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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 97312:  USS Princeton at sea off Korea, 1951

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

USS Princeton (CV-37, later CVA-37, CVS-37 and LPH-5), 1945-1971

USS Princeton, a 27,100-ton Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier built at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, was commissioned in November 1945, a few months after the end of World War II. She operated in the Atlantic until June 1946, then went to the Pacific, where she spent the rest of her long career. Princeton deployed to the western Pacific twice during the later 1940s, initially in 1946 and again in 1948. The Truman Administration's defense cutbacks brought her decommissioning in June 1949, but she was recalled to active service upon the outbreak of war in Korea a year later.

Princeton recommissioned in August 1950 with a largely Naval Reserve crew and began the first of three Korean War combat tours late in the year. She operated with Task Force 77 in support of United Nations forces in Korea from December 1950 to August 1951, from April to October 1952 and from March 1953 to the end of the conflict that summer. The carrier was redesignated CVA-37 in October 1952.

In January 1954, Princeton was again reclassified from attack aircraft carrier to anti-submarine warfare support aircraft carrier, with new hull number CVS-37. In this role, she operated in the eastern Pacific and in Asiatic waters, deploying to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf area in 1957-58. Though scheduled for decommissioning after that, Princeton was instead redesignated LPH-5 in March 1959 and converted into an amphibious assault ship.

As an LPH, she carried U.S. Marines and their helicopters in the then-new mission of vertical envelopment of amphibious warfare objectives. Princeton continued her pattern of alternating eastern and western Pacific operations and was heavily envolved in the war in Southeast Asia. She landed Marines at Chu Lai, Republic of Vietnam, in May 1965 and transported Marine aircraft from the U.S. to the combat zone during the summer of that year. Again deploying to the Vietnam area in February-August 1966, she supported Marine and U.S. Army units in several combat operations. During the rest of the decade, Princeton continued her active participation in the Vietnam War during annual Western Pacific tours. In April 1969 she also served as a space recovery ship for the Apollo 10 lunar mission. After two and a half decades of service, USS Princeton was decommissioned and striken from the Naval Vessel Register in January 1970. She was sold for scrapping in May 1971.

This page features selected views of USS Princeton (CV/CVA/CVS-37 and LPH-5).

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 #: 80-G-K-11754 (Color)

USS Princeton (CV-37)


Takes on supplies and ammunition at Sasebo, Japan, on 4 December 1950, the day before she began combat operations off Korea.
Note LSU-1082 and large floating crane alongside the carrier.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 116KB; 740 x 615 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 97047

USS Princeton (CV-37)


Two Grumman F9F-2 "Panther" fighters dump fuel as they fly past the carrier, during Korean War operations circa May 1951.
Photographed from a VC-61 plane piloted by Lieutenant (Junior Grade) George Elmies.
This photograph was released by Commander, Naval Forces Far East under date of 23 May 1951.
The plane on left is Bureau # 123583.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the "All Hands" collection at the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 620 pixels

Note:
This photo is slightly disfigured by horizontal cracking between the planes and the ship.

 
Photo #: NH 97312

USS Princeton (CV-37)


At sea off the coast of Korea with F4U aircraft parked aft and F9F jet fighters forward.
The original photograph is dated 8 June 1951.

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

Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97313

USS Princeton (CVS-37)


Photographed circa the mid-1950s, with twelve S2F anti-submarine aircraft parked forward.

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

Online Image: 147KB; 600 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 73454

USS Princeton (LPH-5)


Photographed after her 1961 "FRAM" modernization, with UH-34 helicopters on her flight deck.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 131KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: USN 1142529

USS Princeton (LPH-5)


Refueling from USS Chipola (AO-63) during operations in the Pacific, 25 June 1968.
Photographed by PH3 Carty.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 590 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-N-1142529.

 
Photo #: NH 97075

USS Princeton (CV-37)


Scoreboard on the carrier's bridge wing, showing the work done by aircraft of Air Group 19 while embarked on Princeton from 5 December 1950 to 29 May 1951.
The photograph was released by Commander Naval Forces Far East under date of 7 June 1951.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the "All Hands" collection at the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 125KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97314

USS Princeton (CVS-37)


Commander Carrier Division 15, Captain Raymond N. Sharp, shows the Prime Minister of Ceylon, Solomon W.R. Bandaranaike, emergency supplies that are to be delivered to flood victims in his nation, 11 January 1958.
Photographed on the carrier's hangar deck, with HSS-1 helicopters undergoing maintenance in the background.
Relief supplies include cans of sliced & cored pineapple, produced in Australia and donated by the United States.

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

Online Image: 127KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97315

USS Princeton (LPH-5)


U.S. Marine Corps HUS-1 helicopters are towed to their launching positions on the ship's flight deck, 20 March 1960.
Note groups of Marines marching aft to board their helicopters.

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

Online Image: 121KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 93799

USS Princeton (LPH-5)


General William Westmoreland, Commander Military Advisory Group, Vietnam, walks up the ship's flight deck with her Commanding Officer, Captain Paul J. Knapp, in late 1964, on the occasion of her delivery of flood relief supplies to northern South Vietnam.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 104KB; 545 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: K-31422 (Color)

Operation "Jackstay", Vietnam, 1966

Marine UH-34 Helicopters lift off from USS Princeton (LPH-5) to land "Leathernecks" in the Republic of Vietnam during Operation "Jackstay", 26 March 1966.
Photographed by Journalist 1st Class E.J. Filtz, USN.
UH-34 in the foreground is Bureau # 148075.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 530 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 


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


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Page made 25 August 2000
Link added 7 October 2001