USS MONTEREY

Displacement: 11,000 t.	Length: 622'6"
Beam: 71'6"	Extreme Width: 109'2"
Draft: 26'	Speed: 31.6 k.
Complement: 1,569	Aircraft : 45
Armament: 26 40mm, 20 20mm	Class: Independence

On the 29^th of Dec. 1941, the New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J laid down Hull #26 for the US Navy and designated it the USS Dayton (CL-78). However, work on the ship had progressed little over a year before she was reclassified as CV-26 on the 27^th of March 1942. Shortly thereafter, on the 31^st of March 1942 she was given her new name: The USS Monterey. Finally, exactly two years and two months after construction began, the Monterey was launched on the 28^th of Feb. 1943. She was sponsored by Mrs. P.N.L. Bellinger; and commissioned on the 17^th of June 1943 with Capt. Lestor T. Hundt in command.

The Monterey was reclassified again on the 15^th of July 1943 to CVL-26. After a shakedown she departed Philadelphia for the western Pacific where she was assigned to the Third Fleet. On the 19^th of Nov. 1943 she reached the Gilberts in time to help secure Makin Island. She took part in strikes on Kavieng, New Ireland, on the 25^th of Dec., as part of Task Group 37.2, and supported the landings at Kwajalein and Eniwetok until the 8^th of Feb. 1944. From February through July of 1944 she helped support operations at Marianas, northern New Guinea, and the Bonins. During this time she operated with Task Force 58 during raids in the Carolines Islands, where, on the 29^th of April, with help from airplanes from the MacDonough (DD-351) and Stephen Potter (DD-538), she assisted in sinking the Japanese submarine I-174.. The USS Monterey also participated in the Battle of the Philippines Sea on 29 and 30 April.

At the end of July, 1944, the Monterey was sent to Pearl Harbor for overhaul. Departing on the 29^th of August she launched strikes against Wake Island on the 3^rd of September. Afterward she would join Task Force 38, assigned to The Fast Carrier Force, Task Group 38.1, under Vice Admiral John S. McCain in the USS Wasp. The Fast Carrier Force was basically one group of ships with two different designations depending on how operations were being carried out. One designation was Task Force 58, which fell under Admiral Spruance’s 5^th fleet. However, the USS Monterey normally fell under the other designation, Task Force 38, which was organized under Admiral Halsey’s 3^rd Fleet. With her new assignment, that of supporting Air Group 28, and Captained by S. H. Ingersoll, the USS Monterey began her new campaigns in the Pacific Operations. From October through December of 1944 she stayed in the Philippines, participating in strikes in the southern Philippines and the Ryukyus. Later, she would support the Leyte landing (23^rd-25^th Oct) and then the Mindoro landing.

However, what enemy planes were unable to do, mother nature could. On the 18^th of Dec she and the rest of the Third Fleet found themselves in the path of a typhoon which lasted 2 days. With winds clocking in at over 100 knots, several planes aboard the Monterey tore loose from their cables, causing several fires on the hangar deck. By the end, the typhoon would claim from the Third Fleet 790 lives and 3 Destroyers: the Hull(DD-350), the Monaghan(DD-354), and the Spence(DD-512). Twenty other ships, along with the Monterey were damaged. Shortly thereafter, in Jan 1945, the Monterey steamed her way to Bremerton, Wash., for overhaul.

After her overhaul she rejoined Task Force 58 and supported Okinawa operations by launching strikes against Nansei Shoto and Kyushu from the 9^th of May through the 1^st of June. She rejoined Task Force 38 for the final strike against Honshu and Hokkaido from the 1^st of July to the 15^th August. She departed Japanese waters on the 7^th of Sept., having embarked troops at Tokyo, and steamed home, arriving at New York City on the 17^th of October.

The Monterey left behind an impressive and enviable war record: She received 11 battles stars for her service in WWII. Her planes sank five enemy warships, and damaged others. She was responsible for the destruction of thousands of tons of Japanese shipping, hundreds of planes, and vital industrial complexes. She was assigned "Magic Carpet" duty, and made several voyages between Naples and Norfolk. She was decommissioned on the 11^th of Feb., 1947, and was assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Philadelphia Group.

However, she had not seen the last of her military duties, and with the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, the Monterey was recommissioned on the 15^th of Sept., 1950. She departed from Norfolk on the 3^rd of Jan., 1951, and proceeded to Pensacola, Fla., where she operated for the next 4 years under the Naval Training Command, training thousands of naval aviation cadets, student pilots, and helicopter trainees. Between the 1^st and the 11^th of October 1954, she took part in a flood rescue mission in Honduras. She departed from Pensacola on the 9^th of June 1955, and steamed to rejoin the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Philadelphia Group. She decommissioned for the final time on the 16^th of Jan., 1956 and was reclassified AVT-2 on the 15^th of May 1959. Finally, after all her service, the USS Monterey was stricken from the Navy List and marked for disposal on the 1^st of June 1970. She was birthed at the Naval Ship Yard, Philadelphia, PA and, to my knowledge scrapped.