Wartime photo. Date and place unknown.

At Puget Sound on May 14, 1942 following repairs after being torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-6 (LCDR Inaba) off Hawaii, January 11. Her new silhouette is evident. The twin 8" gun mounts have been replaced by twin 5"/38 mounts. She's finally received the wider forward flight deck and the lengthened after flight deck first envisaged as early as 1936. A British-style open bridge (a standard modification to US warships at that time) has been built atop the flag plot. The tripod foremast has been replaced by a light pole. The stack has also been lowered. She's also received a pair of Mk-37 5" directors, with Mk-4 radars, and a secondary air search radar (SC) at the after end of the stack. Note barrage balloon overhead. (USN photo.)

Taken at Pearl Harbor in mid 1942. Her original 8" guns and mounts were removed in January, 1942, at Pearl Harbor, just after she was torpedoed off Hawaii on January 11th. She was rebuilt at PSNS with 5"/38's in twin mounts, and returned to active duty on May 22, 1942. Both her 8" guns and those from the USS Lexington (CV-2) became shore defense weapons in Hawaii.

USS Saratoga (CV-3) arrives at Pearl Harbor from the U.S. West Coast, 6 June 1942. She departed the following day to join USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS Hornet (CV-8) near Midway, bringing replacement aircraft for those two ships, whose air groups had been depleted during the Battle of Midway.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives (# 80-G-10121).

Carrier task force at sea, photographed from USS Enterprise (CV-6) in August 1942, during the Guadalcanal Campaign. USS Saratoga (CV-3) is in the center, with a Farragut-class destroyer to the left and a New Orleans-class heavy cruiser to the right.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives (# 80-G-K-557).

USS Saratoga (CV-3) on September 8, 1942 listing at 9.5° whilst under repair at Tongatabu, after being torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-26 (LCDR Yokota) on August 31.

USS Saratoga (CV-3) underway at sea, circa 1942. Planes on deck include five Grumman F4F fighters, six Douglas SBD scout bombers and one Grumman TBF torpedo plane.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-K-459).

The carrier USS Saratoga is shown sometime in 1943, location unknown. Note that the twin 8 in (203 mm) guns have been replaced by twin 5 in/38 (127 mm) DP gun mounts, and the light AA armament has been considerably reinforced by numerous 40 mm and 20 mm guns.

USS Saratoga (CV-3) at anchor circa 1943, location unknown.

Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighters on the flight deck, as a TBM torpedo plane approaches to land, circa 1943-44. Photographed by Commander Edward Steichen, USNR. Note open elevator well in the foreground and flight deck crewmen chocking wheels of the F6Fs.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-K-15300).

Plane parker signaling to pilot of F6F aboard USS Saratoga (CV-3), November 1943.

National Archives photo # 80-G-470922.

"Aircraft Carrier Saratoga." (From a Russian publication).

This drawings show Saratoga after repairs at Pearl Harbor in September-October 1942 (top) and after a summer 1944 Puget Sound refit (middle and bottom). At Pearl Harbor her last 1.1-inch quad mounts were replaced by quad 40-mm Bofors (for a total of nine such weapons), and the number of single 20-mm Oerlikons was increased to 52. At Puget Sound the antenna of her main air search radar (SK) was moved to the foremast and replaced on the forward end of the stack by a fighter-director set (SM); she was also fitted with two H-2 hydraulic catapults.

USS Saratoga (CV-3) tied-up at Hobart, Tasmania, mid-March 1944.

Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, RN, (center) addresses personnel aboard USS Saratoga at Trincomalee, Ceylon, April 30, 1944. Photo by LT Wayne Miller.

National Archives photo # 80-G-470720.

USS Saratoga (CV-3) in Puget Sound, Washington, following overhaul, 7 September 1944. Note her unique camouflage scheme, Measure 32 Design 11A. By this time she had been fitted with numerous 40-mm/56-cal Bofors mounts. The Mk.37 directors were now equipped with Mk.12/22 radars.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives (# 19-N-72626).

(Thanks to Robert Hurst, who provided additional info).

As above.

As above. National Archives photo.

As above.

"Dawn Strike". USS Saratoga (CV-3) in Measure 32, Design 11A camouflage after having launched a strike against Formosa, 1944. Painting by Wayne Scarpaci, 18"x24".

USS Saratoga (CV-3) running full power trials in Puget Sound, Washington, following battle damage repairs, 15 May 1945.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives (photo # 19-N-84312).

USS Saratoga (CV-3) underway on a high-speed run in Puget Sound after her last, post-kamikaze refit, May 15, 1945. The aft aircraft lift was removed and the aft section of the hangar divided up into numerous accommodation rooms in preparation for transporting troops home during Operation Magic Carpet (USN photo).

Official USN Photograph, via National Archives (# 80-G-K-14568). USS Saratoga (CV-3) is shown at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. Date is about June 1945.

Naval Air Station, Alameda, California — Four aircraft carriers docked at the Air Station's piers, circa mid-September 1945. The ships are (from front to back): USS Saratoga (CV-3), USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Hornet (CV-12) and USS San Jacinto (CVL-30). Note PBY amphibians parked at the far left.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-701512).

Note that four, out of five, classes of fast Aircraft Carriers that fought in the Pacific (only the one-ship class Wasp is missing) are represented in this photograph.

USS Saratoga (CV-3) in the autumn of 1945, showing her flight deck crowded with returning GIs from the Pacific. She is painted in Measure 21. Note the hull bulge is clearly visible. (USN photo.)

USN photo of USS Saratoga (CV-3), undoubtedly taken after her last wartime refit, and possibly during one of her Magic Carpet runs.

San Francisco Naval Shipyard photo # 578-46-S8, taken at the Naval Air Station, Alameda, on February 27, 1946 while Sara was being prepared for use as a target at Bikini. Note the missing #4 5"/38 mount as well as the other missing 5" and 40mm from the gun tubs, as well as some gun directors.

Another interesting aspect of this photo is that is shows three CVLs in the background. These are Belleau Wood (CVL-24), which reported for inactivation on January 31, after her third and final Magic Carpet run; and probably Cowpens (CVL-25) and San Jacinto (CVL-30). These three light carriers joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet. All other surviving CVLs were placed in reserve at Philadelphia after World War II except Independence (CVL-22) which also went to Bikini as a target.

Ex-USS Saratoga (CV-3) sinking in Bikini Lagoon after she was fatally damaged by the "Baker Day" underwater atomic bomb test, 25 July 1946. Note her hull number ("3") still visible at the front of her flight deck, air escaping from her submerged hull and oil streaming away to starboard.

NHC photo # SC 259372 (Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives).

"The gallant carrier Saratoga, survivor of the air-burst Bikini bomb, slowly settles to the bottom after the under-water burst."