Return to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Online Library listing

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

Photo # 80-G-K-18429:  USS Philippine Sea in the western Pacific, July 1955

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

USS Philippine Sea (CV-47, later CVA-47, CVS-47 and AVT-11), 1946-1971

USS Philippine Sea, a 27,100-ton Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier, was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. Commissioned in May 1946, she made an initial cruise to the Caribbean, then took part in Operation "Highjump", the 1947 expedition to the Antarctic led by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd. In 1948 and again in 1949, Philippine Sea deployed to the Mediterranean, with a period of Arctic operations intervening in late 1948. Following exercises in the Caribbean and the western Atlantic, in May 1950 the carrier was sent through the Panama Canal to join the Pacific Fleet.

When war erupted in Korea late in June 1950, Philippine Sea was soon ordered to steam westward to support United Nations forces as they attempted to defend the Republic of Korea against Communist aggression. She entered action in early August, and thrust air power into the conflict for ten months as the fighting front retreated, advanced northward, retreated and advanced again, and finally stabilized near where it had started a year earlier. The carrier returned to the U.S. in June 1951, but made two more Korean combat tours, one in January-July 1952 and the last in January-July 1953. During this time, in October 1952, she was redesignated CVA-47.

With the fighting over, Philippine Sea continued her pattern of Far Eastern tours with a deployment in March-November 1954, during which her planes shot down two attacking Chinese fighters off Hainan Island. She returned to the Western Pacific in April-November 1955, and was then converted to an anti-submarine warfare support aircraft carrier and redesignated CVS-47. In that role, Philippine Sea made two more cruises in Asian waters, one in the Spring of 1957 and the last in January-July 1958. She was decommissioned in December 1958. Reclassified as an aircraft transport, with the hull number AVT-11, she spent more than a decade in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. USS Philippine Sea was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in December 1969 and sold for scrapping in March 1971.

This page features selected views of USS Philipine Sea (CV/CVA/CVS-47 and AVT-11).

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-706709

USS Philippine Sea (CV-47)


Exercising at sea with another carrier and a heavy cruiser, circa 1948. The photograph was received by the Naval Photographic Center on 10 January 1949.
Note: "E" painted on her stack, location of hull number below the after end of her island; and HO3S helicopter on her flight deck.

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

Online Image: 91KB; 740 x 615 pixels

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

 
Photo #: NH 97322

USS Philippine Sea (CV-47)


Passes under the Oakland Bay Bridge as she arrives at San Francisco, California, upon her return from the Korean War zone, circa 9 June 1951. Crewmen on the flight deck are spelling out "CVG 2" in honor of her air group.

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

Online Image: 107KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-18429 (Color)

USS Philippine Sea (CVA-47)


Makes a sharp turn to starboard, while steaming in the Western Pacific with the Seventh Fleet, 9 July 1955.
Photographed by PH1 D.L. Lash.

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

Online Image: 107KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-18427 (Color)

USS Philippine Sea (CVA-47)


Operating in the Western Pacific with the Seventh Fleet, 9 July 1955.

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

Online Image: 107KB; 590 x 765 pixels

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

 
Photo #: NH 97323

USS Philippine Sea (CVS-47)


Underway at sea, with eleven S2F aircraft of Anti-Submarine Squadron 37 (VS-37) flying overhead, July 1958.
Six of these aircraft are still painted in the older blue color scheme.
Photographed by Everett.

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

Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 600 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-420932

Vought F4U-4B "Corsair",

of Fighter Squadron 113 (VF-113)

Taxies forward on the flight deck of USS Philippine Sea (CV-47), just before taking off to attack North Korean targets, circa 19 October 1950.
Note small bombs on the plane's wings and flight deck crewman signalling to the pilot.

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

Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-439871

USS Philippine Sea (CV-47)


Grumman F9F-2 "Panther" fighters of Fighter Squadrons 111 and 112 (VF-111 & VF-112) parked on the flight deck, forward, during a snowstorm off the Korean coast, 15 November 1950.

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

Online Image: 99KB; 595 x 765 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-439895

USS Philippine Sea (CV-47)


Members of the carrier's Ordnance Department pose with decorated 2000-pound bombs, during Korean War operations, 9 March 1951.
Messages painted on the bombs are: "Greetings from PhilCee"; "Happy Easter"; and "Listen! To This One it will Kill you".
Among the planes parked in the background are F4U-4Bs of Fighter Squadron 113 (VF-113).

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

Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 605 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-444887

USS Philippine Sea (CV-47)
,
USS Barton (DD-722) and
USS Iowa (BB-61)

Operating in the Sea of Japan, off Korea, during replenishment operations.
Photo is dated 1 July 1952.

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

Online Image: 113KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-18466 (Color)

USS Philippine Sea (CVA-47)


View looking aft from the carrier's island, showing AD and F9F aircraft parked on the flight deck. Photographed on 19 July 1955, while Philippine Sea was operating with the Seventh Fleet.
Photographed by PH1 J.E. Cook.

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

Online Image: 129KB; 640 x 675 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-18468 (Color)

USS Philippine Sea (CVA-47)


Refueling from USS Platte (AO-24), while operating with the Seventh Fleet, 19 July 1955.
USS Watts (DD-567) is also taking on fuel from Platte. Other ships present include two aircraft carriers, a cruiser and several destroyers and replenishment ships.

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

Online Image: 150KB; 740 x 595 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."


Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

Page made 6 September 2000
Link added 7 October 2001