USS Belleau Wood seen operating in the Pacific during WW2.
Click here to see the USS Belleau Wood photo feature.

Yankee Ingenuity Goes to War:
The light aircraft carrier USS Cabot (CVL-28) is a unique historic artifact and the only-remaining example of a whole family of warships that played a vital role in the history of the United States. Of all the ships that the United States has ever built, none exemplify America's industrial ingenuity and ability to adapt more than the light carriers of World War II. President Roosevelt responded to a wartime emergency, the extreme need for more aircraft carriers, by ordering the conversion of nine Cleveland-class cruisers then under construction at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey into light carriers in January, 1942.

Thus the nine cruiser-carrier sisters of the Independence class were born: Independence (CVL-22), Princeton (CVL-23), Belleau Wood (CVL-24), Cowpens (CVL-25), Monterey (CVL-26), Langley (CVL-27), Cabot (CVL-28), Bataan (CVL-29), and San Jacinto (CVL-30). They subsequently served superbly in the fast carrier task forces in the war in the Pacific winning 81 battle stars between them and accounting for hundreds of enemy planes and ships destroyed. One, the Princeton, was lost to enemy action at the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Fifty-five years after the war, the Iron Woman is the only survivor of these unique carriers built atop the incomplete hulls of light cruisers by presidential order, and she is also the only originally-configured World War II carrier of any type in existence. She is both an example of World War II naval technology and of ingenuity displayed under extreme wartime production conditions. She stands as a memorial, not only to the men who served aboard the carriers of the Independence and Saipan class, but to the men and women, from the drawing board to the shipyard, whose inventiveness built them.

President Gerald Ford was an officer aboard the USS Monterey CVL-26, while President George Bush flew off the decks of the USS San Jacinto CVL-30 during the Second World War.

Specifications:
Displacement: 14,751 tons full load
Dimensions: 600 x 71.5 x 26 feet/182.8 x 21.8 x 7.9 meters
Extreme Dimensions: 622.5 x 109.25 x 26 feet/189.7 x 33.3 x 7.9 meters
Propulsion: Steam turbines, 4 565 psi boilers, 4 shafts, 100,000 shp, 31.6 kts
Crew: 1,461
Armor: 3-5 inch belt in CVL 24-30
Armament: 2 quad, 8 dual 40 mm AA, 16 single 20 mm AA
Aircraft: 45

All were converted from Cleveland class light cruisers.

The Ships: (click below to see the ships history)
USS Independence CVL22
USS Princeton CVL23
USS Belleau Wood CVL24
USS Cowpens CVL25
USS Monterey CVL26
USS Langley CVL27
USS Cabot CVL28
USS Bataan CVL29
USS San Jacinto CVL30

Saipan class:

Working on the success of the Independence class, the New York Shipbuilding Company was contracted to build two new light carriers on a Baltimore-class cruiser hull. This new class was larger, faster, and carried a larger aircraft complement. The two ships were destined to become the USS Saipan (CVL-48) and the USS Wright (CVL-49) of the new Saipan class. Carrying on the tradition of their earlier counterparts, they served honorably in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.

Specifications:
Displacement: 14,500 t. Beam: 76'9"
Extreme Width: 115'
Draft: 28'
Speed: 33 k.
Complement: 1,721
Armament: 40 40mm
Aircraft: 50+
Class: Saipan

All were converted from Baltimore class light cruisers.

The Ships: (click below to see the ships history)
USS Saipan CVL48
USS Wright CVL49

USS Monterey flies a oversized ensign from her mast on 15 August, 1945 to celebrate the announcement of the armistice with Japan.