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Lot Essay
The U.S.S. Intrepid was launched 26 April 1943, by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. and commissioned 16 August, with Captain Thomas L. Sprague in command. She had a Beam of 93 feet, was 872 feet Long, with a Gross Tonnage of 27,100. After training in the Caribbean Intrepid departed Norfolk 3 December 1943 for San Francisco, then to Hawaii. She arrived Pearl Harbor 10 January 1944 and prepared for the invasion of the Marshall Islands. Intrepid got under way 21 August to support the occupation of Japan. She departed Yokosuka 2 December and arrived San Pedro, CA December 1945. Intrepid was placed on "in commission in reserve" and then recommissioned at San Francisco 9 February 1952 and got underway 12 March for Norfolk. She was decommissioned in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard 9 April 1952 for conversion to a modern attack aircraft carrier. Reclassified CVA-11 1 October, she was recommissioned in reserve 18 June 1954. She became the first carrier in history to launch aircraft with American-built steam catapults 13 October 1954. Two days later she went into full commission as a unit of the Atlantic Fleet. Intrepid got under way 29 September for a seven-month modernization overhaul in the New York Navy Yard, followed by refresher training out of Guantanamo Bay. During the next four years Intrepid alternated Mediterranean deployments with operations along the Atlantic coast of the United States and exercises in the Caribbean. On 8 December 1961 she was reclassified to an antisubmarine warfare support carrier, CVS-11. She entered the Norfolk Navy Yard 10 March 1962 to be overhauled and refitted for her new antisubmarine warfare role. Intrepid operated along the Atlantic Coast for the next year from Nova Scotia to the Caribbean perfecting her antisubmarine techniques. Early in the next year Intrepid began preparations for a vital role in NASA's first manned Gemini flight. Mid-1966 found Intrepid with the Pacific Fleet off Vietnam. In June of 1967, Intrepid returned to the western Pacific by way of the Suez and was decommissioned for the final time 15 March 1974. She is currently the centerpiece for the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York, NY.