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NavSource Online: Aircraft Carrier Photo Archive


Contributed by Mike Smolinski

USS LEYTE   (CV-32)
(later CVA-32, CVS-32 and AVT-10)



Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign: November - Hotel - Romeo - Bravo
Tactical Voice Radio Call: "RUGBY"

CLASS - ESSEX (Long Hull) AKA TICONDEROGA
Displacement 27,100 Tons, Dimensions, 888' (oa) x 93' x 28' 7" (Max)
Armament 12 x 5"/38AA, 32 x 40mm, 46 x 20mm, 82 Aircraft.
Armor, 4" Belt, 2 1/2" Hanger deck, 1 1/2" Deck, 1 1/2" Conning Tower.
Machinery, 150,000 SHP; Westinghouse Geared Turbines, 4 screws
Speed, 33 Knots, Crew 3448.

Operational and Building Data

Initially named Crown Point.

Click On Image
For Full Size Image
Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
As an Attack Carrier (CV/CVA)
CV-32 Leyte
NS023201
15k Undated, Official USN image. USN
CV-32 Leyte
NS023202
185k Undated, Official USN image. William R. Strewart
CV-32 Leyte
NS023215
97k

A Sikorski HO3S-1 helicopter flies beside the carrier during the Second Task Fleet's Operation Frigid, November 1948.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (# 80-G-K-9496).

NHC
CV-32 Leyte
NS023205
99k

Underway in the North Atlantic, during Operation Frigid, 20 November 1948. Photographed by PH1 B.T. Teigan.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-416025).

Scott Dyben
CV-32 Leyte
NS091909809
1.08Mb

Caloosahatchee (AO-98), Leyte (CV-32), and Samuel B. Roberts (DD-823) conducting an underway replenishment during Operation Frigid, 20 November 1948. US Navy photo.

Robert M. Cieri
CV-32 Leyte
NS023211
103k

Ensign Jesse L. Brown (left, front) and Ensign R.G. Rider play a game of backgammon (or "acey-ducey") in the Fighter Squadron 32 ready room, on board USS Leyte, 12 April 1949. Other squadron pilots are relaxing in the background.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (# 80-G-377908).

Note: Ensign Jesse L. Brown was designated a Naval Aviator in October 1948, the first African-American to achive this status. He was killed in action on 4 December 1950, while on a close air support mission near the Chosin Reservoir. Ensign Jesse LeRoy Brown was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the escort ship USS Jesse L. Brown (DE-1089, later FF-1089) was named in his honor.

NHC
CV-32 Leyte
NS023221
78k

USS Leyte underway and about to launch two Grumman F9F Panthers, circa the early 1950s. Location unknown.

Robert Hurst
CV-32 Leyte
NS023219
80k

Group of Marine fighter pilots of VMF-223 aboard USS Leyte on a Mediterranean cruise, September 6, 1949-January 26, 1950. Captain Rex Wilson is 4th from left, seated.

VMF-223 was part of Marine Aircraft Group 11 (MAG-11), 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW).

Karen Ledesma, daughter of Captain Rex Wilson
CV-32 Leyte
NS023206
124k

Crewmembers swimming over the carrier's side, using her deck edge elevator as a diving platform, at Augusta, Sicily, 27 May 1950.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-415936).

Scott Dyben
CV-32 Leyte
NS023207
123k

At anchor in Sasebo harbor, Japan, in November 1950, during a break in her Korean War combat operations. Photographed by AFC O.H. Wilson.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-434496).

Scott Dyben
CV-32 Leyte
NS023218
31k

USS Leyte (CV-32) underway in Korean waters. The photo was taken on 15 November 1950, three days before Ensign F. C. Weber, flying an F9F-2 Panther from VF-31 assigned to Leyte, shot down a North Korean MiG-15 (photo # USN-421908).

NHC
CV-32 Leyte
NS023208
158k

Moored off Naval Operating Base, Yokosuka, Japan, during a break from Korean War operations, 1 December 1950. Note old fortification in the left background.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-424599).

Scott Dyben
CV-32 Leyte
NS023212
93k

USS Leyte (CV-32) steams around the end of Naval Air Station, North Island, as she arrives at San Diego, California, after the end of her Korean War combat tour. The scene is partially framed by the tail of a PBM-5 patrol bomber (Bureau # 84771). Photograph is dated 3 February 1951.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. (# NH 97296).

NHC
CV-32 Leyte
NS023203
204k May 1952, Quonset Point Rhode Island. Official USN image. William R. Strewart
As an ASW Carrier (CVS)
CVS-32 Leyte
NS023220
60k

The ASW aircraft carrier USS Leyte (CVS-32) underway, date and location unknown, with ZPG-2 aloft and unidentified destroyer in attendance (USN photo.)

Robert Hurst
CVS-32 Leyte
NS023213
89k

Grumman S2F-1 Anti-submarine Aircraft "... gets a 'go' signal from USS Leyte flight deck 0fficer as she is launched for anti-submarine patrol during LANTPHIBEX. The specially-designed aircraft were kept flying around the clock during the overseas transit of the amphibious force, and combined with sonar-equipped helicopters and Navy blimps, provided effective protection against four marauding 'Enemy' subs." Quoted from the original caption, which was released by USS Leyte (CVS-32) under date of 1 November 1955.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. (# NH 97297).

NHC
CVS-32 Leyte
NS023214
123k

USS Leyte (CVS-32) off Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, while embarking Marines prior to the "invasion" of the Panama Canal Zone, during amphibious exercises in 1957. She has thirteen HRS and two HUS helicopters of Marine Air Group 26 on her flight deck. Photo was released by the Department of Defense on 2 July 1957.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. (# NH 97298).

NHC
CV-32 Leyte
NS023204
22k In Portugal during the 1957 Med cruise,and 6th Fleet NATO operations. © Al Seguin
CVS-32 Leyte
NS023216
80k

Grumman S2F-2 Tracker Anti-submarine Aircraft landing aboard USS Leyte (CVS-32) during an anti-submarine exercise. The photograph was received by the Naval Photographic Center in February 1958.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph (# USN 1034039).

NHC
CVS-32 Leyte
NS023217
80k

USS Leyte (CVS-32) operating with a ZPG-2 blimp and an unidentified destroyer of Destroyer Squadron Twenty, during anti-submarine exercises in February 1958.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph (# USN 1034040).

NHC
"Mothballed"
CV-32 Leyte
NS023210
64k "Mothballed," Bayonne, NJ, August 1961. © Richard Leonhardt

For more photos and information about this ship, see:

USS LEYTE CV-32 History
View This Vessels DANFS History Entry
(Located On The Hazegray & Underway Web Site, This Is The Main Archive For The DANFS Online Project.)

Crew Contact And Reunion Information

Contact Name: Mr. Richard Bolin
Address:308 S Maple St Farmer City, IL, 61842-1364
Phone: 309-928-3552
E-mail: None

Additional Resources
Hazegray & Underway World Aircraft Carrier Pages By Andrew Toppan.
USS Leyte (CV-32) Web Page
Official U.S. Navy Carrier Website
Korean Combat Action Reports located on the Naval Historical Center Web Site

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Last update: 23 September 2007