According to DANFS ("Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships," a publication of the Naval Historical Center) CV-19 was named after John Hancock (1737-1793). John Hancock was president of the Massachusetts-provincial Congress and president of the Continental Congress (1775-77). As holder of this office, he was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Hancock served the Continental Congress until he became Governor of Massachusetts in 1780. He presided over the State's Constitutional Convention held in that year and also over the Massachusetts Convention of 1788 which ratified the Federal Constitution. With the exception of a term in the Confederate Congress (1785-86), he was Governor of Massachusetts until his death.

(Painting by John Singleton Copley, circa 1770-72).

Note: A Naval Historical Center article on "Ship Naming in the United States Navy," however, contradicts DANFS and states that CV-19 was named to honor former Navy ships named Hancock, and not the statesman himself.

Official US Navy Photograph of the launching of USS Hancock (CV-19.) The photo was taken on 24 January 1944 as Hannah was being launched from Bethlehem Steel Company at Quincy, MA. The photo is from the Bureau of Aeronautics, #BuAer-230239.

As completed, USS Hancock (CV-19) was camouflaged in Measure 32, Design 3A.

USS Bainbridge (DD-246) refueling from USS Hancock (CV-19), during the carrier's shakedown cruise in the western Atlantic and Caribbean areas, 14 June 1944. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (# 80-G-235276).

USS Hancock (CV-19) recovers a Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter, circa 1944. The ship is painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 3A.

Crewmen on USS Hancock (CV-19) move rockets to planes, while preparing for strikes on Formosa, 12 October 1944.

Carrier Raids on the Philippines, November 1944 — Flight Deck Officer on USS Hancock (CV-19) waves the "take-off" flag at a SB2C "Helldiver" bomber, during strikes on Manila Bay, 25 November 1944.

USS Hancock (CV-19) underway on 15 December 1944, during operations in the Philippines area.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. (photo # NH 89281).

Note the flight deck was cut away just aft of the port catapult, to provide an unobstructed view for a third Mark 37 director that would have been mounted on the former hangar-deck catapult sponson. Only Ticonderoga and Hancock actually had the cut, and it was later eliminated as BuAer considered the cut "a serious hazard to aircraft taking off."

USS Hancock (CV-19) recovering aircraft during operations in the South China Sea, January 1945. Three F6F Hellcat fighters are flying overhead as a TBM Avenger torpedo plane approaches at left. Photographed from USS New Jersey (BB-62) by Lieutenant Commander Charles Fenno Jacobs, USNR.

January 21, 1945.

1328: VT 124, Bu #23539 [a General Motors TBM-3 Avenger], pilot, LT(JG) C.R. Dean, 298954, and crewmen F.J. Blake, ARM3c, and D.E. Zima, AOM2c, made a normal landing and taxied forward. As the plane reached a point abreast the island a violent explosion occurred, believed to have been caused by the detonation of two (2) 500 lb. bombs adrift in the plane's bomb bay. The immediate results of the explosion were: casualties: killed - 62; critically injured - 46; seriously injured - 25; slightly injured - 20. A 10x16 foot hole in the flight deck, gallery deck area in the vicinity demolished, inboard side signal bridge wrecked. Three airplanes demolished. Numerous shrapnel holes throughout the island structure. Fires broke out on the flight, gallery, and hangar decks. Hauled clear of the formation and commenced maneuvering at various courses and speeds in an attempt to control the winds over the deck, and with high speed turns, to wash flooding water out of the hangar deck.

1342: Fire in hangar deck under control.

1405: Fire in gallery deck under control.

1406: Hancock planes in the vicinity commenced landing on other carriers of the Task Group.

1500: Rejoined station in formation.

1510: Emergency repairs to the flight deck completed.

(Text from "War History of USS Hancock," courtesy of the USS Hancock Association).

Casualties are buried at sea on 9 April 1945. They were killed when Hancock was hit by a "Kamikaze" while operating off Okinawa on 7 April.

USS Hancock (CVA-19), 45 ° off bow portside, 4 March 1954. Puget Sound Naval Shipyard photo NY8-10774.

Seattle Branch of the National Archives, Record Group 181.

USS Hancock (CVA-19), broadside view, 28 April 1954. Puget Sound Naval Shipyard photo NY8-11091.

Seattle Branch of the National Archives, Record Group 181.

USS Porterfield (DD-682) refueling from the recently converted USS Hancock (CVA-19), 1954. From a report and series of photos documenting shortcomings in the refueling system: note hoses dragging in the water.

Seattle Branch of the National Archives, Record Group 181.

USS Hancock (CVA-19) underway, possibly in 1955: she spent that year conducting flight operations off California to test the Sparrow I and Regulus I (note missile on the port elevator) systems and Cutlass jets. Bow-mounted 3"/50 guns are still in place.

Underway, circa 1957.

USS Hancock (CVA-19) underway, circa 1957.

USS Hancock (CVA-19) underway at sea on 15 July 1957. She was then serving with the Seventh Fleet in the western Pacific. There are seven FJ Fury, ten F2H Banshee (two different models); two F7U Cutlass, fifteen AD Skyraider and three AJ Savage aircraft on her flight deck.

USS Hancock (CVA-19) in San Francisco Bay, California, in September 1957. Her crew is spelling out "Our Town" on her flight deck.

Photo by Russ Meek, date and location unknown.

An F3H-2 Demon, assigned to VF-213 "Black Lions," preparing to launch, August 23, 1962. F3H-2's were redesignated F-3B under the new, September 1962 joint designation system.

USS Hancock (CVA-19) deployed to WestPac with Carrier Air Group 21 (CVG-21, tail code "NP"), February 2–October 7, 1962.

An AD-6 Skyraider, assigned to VA-215 "Barn Owls," launches from USS Hancock (CVA-19), August 23, 1962. AD-6's were redesignated A-1H under the new, September 1962 joint designation system.

A WF-2 Tracer, assigned to VAW-11 "Early Eleven," prepares to launch, August 23, 1962. WF-2's were redesignated E-1B under the new, September 1962 joint designation system.

A WF-2 Tracer, assigned to VAW-11 "Early Eleven," launches from the port catapult, August 23, 1962.

An F8U-1 Crusader, assigned to VF-211 "Fighting Checkmates," awaits its turn on the starboard catapult. F8U-1's were redesignated F-8A under the new, September 1962 joint designation system.

Aerial view of USS Hancock (CVA-19) passing under the Golden Gate Bridge on April 17, 1963.

Catapult crewmen position an A-4C Skyhawk attack plane for launch, 24 March 1965. The carrier was then operating in Southeast Asian waters. Photographed by PH1 Jean Cote and PHC Robert Moeser. This A-4C appears to be Bureau # 149508. Markings below the cockpit indicate that the plane's assigned pilot was Lieutenant Commander Olof M. Carlson.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph (# USN 1110178-B).

Task Force 77 operating in the South China Sea, March 1965. It had recently launched strikes against North Vietnam. Carriers present are (clockwise from bottom): Ranger (CVA-61), Yorktown (CVS-10), Coral Sea (CVA-43) and Hancock (CVA-19). The guided missile cruiser Canberra (CAG-2) is in the center of the formation. The destroyer screen includes: England (DLG-22), Gurke (DD-783), Rogers (DD-876), Walker (DD-517), O'Bannon (DD-450), Somers (DD-947), Jenkins (DD-447), John A. Bole (DD-755), Higbee (DD-806), Buck (DD-761), Joseph Strauss (DDG-16) and Ernest G. Small (DD-838). This photograph was specially posed, and does not represent a normal operating formation.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph (# USN 1109915).

James Shriver, PHCM, USN (Ret), notes: "The photo [...] was taken in an exercise we called 'Operation Candid Camera.' On day one it was tried by a Vigilante photo plane. They missed. So the next day it was tried again and the photos were taken with a hand held camera from a HS-8 helicopter. The photographer was PH1 Elvin C. Conarty (now deceased). I was there... I processed the film and printed the photos."

A crewman wheels a cart loaded with three Sidewinder air-to-air guided missiles across the flight deck, during operations off Vietnam in April 1967. Hancock was then on her third Vietnam War deployment. Photographed by PHC R.D. Moeser.

Aerial view of the San Francisco Naval Shipyard at Hunters Point, sometime between April and July 1968. USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) and USS Hancock (CVA-19) are easily identifiable. Also visible in this photo are Midway (CVA-41), undergoing her SCB-101.66 modernization in the drydock just aft of Coral Sea, and USS Oriskany (CVA-34), undergoing an 8-month overhaul in the background.

USS Hancock (CVA-19) underway. These photos are believed to have been taken during Hanna's fourth WestPac/Vietnam Cruise, July 18, 1968–March 3, 1969 — the third with Carrier Air Wing 21 (CVW-21).

Front to back: USS Enterprise (CVAN-65), USS Hancock (CVA-19), three auxiliaries (which appear to be USS Markab (AR-23) with USS Pictor (AF-54) outboard, and USS Procyon (AF-61) forward of them), and USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) at NAS Alameda, CA, possibly in the first half of July 1969.

USS Hancock (CVA-19), with Carrier Air Wing 21 (CVW-21), passes under the Golden Gate Bridge, August 2, 1969, bound for WestPac and her fifth Vietnam cruise.

USS Hancock (CVA-19) underway off San Diego, CA, circa 1972–1974.

Overhead showing hurricane bow and angled flight deck, late in her career, in the 1970s.

September 1972. This A-4F Skyhawk (NP-302, BuNo 154990) of VA-212 "Rampant Raiders," part of Carrier Air Wing 21 (CVW-21), and flown by LT Weller, had to make an Emergency Barricade Landing after low oil pressure problems.

Aerial view of Naval Air Station Alameda, summer of 1974. Left to right: USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), USS Hancock (CVA-19), USS Oriskany (CVA-34), and USS Enterprise (CVAN-65).

USS Hancock (CVA-19) off San Diego, California, 11 February 1975, shortly before beginning her final deployment to the western Pacific. There are twelve A-4 Skyhawk attack planes and one SH-3 helicopter on her flight deck.