed to San Diego, California, arriving there on 25 July.After embarking the men and aircraft of Night Fighting Squadron 102 and nearly a thousand U.S. Marines, Ranger steamed for Hawaiian waters on 28 July, reaching Pearl Harbor on 3 August.During the next three months, Ranger conducted night carrier flight training operations out of Pearl Harbor.
Ranger was the only U.S. carrier in existence prior to the start of the war that never engaged the Japanese in battle.
Struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 29 October 1945,she was sold for scrap to Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Chester, Pennsylvania on 31 January 1947.
F4F USS Ranger 1941
F4F USS Ranger 1942
F4F USS Ranger (Atlantic) 1943-44
SBD Atlantic
Specifications
Type: Aircraft carrier
Displacement: As built: 14,576 long tons (14,810 t) (standard)
17,577 long tons (17,859 t) (full load)
Length: 730 ft (220 m) (w/l)
769 ft (234 m) (o/a)
Beam: 80 ft (24 m) (waterline) [8]
109 ft 5 in (33.35 m) (overall)
Draft: 22 ft 4.875 in (6.82943 m)
Installed power: 53,500 shp (39,900 kW)
Propulsion: 2 × steam turbines
6 × boilers
2 × shafts
Speed: 29.3 kn (33.7 mph; 54.3 km/h) [8]
Range: 10,000 nmi (12,000 mi; 19,000 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h)
Complement: 216 officers and 2,245 enlisted men including embarked air group(as built) [8]
2,148 (1941)
Sensors and
processing systems: CXAM-1 RADAR[9]
Armament:
* 8 × 5 in (130 mm)/25 cal anti-aircraft guns
* 40 × .50 in (13 mm) machine guns
Armor:
* Belt: 2 in (5.1 cm)
* Bulkheads: 2 in (5.1 cm)
* Deck: 1 in (2.5 cm) (over steering gear)
Aircraft carried: 86 (maximum)
76 (normal)
Aviation facilities: 3 × elevators
3 × catapults
Kopfdorfer
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