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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116, later AKV-16), 1945-1972

USS Badoeng Strait, a 10,300-ton Commencement Bay class escort aircraft carrier, was built at Tacoma, Washington. Commissioned in November 1945, she served in the Pacific over the next dozen years, except for eight months out of commission from April 1946 to January 1947. Mainly occupied during the later '40s with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) functions, Badoeng Strait's mission changed with the start of the Korean War in late June 1950. Early in the following month, she embarked Marine Corps aircraft for transportation to the war zone. She operated some of these Marine planes for combat operations through a tour that lasted until January 1951, including participation in the September 1950 Inchon Landing and the Hungnam Evacuation in December.

Badoeng Strait strait made two more Korean War deployments, in October 1951 - February 1952 and October 1952 - February 1953, providing a base for both Marine Corps fighter-bombers and Navy anti-submarine planes, depending on the operational needs most critical at the time. Modernized after her last combat cruise, Badoeng Strait subsequently was employed in both ASW and vertical assault roles, including active participation in evaluating helicopters for these functions. She made one more Far Eastern tour during the mid-1950s and took part in the 1956 Operation "Redwing" nuclear tests in the Central Pacific.

USS Badoeng Strait was decommissioned in May 1957 and was laid up for the next decade and a half. Reclassified as an aircraft transport in May 1959, she received the new hull number AKV-16. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in December 1970 and sold for scrapping in May 1972.

This page features selected views of USS Badoeng Strait.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 97371

USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116)


Tied up at a tropical port, during the later 1940s or early 1950s.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 123KB; 590 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97370

USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116)


Underway on 6 August 1952, while en route to the Far East for her third, and final, Korean War deployment.
Seven F4U "Corsair" fighter bombers are spotted on the forward end of her flight deck. The "LD" painted on their vertical stabilizers shows that they belong to Marine Fighter Squadron 212 (VMF-212).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 133KB; 740 x 625 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 52412

USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116)


At sea with Sikorsky HO4S helicopters of squadron HS-4 on board, during exercises off the U.S. west coast, 27 July 1954.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 92KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 52413

USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116)


Operating with Sikorsky HO4S helicopters of squadron HS-4, during exercises off the U.S. west coast, 27 July 1954.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 113KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 52414

USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116)


Underway while operating Sikorsky HO4S helicopters of squadron HS-4, during exercises off the U.S. west coast, 27 July 1954.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 95KB; 595 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 95747

Grumman F6F "Hellcat" fighter


Is catapulted from USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116), during operations in the eastern Pacific, circa early 1946. The carrier was then flagship of Commander Carrier Division 17, Rear Admiral Dixwell Ketcham.

Collection of Vice Admiral Dixwell Ketcham.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 113KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 96995

USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116)


Loading Marine Corps F4U-4B "Corsair" fighters at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California, for transportation to Korea, July 1950.
Badoeng Strait carried planes and aircrew of Marine Air Group 33 as part of the trans-Pacific movement of the First Provisional Marine Brigade, the initial Marine Corps deployment of the Korean War. She left San Diego in mid-July and arrived at Kobe, Japan on 31 July, flying her planes off the following day.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 99KB; 605 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97372

USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116)


Crewmen clear snow from the carrier's flight deck, during operations off the Korean coast, 14 November 1950.
Planes on deck are Marine Corps F4U-4B "Corsair" fighters.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 137KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97059

USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116)


Navy and Marine Corps ordnancemen load 5-inch rockets and napalm on USMC F4U-4B "Corsair" fighter-bombers, during operations off Korea in December 1950.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 52419

Grumman AF-2S "Guardian" anti-submarine plane


Landing on board USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116), 1 April 1954. This was the ship's 20,000th landing.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 54KB; 740 x 475 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 52417

Sikorski HO4S helicopter
,
of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Four (HS-4)

Lifts off from USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116) for a routine guard mail run, during exercises off the U.S. west coast, 27 July 1954.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 107KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

10 October 2000