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NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

USS BARNES   (ACV-20)
(later CVE-20 and CVHE-20)



Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign: November - Uniform - Yankee - Golf

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 (3 stars) / World War II Victory Medal
2nd Row: Navy Occupation Service Medal ("Asia" clasp) / Philippine Presidential Unit Citation / Philippine Liberation Medal

Bogue Class Escort Carrier
Ordered Laid down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned Stricken
(see below) 19 Jan 1942 22 May 1942 20 Feb 1943 29 Aug 1946 1 Mar 1959
Builder: Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, Wash.

Specifications
(As commissioned, 1943)
Displacement: 7,800 tons standard; 15,700 tons full load (design)
Dimensions (wl): 465' x 69.5' x 23.25'  /  141.7 x 21.2 x 7.1 meters
Dimensions (max.): 495' 8" x 111.5'  /  151.1 x 34 meters
Armor: None
Power plant: 2 boilers (285 psi); 1 steam turbine; 1 shaft; 8,500 shp
Speed: 16.5 knots
Endurance:
Armament: 2 single 5"/51 (later 5"/38) gun mounts; (1943) 8 twin 40-mm/56-cal gun mounts; (1943) 27 single 20-mm/70-cal gun mounts
Aircraft: 24
Aviation facilities: 2 elevators; 1 hydraulic catapult
Crew: 890

Click On Image
For Full Size Image
Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
World War II
ACV-20 Barnes
NS0302012
19k

USS Barnes tied up pierside, date and location unknown.

San Diego Air & Space Museum Ship Image Collection.

Via Robert Hurst
ACV-20 Barnes
NS0302004
98k

Head-on, Orchard Point, Wash. 9 March, 1943. Speed, 10 knots.

Seattle Branch of the National Archives photo.

Tracy White
CVE-20 Barnes
NS0302009
674k

USS Barnes (ACV-20), 1 July 1943, and USS Croatan (ACV-25), 20 May 1943. ONI 54-CV, Division of Naval Intelligence, Identification and Characteristics Section, 11-43.

Mike Green
Gerd Matthes, Germany
CVE-20 Barnes
NS0302008
178k

USS Barnes (CVE-20) underway on 1 July 1943, en route to the western Pacific. Note her deck load of USAAF P-38 Lightnings (their wings removed to maximize numbers) and P‑47 Thunderbolts. U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo # 1996.488.032.012; U.S. National Archives photo # 80-G-72301.

Robert Hurst
Mike Green
CVE-20 Barnes
NS0302010
45k

45° off centerline view of USS Barnes (CVE-20), Navy Yard Mare Island, Calif., 10 October 1943. Navy Yard Mare Island, Calif., photo # 7105-43.

Source: Mare Island Naval Shipyard Ship Files, San Francisco NARA.

Tracy White, Researcher @ Large
CVE-20 Barnes
NS0302005
164k

U.S. Army P-47D Thunderbolt fighters parked on the carrier's flight deck, for transportation to the Pacific war zone, 15 October 1943. Six Navy PV-1 Ventura patrol bombers are parked aft.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (# NH 97125).

NHC
CVE-20 Barnes
NS0302006
167k

A Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighter goes over the side of USS Barnes (CVE-20), 22 October 1943, after the pilot attempted to regain flying speed after receiving the "Cut" signal from the Landing Signal Officer. The pilot, Ensign Olinyock, A-V(N), and a crew member, F1c Olin Victor Bulgrin, were killed in this accident. Several other crew members were injured. Note triangular flight deck crash barrier supports partially extended below the plane.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (# 80-G-202611).

NHC
CVE-20 Barnes
NS0302007
101k

USS Barnes (CVE-20) with Grumman TBF Avenger aircraft parked on her flight deck, 8 January 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (# NH 97124).

NHC
CVE-20 Barnes
NS0302011
149k

USS Barnes (CVE-20) while under refit at the San Francisco Navy Yard, 25 December 1944, along with the light cruiser USS Detroit (CL-8) and the destroyer USS Beale (DD-471). Circles indicate changes, which at this time were relatively minor.

Photos and text from U.S. Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated Design History, by Norman Friedman.

Robert Hurst
CVE-20 Barnes
NS0302011a
175k
CVE-20 Barnes
NS0302013
862k

USS Barnes (CVE-20) underway bound for the U.S., November 1945 with a deck cargo of JNAF and JAAF fighter, reconnaissance and dive-bomber types lashed down to the flight deck. The most unusual type at bottom left is the twin-engined Nakajima J5N1 Tenrai ("Heavenly Thunder"). Photo Aviation History Collection/Alamy Stock Photo.

Image scanned from Wings of the Rising Sun: Uncovering the Secrets of Japanese Fighters and Bombers of World War II, by Mark Chambers. Osprey Publishing, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, PO Box 883, Oxford, OX1 9PL.,UK. Also 1383 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018, USA. ISBN HB 978 1 4728 2373 4.

Robert Hurst
"Mothballed"
CVE-20 Barnes
NS0302001
93k In Reserve, "Mothballs", South Boston Naval Annex, May 1958. © Richard Leonhardt
CVE-20 Barnes
NS0302002
85k In Reserve, "Mothballs", South Boston Naval Annex, May 1958. © Richard Leonhardt
CVE-20 Barnes
NS0302003
46k In Reserve, "Mothballs", South Boston Naval Annex, 1959. © Richard Leonhardt

For more photos and information about this ship, see:

View the USS Barnes (ACV-20 / CVE-20 / CVHE-20)
DANFS History entry located on the Naval History & Heritage Command Web Site.

Crew Contact and Reunion Information
Date:  
Place:  
Contact: Mr. Hal Whitsitt
Address: 3829 Underwood Dr #-4
San Jose, CA, 95117-2962
Phone:  
E-mail:  
Web site:  
Remarks:  

Related Links
Hazegray & Underway World Aircraft Carrier Pages By Andrew Toppan.
Escort Carrier Sailors & Airmen Association

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This page was created by Paul Yarnall and is maintained by Fabio Peña
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Last update: 15 October 2023