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NavSource Online: Aircraft Carrier Photo Archive

USS PRINCETON   (CV-23)
(later CVL-23)


Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign: November - Foxtrot - Delta - Charlie
Unit Awards, Campaign and Service Medals and Ribbons




Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: American Campaign Medal / Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (9 stars)
2nd Row: World War II Victory Medal / Philippine Presidential Unit Citation / Philippine Liberation Medal
Independence Class Light Aircraft Carrier
Ordered Laid down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned Stricken
1 Jul 1940(*)
18 Mar 1942(**)		 2 Jun 1941 18 Oct 1942 25 Feb 1943   13 Nov 1944
Builder: New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.
(*) As a Light Cruiser (CL-61), see below
(**) As an Aircraft Carrier (CV-23), see below

Fate: Bombed by an enemy aircraft, 24 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Scuttled by torpedoing by USS Reno (CL-96).

A number of her crew were lost with the ship and remain on active duty.
Specifications
(As built, 1943)
Displacement: 11,000 tons standard; 15,100 tons full load
Dimensions (wl): 600' x 71' 6" x 26' (max)  /  182.9 x 21.8 x 7.9 (max) meters
Dimensions (max.): 622' 6" x 109' 2"  /  189.7 x 33.3 meters
Armor: no side belt (2" belt over fwd magazine); 2" protective deck(s); 0.38" bridge; 5"/3.75" bhds; 5" bhds, 2.25" above, 0.75" below steering gear
Power plant: 4 boilers (565 psi, 850°F); 4 geared turbines; 4 shafts; 100,000 shp (design)
Speed: 31.6 knots
Endurance (design): 12,500 nautical miles @ 15 knots
Armament: 2 quad 40-mm/56-cal gun mounts; 8 (soon 9) twin 40-mm/56-cal gun mounts; 16 single 20-mm/70-cal guns mounts
Aircraft: 30+
Aviation facilities: 2 centerline elevators; 1 hydraulic catapult (H 2-1)
Crew: approx. 1,560

Click On Image
For Full Size Image		 Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
October 1942-October 1944
CV-23 Princeton
NS022310		 90k

Launching, at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard, Camden, New Jersey, on 18 October 1942.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives (# 19-N-46451).

 NHC
CV-23 Princeton
NS022311		 111k

USS Princeton (CV-23) underway in the Delaware River, off the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 28 March 1943.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives (# 19-N-42899).

 NHC
CV-23 Princeton
NS022312		 91k

Another view, as above (photo # 19-N-42904).

 NHC
CV-23 Princeton
NS022308		 193k

Underway in the Atlantic area, during her shakedown cruise, 31 May 1943.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-65969).

 Scott Dyben
CV-23 Princeton
NS022309		 89k

Underway in the Atlantic area, during her shakedown cruise, 31 May 1943. Planes parked aft include nine SBD scout bombers and twelve F4F fighters.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-65971).

 Scott Dyben
CV-23 Princeton
NS022301		 97k Another view, as above. USN
CVL-23 Princeton
NS022313		 84k

USS Princeton (CVL-23) off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, 1 January 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Historical Center (# NH 95647).

 NHC
CVL-23 Princeton
NS022314		 89k

Another view, as above (photo # NH 95648).

 NHC
CVL-23 Princeton
NS022315		 79k

Another view, as above (photo # NH 95649).

 NHC
CVL-23 Princeton
NS022316		 96k

USS Princeton (CVL-23) steaming off Seattle, Washington, 3 January 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Historical Center (# NH 95650).

 NHC
CVL-23 Princeton
NS022317		 101k

USS Princeton (CVL-23) steaming at 20 knots off Seattle, Washington, 3 January 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Historical Center (# NH 95651).

Seen here sporting a solid Measure 21 camouflage scheme, she was repainted into Measure 33/Design 7A either at Bremerton (Jan. 1944) or at Pearl Harbor (May 1944). She was lost in October 1944 wearing the latter scheme.

Although ships of this class had only one catapult as original equipment, around 1945 some were fitted with a second one. Note that Princeton is carrying SK and SC-2 radars.

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

 NHC
CVL-23 Princeton
NS022330		 66k

Carrier raids on Formosa, October 1944 — A Japanese airplane crashes near USS Princeton (CVL-23), during an air raid off Formosa, 14 October 1944. Battleship in the left distance is probably USS South Dakota (BB-57) or USS Alabama (BB-60).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (# 80-G-285050).

 NHC

For more information about this ship, see:
View the USS Princeton (CV-23 / CVL-23)
DANFS History entry located on the Naval Historical Center Web Site.
Crew Contact and Reunion Information
Date:  
Place:  
Contact: Mr. Donald M Scheer
Address: 1518 N Olney St
Indianapolis, IN, 46201-1458
Phone: 317-637-9745
E-mail:  
Web site:  
Remarks:  
Related Links
Hazegray & Underway World Aircraft Carrier Pages By Andrew Toppan.
Official U.S. Navy Carrier Website
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Last update: 23 April 2006