Korean War Project

Note: Original postings on the Korean War Project from 1995 to about 1999.

On Fri, 13 Mar 1998
Jim O'Hara Email address wrote:


The second Antietam (CV-36) was laid down on 15 March 1943 by
the Philadelphia Navy Yard; launched on 20 August 1944 sponsored
by Mrs. Millard E. Tydings, the wife of Senator Tydings of 
Maryland; and commissioned on 28 January 1945, Capt. James R.
Tague in command. 

The aircraft carrier remained in the Far East for a little more
than three years. The Yellow Sea constituted her primary theater
of operations while her air group provided support for the
Allied occupation of North China, Manchuria, and Korea. During
the latter stages of that assignment, her airmen conducted
surveillance missions in that area as a result of the civil war
in China between communist and nationalist factions which later
resulted in the expulsion of Chiang Kai-shek's forces from
mainland China and the establishment of Mao Tse- tung's
communist People Republic of China. Throughout the period,
however, she did depart the Yellow Sea on occasion for visits to
Japan, the Philippines, Okinawa, and the Marianas. Early in 1949,
she concluded her mission in the Orient and headed back to the
United States for deactivation. 

Antietam remained in reserve at Alameda, Calif., until communist
forces from the north invaded South Korea in the summer of
1950. She began reactivation preparations on 6 December and went
back into commission on 17 January 1951, Capt. George J. Dufek
in command. Initially, the carrier conducted shakedown training
and carrier qualifications along the California coast, first out
of Alameda and-after 14 May-out of San Diego. She made one voyage to 
Pearl Harbor and back to San Diego in July and August
before departing the latter port on 8 September and heading for
the Far East. Antietam arrived in the Far East later that fall
and, by late November, began the only combat deployment of her
career. During that tour, she made four cruises with Task Force
(TF) 77, in the combat zone off the coast of Korea. In between
fighting assignments, she returned to Yokosuka, Japan. During
each of those periods, her air group carried out a variety of
missions in support of United Nations forces combating North
Korean aggression. Those missions included combat air patrol
logistics interdiction-particularly against railroad and highway
traffic-reconnaissance antisubmarine patrols, and night heckler
missions. Between late November 1951 and mid-March 1952, Antietam's air 
group flew nearly 6,000 sorties of all types. She
returned to Yokosuka on 21 March 1952 at the conclusion of her
fourth cruise with TF 77 to begin preparations for her voyage
back to the United States. 

The aircraft carrier returned home in April and rejoined the
Pacific Reserve Fleet briefly. She was reactivated later that
summer and, in August, transited the Panama Canal to join the
Atlantic Fleet. In September, the warship entered the New York
Naval Shipyard for major alterations. In October, she was
redesignated an attack aircraft carrier, CVA-36. In December 
Antietam emerged from the yard as America's first angled-deck
aircraft carrier. She operated out of Quonset Point, R.I., until
the beginning of 1955.

From: DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN NAVAL FIGHTING SHIPS, Vol. IA.