We’ve made it to the end of another year! Surprisingly I can’t think of anything witty or pithy to mark the occasion (probably not enough coffee yet), so how about a ship which started as a humble servant but was transformed into the first of its kind for the US Navy?
What a difference 9 years, including ~2 years under conversion, and a name change makes!
Everyone be safe and have a Happy New Year!
Great shot of a pair of Curtiss SOC Seagulls at rest
USS Lexington off Lahaina, Maui, US Territory of Hawaii, 16 Feb 1932
And all we caught was this Kingfisher. And some netting…
OS2U Kingfisher aircraft being recovered by battleship USS Texas, off Iwo Jima, at 1700 on 16 Feb 1945; note netting of recovery sled hooked on pontoon’s recovery hook
Source United States National Archives Identification Code 80-G-309140
This cute single-seat scout seaplane was in fact one of the best -if no the best- American foatplane built durin’ WW2.In any event The Seahawk entered service at the end of 1944, too late show its true potential.Peace time and the arrival of the new versatile helicopters closed the glorious era of embarqued seaplanes.
More here: Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk: Double Sadness.
Tugboats and U.S. Navy warships pictured in the Hudson River with the New York City skyline in the background for the Navy Day celebrations on 27 October 1945. Visible in the foreground are the anchored warships USS Augusta (CA-31), USS Midway (CVB-41), USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Missouri (BB-63), USS New York (BB-34), USS Helena (CA-75), and USS Macon (CA-132) U.S. Navy – U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 2001.256.009
USS Saratoga dressed with flags on Navy Day, 27 Oct 1932 Source United States National Archives Identification Code 80-G-1007395
USS Hornet off Okinawa, Japan, 27 Mar 1945; note various aircraft on the flight deck
US Navy airship K-101 of Airship Patrol Squadron ZP-14 at Pisa, Italy, May 1945
Perhaps a missed opportunity to push the tower back into place?
A U.S. Navy Douglas A-4E Skyhawk (BuNo 152012) of Attack Squadron 45 (VA-45) Det.1 Blackbirds intercepting a Soviet Tupolev Tu-126 Moss AEW aircraft over the Mediterranean Sea in 1973. VA-45 Det.1 was assigned to Carrier Anti-Submarine Air Group 56 (CVSG-56) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid (CVS-11) for a deployment to the Mediterranean Sea from 24 November 1972 to 4 May 1973.
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