Data

The aircraft carrier USS HANCOCK CV-19, the third vessel of the United States Navy named in honor of the famed statesman, John Hancock, was launched on January 24, 1944, at the Bethlehem Steel Company in Quincy, MA. She was formally accepted into the Navy on 15 April 1944. The carrier was destined for the Pacific Fleet.

• Commissioned 15 April 1944

• De-commissioned 9 May 1947

• Re-designated CVA-19 1 October 1952

• Re-commissioned 15 February 1954

• First steam catapult installed May 1954

• De-commissioned 30 January 1976

• Broken up 31 January 1976 and sold for scrap

WWII — Oct. 10, 1944 to Aug. 15, 1945

• Philippines, Iwo Jima, Japan 1944-1945

• Damaged by explosion 21 January 1945

• Damaged by a Kamikaze 7 April 1945

• Awarded Navy Unit Commendation Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Service Medal with four battle stars

• American Area Campaign Medal World War II

• Victory Medal Philippine Liberation Campaign Ribbon (two stars), Republic of the Philippines

Presidential Unit Citation Badge

Scorecard WWII:

• 723 enemy planes destroyed

• 17 warships sunk

• 31 merchant ships sunk

• 10 enemy planes downed by ships guns

• 221 shipmates either killed or missing in action

Vietnam Deployment as CVA-19

• 12 Vietnam Cruises (tied with Oriskany CVA-34 for most deployments)

• Her Last Western Pacific deployment 18 March 1975 - 20 October 1975.

• Participated in Operation "Eagle Pull" evacuation of Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Operation "Frequent Wind" evacuation of Saigon, South Vietnam in April 1975

• She was one of last Essex class carriers to operate in the attack role.