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Langley Class Aircraft Carrier | |||||
Awarded | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Decommissioned | Stricken |
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(unknown) | 18 Oct 1911 | 24 Aug 1912 | 7 Apr 1913 20 Mar 1922 |
24 Mar 1920 | 8 May 1942 |
Builder: Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, Calif. |
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Fate: Bombed by Japanese aircraft, 27 February 1942, and scuttled by her escorting destroyers, about 75 miles south of Tjilatjap, Java. 16 of her crew were lost with the ship and remain on duty. |
Click on Thumbnail for Full Size Image |
Size | Image Description | Source | |
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Name |
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![]() NS020134 |
68k | CV-1 was named after Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834-1906). Born in Roxbury, Mass., he became a distinguished American astronomer, physicist, and pioneer in the development of heavier-than-air craft. In 1865 he was assistant in the Harvard Observatory, and the following year an assistant professor of mathematics at the Naval Academy. In 1878, as director of the Allegheny Observatory, he devised the bolometer—a radiant-heat detector that is sensitive to differences in temperature of one hundred-thousandth of a degree Celsius (0.00001 C)—and other scientific apparatus. In 1881 he organized a successful expedition to Mount Whitney, Calif. Professor Langley was honored by degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Yale, among other universities. He died in Aiken, S.C. |
Portrait of Samuel Pierpont Langley Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 15, Folder 8, 2002-12174.jpg. | |
Conversion |
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![]() NS020116 |
33k | Postcard photo showing Langley during her conversion to an aircraft carrier, 1921. |
Chuck White | |
![]() NS020112 |
101k | The bridge structure during the reconstruction process at Norfolk Navy Yard in 1921. View from the Fo'c'sle Deck looking aft. Note the ship's bell and open hatches to the crew berthing areas below. |
Darren Large | |
![]() NS020163 |
1.85M | "The Langley, an aircraft carrier, one of the oddest looking vessels of the new fleet." The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., Sunday, 13 February 1921. |
Library of Congress, Chronicling America, via Michael Mohl | |
![]() NS020169 |
416k | At Norfolk Navy Yard during the conversion process, 9 May 1921. An extra deck called the Superstructure Deck has been added on top of the Poop Deck aft for officer's accomodation. The original derricks have been replaced with towers to support the flight deck. The funnel has been relocated to a sponson on the portside. (Additional information thanks to Darren Large.) National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-185885. |
Tracy White, Researcher @ Large |
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![]() NS020170 |
568k | Aerial photo of the Norfolk Navy Yard, taken by a USAAC plane on 1 June 1921. USS Langley (CV-1) is in left background, under conversion. Other ships present include: USS Dahlgren (DD-187) in the foreground and USS Goldsborough (DD-188) in the background. Naval History & Heritage Command (NH&HC), photo # NH 93539. |
Darren Large | |
Date Unknown Images |
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![]() NS020140 |
109k | Landing aboard Langley. Bradley Ingram comments: "I think I have identified one of the aircraft on the page for the USS Langley (CV-1). I believe that NS020140 is a Loening OL-4 observation aircraft. Based on the style of exhausts, it could be an OL-2, OL-4 or an OL-6, from the shape of the cutouts under the engine, it could be an OL-4, or an OL-6, and from the shape of the wing floats, I think that the aircraft shown is an OL-4." "According to American Combat Planes by Ray Wagner, the first of the six OL-4s were delivered to the Navy in April 1926, which gives an early cutoff date for when the photo was taken. Unfortunately, I don't have any better information to date the photograph." |
Richard Huber, for his uncles Raymond ("Fergie") and Harry ("Pop") Ferguson, who served in the Navy for 30 years. | |
![]() NS020141 |
136k | At anchor, crew manning the rail. Darren Large notes: "Gonaives, Haiti, March–April 1927. Foremost plane is a Douglas T2D-1." |
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![]() NS020142 |
172k | Aerial view. |
Robert Hurst | |
![]() NS0815303 |
354k | USS S-42 (SS-153) in port during the 1920s or 1930s. Note USS Langley (CV-1) in the background. USN photo. |
Courtesy of Jim Kurrasch, Battleship Iowa, Pacific Battleship Center | |
The 1920s |
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![]() NS020172 |
89k | LT Virgil C. Griffin in a VE-7 making the first take off from a US carrier on Virginia Capes, 17 October 1922. (Thanks to Darren Large for the info.) The single engine, two-crew land biplane was built by Chance-Vought for Army use. The Navy adopted the plane and it was the first aircraft to fly off an aircraft carrier. National Naval Aviation Museum photo (# 1996.253.7214.001). |
Mike Green | |
![]() NS020154 |
61k | An Aeromarine 39-B piloted by LCDR Godfrey DeC. Chevalier, Naval Aviator #7, making the first landing on USS Langley (CV-1) on 26 October 1922. Photo U.S. Navy. |
Robert Hurst | |
![]() NS020133 |
381k | USS Langley (CV-1) early in her career (note single stack to port). Photo is stamped on back: "Chief of Information. Navy Department. Washington, 25 D.C." |
Jim Bulebush | |
![]() NS020121 |
88k | USS Langley (CV-1) at anchor, with an Aeromarine 39-B airplane landing on her flight deck, circa 1922. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph (# NH 63545). |
NHC | |
![]() NS020158 |
69k | Starboard side view of USS Langley (CV-1) at anchor, with sailors dressed in whites going down a ladder to board a liberty boat, early in her career (note the original single funnel). Eight aircraft are visible on the ship's flight deck. National Naval Aviation Museum photo (# 2001.152.002). |
Mike Green | |
![]() NS020107 |
131k | This is a Mare Island Navy Yard reprint of a photo of USS Langley (CV 1) circa 1922. US Navy photo, file name "CV 1 5902-43". |
Darryl Baker | |
![]() NS020124 |
89k | Aeromarine 39-B airplane approaching the flight deck of USS Langley (CV-1) during landing practice, 19 October 1922. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute Photographic Collection. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph (# NH 93178). |
NHC | |
![]() NS020122 |
140k | Aircraft in the ship's hangar, during the 1920s. The larger plane in the foreground is a Douglas DT torpedo bomber, with its wings removed. Other aircraft are Vought VE-7s of Fighting Squadron Two (VF-2), including Bureau #s A5936 (marked "2-F-9") and A5938 (marked "2-F-8"). The ship's boats are stowed along the hangar sides. Naval Historical Center photo # NH 72927; courtesy of LT Gustave J. Freret, USN (Ret) (1970). |
NHC | |
![]() NS020171 |
589k | USS Langley (CV-1) underway off Norfolk, Virginia, circa 1923. Norfolk Public Library, Sargeant Memorial Collection. |
Mike Green | |
![]() NS020150 |
74k | USS Langley (CV-1) off Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1923. |
Gerd Matthes, Germany | |
![]() NS020157 |
138k | USS Langley (CV-1) moored at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, 1923. Image is part of photograph album showing post-World War I scenes at NAS Pensacola, Florida. National Naval Aviation Museum, photo # 1989.119.001.005. |
Mike Green | |
![]() NS020104 |
156k | Aerial, bow on, plane on deck, 3 August 1923. National Archives & Records Administration (NARA), image # 80-G-185887. |
NARA | |
![]() NS020156 |
162k | USS Langley (CV-1) moored at North Island, California, 1924. National Naval Aviation Museum photo (# 1996.488.010.009). |
Mike Green | |
![]() NS020151 |
107k | USS Langley (CV-1) in the Panama Canal, 16 November 1924. |
Gerd Matthes, Germany | |
![]() NS020167 |
229k | Two postcards of USS Langley (CV-1) in her early years. NS020167: "U.S.S. Langley aeroplane carrier" NS020167a: Writing on back just says "docked at San Francisco." Dave would assume Mare Island, judging by all equipment in foreground. Circa 1924–25. |
Dave Wright | |
![]() NS020167a |
262k | |||
![]() NS020147 |
246k | "Fleet Plane Carrier on Night Maneuvers," circa 1925. |
Robert M. Cieri Thomas M. McDermott |
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![]() NS020128 |
121k | USS Langley (CV-1), location unkown. From the collection of LCDR Thomas A. Donegan (Ret). Darren Large notes: "The absence of the three portholes on the funnel sponson means this is circa 1925." |
Mike Donegan, son of LCDR Thomas A. Donegan | |
![]() NS020135 |
63k | USS Langley (CV-1) barely underway in calm waters, January 1925, location unknown (somewhere in the Pacific), with a Vought VE-7 about to land amidst a flock of birds. A safety net is rigged aft, below flight-deck level, and the funnels are lowered. The calm waters and the fact the carrier is making little way suggest a negligible wind-over-deck; however, the flight deck presents no obstacles for the pilot to be wary of. |
Robert Hurst | |
![]() NS020113 |
108k | USS Langley (CV-1) docked at the carrier pier at Naval Air Station, North Island, San Diego, California, with a Douglas DT-2 airplane taking off from her flight deck. This photo may have been taken during catapult tests in 1925. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph (photo # NH 47024). Darren Large notes: "San Diego April 2, 1925." |
Scott Dyben | |
![]() NS020113a |
652k | USS Langley (CV-1). Probably taken at about the same time as the photo above. Darren Large notes: "TS-1 taking off, San Diego, circa 1925." |
Robert M. Cieri Larger copy submitted by Bob Canchola, BT, USN (Ret.) |
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![]() NS020123 |
67k | Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, USN, Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics (right) observing aircraft operations on board USS Langley (CV-1), circa 1925-26. At left is Captain Joseph M. Reeves, Commander, Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet. Collection of Lieutenant Gustave J. Freret, USN (Retired), 1972. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph (# NH 81154). |
NHC | |
![]() NS020111 |
39k | Believed to have been taken at Pearl Harbor. Closeup of view above. Her bridge, unaltered since her days as a collier, can be seen forward, below the flight deck and just aft of one of her 5" guns. Darren Large comments: "[This is] [i]n either 1925 or 1926 because her first posting in Pearl was April through September 1925. In Jan 1927 at Mare Island, the Disbursing Office was fitted to where the original starboard side exhaust vent was. As this is absent in the photo, it is probably 1925, possibly early 1926." |
Ric Hedman | |
![]() NS020111a |
60k | |||
![]() NS020166 |
646k | USS Langley (CV-1), circa the mid-late 1920s. USN Photo. |
Courtesy of Jim Kurrasch, Battleship Iowa, Pacific Battleship Center | |
![]() NS020136 |
131k | Aft starboard quarter view of USS Langley (CV 1) circa 1926 place unknown. US Navy photo file name "CV 1 1132-37". |
Darryl Baker | |
![]() NS020148 |
166k | USS Langley underway, circa 1926. |
Charles Hansen collection | |
![]() NS014044l |
2.38M | USS Langley (CV-1) with Vought VE-7 aircraft on deck, at anchor off Culebra Island, Puerto Rico, on 18 March 1926. In the background are 4 four-stack destroyers and a Tennessee (BB-43/44)-class battleship on the left, and two New Mexico (BB-40/42)-class battleships (center and right). The original photo was labeled "Harbinger" to show symbolically how the unimposing Langley was the first of a line of ships which eventually drove the battleship from its primary place into the background. |
USN photo via National Naval Aviation Museum | |
![]() NS010026p |
709k | Different angle of the above photo: Langley (CV-1) and battleships at anchor off Culebra Island, Puerto Rico, 18 March 1926. |
USN photo NARA II 80-G-185902, via Tracy White, Researcher @ Large | |
![]() NS014127g |
2.54M | Ships of the U.S. Fleet pictured at anchor at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during winter exercises in 1927 (Fleet Problem VII, March 1927?). The "center" row has Mississippi (BB-41), then Langley (CV-1), Oklahoma (BB-37), Pennsylvania (BB-38) and Arizona (BB-39) in that order. The next row to the left has Idaho (BB-42), then New Mexico (BB-40), followed by three of the Tennessee/Colorado class (hard to pick out distinguishing features in this photo), with Nevada (BB-36) as tail-end-Charlie. Further to the left are another Tennessee/Colorado class BB and a Memphis (formerly Tennessee) class armored cruiser. Two unidentified Omaha class cruisers are in the foreground. There are at least 17 destroyers, and two submarine tenders in the foreground with about 10 smaller and two large submarines. (Thanks to Richard Jensen for the identifications.) Also identifiable (bottom, right) is USS Mahan, by then converted to a minelayer and redesignated DM-7, but still wearing her old DD hull number (102). The peninsula in the right foreground is South Toro Cay, where the drydock is still visible that was begun in 1904, but cancelled two years later. National Naval Aviation Museum photo (# 2003.001.323). |
Wikipedia.org, via Branden Deschaine | |
![]() NS014827s |
240k | With USS West Virginia (BB-48) and the Brooklyn Bridge in the background, the loaded, narrow flight deck of the airplane carrier USS Langley (CV‑1) is moored at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in May 1927. Langley had suffered a generator explosion and was in the process of being repaired after having been towed to the Navy Yard. The planes are Boeing FB-5's and Curtiss TS-1's. US Navy and Marine Corps Museum/Naval Aviation Museum, photo # 1996.253.7128.001. (Photo id. courtesy of Charles Sauer.) |
Mike Green | |
![]() NS020101 |
1.13M | Underway, aircraft on deck. June 1927. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), image # 80-G-460108. |
NARA Bob Canchola, BT, USN (Ret.) |
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![]() NS020110 |
692k | Vought VE-7 taking off from USS Langley (CV-1), May 1927. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-6651. |
NARA | |
![]() NS020137 |
91k | USS Langley (CV-1) underway following unidentified US battleships, June 1927, location unknown. |
Robert Hurst | |
![]() NS020114 |
134k | USS Langley (CV-1) in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands, with 34 planes on her flight deck, May 1928. Note booms rigged out from her sides. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-424475). |
Scott Dyben | |
![]() NS0530101 |
120k | USS Langley (CV-1) underway off San Diego, California, 1928, with Vought VE-7 aircraft on her flight deck. USS Somers (DD-301) is in the background. Collection of Lieutenant Gustave J. Freret, USN (Retired), 1972. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph (# NH 81279). |
Joe Radigan | |
![]() NS020164 |
85k | USS Langley (CV-1) arriving at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, 20 March 1929. "The Langley was warped by six tugs to her berth at League Island just before sundown after an uneventful voyage from the Canal Zone. The ship has brought back a detachment of 134 Marines released from service in Nicaragua. Six sea planes were on her broad upper deck when she entered port." Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, George D. McDowell Collection. |
Mike Green. | |
![]() NS020210 |
192k | USS Lexington (CV-2), top; USS Saratoga (CV-3), with her distinctive funnel stripe; and USS Langley (CV-1) , accross the pier from Saratoga. Bremerton, Washington, 11 November 1929. |
From the collection of Joseph P. English. Contributed by his son, George E. English. | |
![]() NS020210a |
1.34M | As above, cropped. |
Bob Canchola, BT, USN (Ret.) Robert Hurst. |
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![]() NS020127 |
69k | Late 1920s image. |
Manuel D. Tafoya, Sr. | |
![]() NS020102 |
138k | Late 20's Early 30's Image of Langley underway. | USN | |
![]() NS013916a |
147k | USS Langley (CV-1) and USS Arizona (BB-39) at Naval Air Station San Diego, CA., late 1920s. |
USN / Joe Radigan | |
![]() NS020160 |
253k | USS Langley (CV-1) with New York City skyline in the background. Photo believed to have been taken in the late 1920s–early 1930s. (If, by studying NYC skyline, you are able to furnish a narrower time frame, please let us know.) |
Curt Molten, grandson of CAPT Robert P. Molten, Jr., USN | |
The 1930s |
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![]() NS020129 |
96k | "Aircraft Carrier Langley." (From a Russian publication). This drawing shows Langley about 1930, after the removal of her catapult. |
Alex Tatchin | |
![]() NS020152 |
337k | USS Langley (CV-1), location unknown. Official U.S. Navy photo. Circa 1930 (thanks to Darren Large). |
Gerhard L. Mueller-Debus | |
![]() NS020143 |
110k | Transitting the Panama Canal, circa 1930. |
Robert Hurst | |
![]() NS020130 |
55k | USS Langley in Dry Dock No. 2, at Navy Yard, Puget Sound, January 1930. Note portable sanitary lines and staging around the stern. Seattle Branch of the National Archives photo. |
Tracy White | |
![]() NS020103 |
152k | At anchor off Cristobal, Panama Canal Zone, 1 March 1930, in her final configuration as a carrier. The flight-deck masts could be dismounted for flight operations and her two flight-deck catapults had been removed. Note two tiltable funnels to port. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-185915). Two of her four 5" guns can be seen, forward and aft. (Thanks to Robert Hurst). |
NHC | |
![]() NS020168 |
2.24M | "Five Days Adrift in a Rubber Boat!" "While 135 Naval Vessels and 200 Planes Searched for Him, Chief Pilot Verne Harshman, U.S.N., Faced a Thousand Deaths on a Rubber Raft in Mid-Pacific—The Account of His Battle for Life Is a Thrilling Record of the Navy Department." ... "The first full account of the adventure, which occurred during the Spring maneuvers of the battle fleet, has just been received by the Navy Department from the victim. Chief Aviation Pilot Verne W. Harshman, then one of the pilots of a Navy Curtiss Hawk fighter squadron, VF Squadron 2, U.S.S. Langley. Harshman has just been sent to the U.S.S. Lexington, aircraft carrier, at San Diego, Calif., for assignment to Scouting Plane Squadron 3, Battle Force." ... The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., 14 June 1931. |
Michael Mohl | |
![]() NS020155 |
169k | USS Langley (CV-1). Date and location unknown. Darren Large notes that this photo must have been taken after 1930. |
Robert M. Cieri | |
![]() NS020138 |
46k | USS Langley (CV-1) underway, October 1931, with an aircraft about to land, location unknown (USN photo). |
Robert Hurst | |
![]() NS020115 |
55k | Holystoning the deck, 1931. Photo taken by Preston E. Cloud, scanned with permission. |
Chuck White | |
![]() NS020117 |
58k | On September 23, 1931. LT Alfred M. Pride piloted the Navy's first rotary wing aircraft, a Pitcairn XOP-1 autogyro, in landings and takeoffs aboard Langley while underway. From the collection of Preston E. Cloud. |
Chuck White | |
![]() NS020118 |
110k | Captain Steele, in command of Carrier Division One, SCOFOR, inspects the crew of USS Langley on September 24, 1931. From the collection of Preston E. Cloud. |
Chuck White | |
![]() NS020119 |
52k | A biplane takes off from Langley, circa 1931-32. From the collection of Preston E. Cloud. |
Chuck White | |
![]() NS020131 |
39k | USS Langley moored pierside at NAS North Island, San Diego, circa 1931-32. Photo by Teddy Krueger, USS Holland (AS-3). |
Rick Larson, MMCM(SS) ret. | |
![]() NS020132 |
71k | USS Langley (right) moored pierside at NAS North Island, San Diego, circa 1931-32. USS Holland (AS-3) is nearest camera. Ship in the center of the photo is USS Wright (AV-1). Photo by Teddy Krueger, USS Holland. |
Rick Larson, MMCM(SS) ret. | |
![]() NS020105 |
50k | USS Langley (CV-1) is seen at anchor at an unknown date/location. Ship's boats are at her port side and some of her boilers are lit. Langley was converted from the collier USS Jupiter (AC-3) to an aircraft carrier at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Darren Large comments: "Circa 1932. O2U Corsairs on deck and probably a Loening OL-8 spotted on the centerline." |
Mike Green | |
![]() NS020159 |
194k | Ships of the United States Fleet pictured at anchor inside the breakwater at Colon, Canal Zone, 1933. Identifiable ships include the aircraft carriers Lexington (CV-2), Langley (CV-1), and Saratoga (CV-3), as well as the battleships Texas (BB-35) and New York (BB-34). Omaha-class and Pensacola-class cruisers are also visible. National Naval Aviation Museum (NNAM) photo (# 1996.488.001.006). |
NNAM | |
![]() NS020126 |
72k | Fleet Review off New York City, 31 May 1934 Ships of the Fleet Train maneuvering during the review. USS Langley (CV-1) is in the lower right. Crossing her bow is USS Melville (AD-2), led by either USS Dobbin (AD-3) or USS Whitney (AD-4). Leading the next line is USS Relief (AH-1), followed by two oilers and another auxiliary. Nine battleships are in the distance, making a column turn to port. Collection of Vice Admiral Dixwell Ketcham, USN. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph (# NH 95716). |
NHC | |
![]() NS020161 |
573k | USS Langley (CV-1) arriving in New York, possibly on 1 June 1934. |
Joe Radigan | |
![]() NS020120 |
99k | Stacks down, flight quarters, South Pacific, probably in the mid-1930s. USS Cole (DD-155) in the foreground. From the collection of Preston E. Cloud. |
Chuck White | |
![]() NS020153 |
128k | USS Langley (CV-1), Panama Canal (mid-1930s?). |
Jim Millholland, via Alan Cole | |
![]() NS020144 |
140k | Panama Canal, circa 1935–1936. |
Cliff Coffey. Photo taken by Cliff's grandfather, US Army | |
![]() NS020165 |
492k | USS Langley (CV-1) in her later years as an aircraft carrier. |
Courtesy of Jim Kurrasch, Battleship Iowa, Pacific Battleship Center | |
![]() NS020139 |
100k | Broadside view of USS Langley (CV 1) circa 1936 shortly before conversion. US Navy photo file name "CV 1 9106-5-51". |
Darryl Baker | |
![]() NS020162 |
280k | Two photos of Langley at Mare Island in October 1936, at the start of her conversion to a seaplane tender. From the files of the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum. NS020162: Photo file name "CV 1 10394-1-10-36". NS020162a: Photo file name "CV 1 10394-2-10-36". |
Darryl Baker | |
![]() NS020162a |
321k | |||
Memorabilia |
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![]() NS020145 |
344k | Christmas card, year unknown. |
Robert M. Cieri | |
Models |
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![]() NS020146 |
72k | Model on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida. Photos taken on 13 June 2008. |
Photos by Judson Phillips | |
![]() NS020146a |
75k | |||
![]() NS020146b |
84k | |||
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Crew Contact and Reunion Information Web Sites |
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation Fleet Reserve Association |
Related Links |
Hazegray & Underway World Aircraft Carrier Pages By Andrew Toppan. The First Aircraft Carriers Part One: The First American Flattops- Langley, Lexington and Saratoga, an article by Father Steve Dundas |
Main Photo Index |
Aircraft Carrier Photo Index Page |
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This page was created by Timothy Dike and is maintained by Fabio Peña
Last update: 24 October 2020