The USS Card (CVE-11) was launched as AVG 11 on February 21, 1942 by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation under a Maritime Commission contract. She was was reclassified as ACV-11 on August 20, 1942 and commissioned on November 8, 1942 with Captain J.B. Sykes in command.
Card’s first operational sortie in late May 1943 was an aircraft ferrying trip from New York to Casablanca in French Morocco. Card then made the return voyage to Norfolk arriving on June 5, 1943. Ten days later she was reclassified as Escort Carrier Card (CVE-11). She became one of the first of fourteen US CVEs around which US anti-submarine hunter killer groups would be centered. During her participation in the Battle of the Atlantic, Card and her escorts sank 11 German U-boats.
After the war, she was reclassified as a helicopter escort carrier CVHE-11, 12 June 1955; a utility carrier CVU-11, 1 July 1958; and an aviation transport AKV-40, 7 May 1959.
In 1964, while operating as an aircraft ferry, Card was sunk with explosives planted by two Viet Cong commandos in the Harbor of Saigon, South Vietnam. She was refloated 17 days later and returned to service after extensive repairs.
Card was placed in reserve, on 10 March 1970, was sold for scrapping on 14 May 1971.
USS Card ACV-11 newly completed off Norfolk Navy Yard on 26 March 1943USS Card ACV-11 Off Norfolk Navy Yard on March 26, 1943, still not complete after her November 8, 1942 commissioningUSS Card ACV-11 in Hampton Roads March 1943USS Card ACV-11 underway in February 1943USS Card CVE-11 15 June 1943, with seven TBF-1 Avenger and six F4F-4 Wildcat of Squadron VC-1USS Card CVE-11 with a Grumman F6F Hellcat that came in too low. 1943USS Card CVE-11 underway circa 1943USS Card CVE-11 1944USS Card CVE-11The Island of USS Card CVE-11
Post World War Two
USS Card fitted with longer hangarUSNS Card T-AKV 40 as she looked while serving in VietnamUSNS Card T-AKV 40 underway in 1966Cargo ship and aircraft ferry USNS Card T-AKV 40 underway at sea with seventeen cocooned USAF Convair F-102A Delta Dagger fightersThe refit USNS Card in February 1965. She is seen loading cargo into her enlarged cargo elevator.USNS Card T-AKV 40 in Saigon, 1968USNS Card T-AKV 40 in a Vietnamese port, in the 1960sUSNS Card T-AKV 40 in Saigon on 2 May 1964, after she was attacked by Viet Cong commandosWater pouring over the side as 6-inch submersible pumps discharge from USNS Card T-AKV 40 in SaigonUSNS Card T-AKV 40USNS Card T-AKV 40 near Gibraltar in 1966, seen from the ST London Valour.
Aircraft Operations
Grumman TBF Avenger
USS Card CVE-11 15 June 1943, with seven TBF-1 Avenger and six F4F-4 Wildcat of Squadron VC-1Grumman TBF of VC-1 landing on USS Card CVE-11 in 1943Grumman TBF-1 of VC-1 landing on USS Card ACV-11 in 1942Grumman TBF-1 landing accident on USS Card ACV-11 1942Grumman TBF-1 landing accident on USS Card ACV-11 1942Grumman TBF-1 landing accident on USS Card ACV-11 1942Grumman TBF-1 landing accident on USS Card ACV-11 1942Grumman TBF-1 after landing accident on USS Card ACV-11 1942
USS Oregon (BB-3) was a pre-dreadnought Indiana-class battleship of the United States Navy. Commissioned on July 15, 1896, at San Francisco, California she initially served with the Pacific Squadron. However, with tensions rising with Spain, following the explosion of USS Maine in Havana Harbour, Cuba, she was ordered to the East coast. Arriving shortly before the start of the Spanish–American War she took part in the blockade of Santiago de Cuba, which culminated in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba on 3 July, where Oregon contributed to the destruction of the Spanish squadron in Cuba.
After the war, Oregon was deployed to the Asiatic Squadron, serving during the Philippine–American War and the Boxer Rebellion in Qing China. The ship returned to the United States in 1906 when she was decommissioned and placed in reserve for the next five years during which she was modernized. Reactivated in 1911, Oregon spent the next several years cruising off the West Coast of the United States frequently going in and out of service. During World War I she served as a training ship for naval cadets and as a convoy escort.
Oregon became a museum ship in her name-sake state in the early 1920s. In 1942, it was decided to scrap the ship for the war effort, but the navy changed its mind and converted her to an ammunition hulk (IX-22) for the invasion of Guam in 1944. Following the war she was sold for scrap in 1956.
USS Oregon seen sometime after 1913USS Oregon seen off Washington in the early 1900s.USS Oregon seen off Washington in the early 1900sUSS Oregon seen off a west coast port between 1916 and 1917.USS Oregon seen off a west coast port between 1913 and 1916.USS Oregon BB-3 after the Battle of Santiago, July, 1898, Spanish-American War.USS Oregon 1896-98USS Oregon on builder’s trialsOctober 12, 1898 USS Oregon at New York about to depart for Manila, Philippines.USS Oregon BB-3USS Oregon forward 13″ gun turret and pilothouseAugust 1898 USS Oregon arriving in New York following duty in the Spanish-American War.August 20, 1898 USS Oregon seen in the Naval Review in the Hudson River, New York City following duty in the Spanish-American WarAugust 20, 1898 USS Oregon seen in the Naval Review in the Hudson River, New York City following duty in the Spanish-American War 1USS Oregon arriving as memorial museum at Portland, Oregon, June 1925USS Oregon 189813″ Guns of USS Oregon 1898USS Oregon 1898
USS Oregon in Dry Dock
USS Oregon BB-3 in drydock at Hunters Point 1898USS Oregon BB-3 in drydock at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California in 1912March 4, 1913 USS Oregon BB-3 in the drydock at the Puget Sound Naval ShipyardMarch 1, 1913 USS Oregon BB-3 in the drydock at the Puget Sound Naval ShipyardMarch 1, 1913 USS Oregon in the drydock at the Puget Sound Naval ShipyardMarch 1, 1913 USS Oregon entering the drydock at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
As IX-22 During World War Two
March 3, 1943 Oregon being towed from her location on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon to be scrapped.Early 1943 Removing the mast from Oregon at Portland, Oregon.USS Oregon IX-22 seen as an ammunition barge at Guam in the 1940sUSS Oregon IX-22 seen as an ammunition barge at Guam in the 1940s
Being Scrapped
Oregon IX-22 Being scrapped at Kawasaki, Japan, in September 1956
Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser that served with Nazi Germany’s Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936, launched in August 1938, and entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940.
Prinz Eugen saw action during Operation Rheinübung, an attempted breakout into the Atlantic Ocean with the battleship Bismarck in May 1941. The two ships destroyed the British battlecruiser HMS Hood and moderately damaged the battleship HMS Prince of Wales in the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Prinz Eugen was detached from Bismarck during the operation to raid Allied merchant shipping, but this was cut short due to engine troubles. After putting into occupied France and undergoing repairs, the ship participated in Operation Cerberus, a daring daylight dash through the English Channel back to Germany. In February 1942, Prinz Eugen was deployed to Norway, although her time stationed there was curtailed when she was torpedoed by the British submarine Trident days after arriving in Norwegian waters. The torpedo severely damaged the ship’s stern, which necessitated repairs in Germany. Upon returning to active service, the ship spent several months training officer cadets in the Baltic before serving as artillery support for the retreating German Army on the Eastern Front.
After the war, Prinz Eugen was given over to the U.S. Navy and briefly became USS Prinz Eugen (IX-300). She survived both two atomic bomb blasts at Bikini Atoll in 1946, with only a broken main mast to show for it. Prinz Eugen survived the blasts, but she became frightfully radioactive.
After the tests, Prinz Eugen was towed to Kwajalein Atoll where she ultimately capsized and sank in December 1946. The wreck remains partially visible above the water approximately two miles northwest of Bucholz Army Airfield, on the edge of Enubuj.
Photographs of Prinz Eugen under German control can be found here.
Photographs of USS Prinz Eugen IX-300 Under US Control
Prinz Eugen 1945View forward from the mainmast Prinz Eugen in 1945Prinz Eugen IX-300USS Prinz Eugen IX-300 in Philadelphia February 1946The forward deck of USS Prinz Eugen IX-300Prinz Eugen off Massachusetts 1946USS Prinz Eugen IX-300 off Philadelphia Naval Yard February 1946Prinz Eugen firing forward guns during tests in 1946Forecastle of USS Prinz Eugen in 1946Prinz Eugen Off Massachusetts 1946Cruiser Prinz Eugen off Massachusetts 23 January 1946 2Aerial port bow view of Prinz Eugen (IX-300) sailing from Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, 10 March 1946
Photographs While Being Used During the Atomic Bomb Trials
Prinz Eugen IX-300 transiting the Panama Canal on 15 March 1946Prinz Eugen underway bound for the Pacific and the atomic bomb trialsUSS Prinz Eugen IX_300 anchored in Bikini Lagoon on 14 June 1946USS Prinz Eugen IX_300 at sea during Operation CrossroadsPrinz Eugen being decontaminated after serving as target in nuclear tests. Bikini Atoll – July 1946Sailors scrubbing down the deck of Prinz Eugen after an atomic bomb blast
