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Photo # 80-G-705399:  F8F Bearcat fighters fly past USS Valley Forge, April 1948

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

USS Valley Forge (CV-45, later CVA-45, CVS-45 and LPH-8), 1946-1971 --
Selected Views

USS Valley Forge, a 27,100-ton Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier, was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, paid for by a special war bond drive in that city. Commissioned in November 1946, she transferred to the Pacific Fleet in the following year. Valley Forge made a cruise to Australia and the Far East early in 1948 and then steamed the rest of the way around the World. In May 1950, she again deployed to the Western Pacific. She was the only U.S. aircraft carrier in that region when the Korean War broke out in late June.

For the next three years, Valley Forge was heavily engaged in Korean War operations, making four separate combat tours. During this time, in October 1952, she was redesignated CVA-45. With her flight deck essentially unchanged from its World War II design, Valley Forge was increasingly unable to handle the new high-performance, heavier jet aircraft of the post-Korean War era and, in January 1954, she was reclassified an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) support carrier with the designation CVS-45. Operating in the Atlantic, she served in this role for seven years.

In June 1961, Valley Forge was given a new mission, as an amphibious assault ship, and redesignated LPH-8. Carrying a force of helicopter-born Marines, she was stationed in the Pacific for the rest of her career, making five more Far Eastern deployments. The last three of these, in 1965-69, were largely spent on combat operations off Vietnam. USS Valley Forge decommissioned in January 1970 and was sold for scrapping in October 1971.

This page features a special selection of photographs of USS Valley Forge and provides links to broader pictorial coverage on this ship.

For additional views of USS Valley Forge, see:

  • USS Valley Forge (CV-45) -- 1946-49 Ship Portraits;
  • USS Valley Forge (CV/CVA-45) -- 1950-53 Ship Portraits;
  • USS Valley Forge (CVS-45) -- 1954-60 Ship Portraits;
  • USS Valley Forge (LPH-8) -- 1961-71 Ship Portraits;
  • USS Valley Forge (CV-45) -- Actions and Activities, 1946-1949;
  • USS Valley Forge (CV/CVA-45) -- Korean War Era Actions and Activities, 1950-1953;
  • USS Valley Forge (CVS-45) -- Actions and Activities as an ASW Carrier, 1954-1960 and
  • USS Valley Forge (CV-45) -- Miscellaneous Views and Ship's Insignias.


    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-705399

    USS Valley Forge (CV-45)


    Four F8F "Bearcat" fighters fly past the ship, 28 April 1948.

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

    Online Image: 115KB; 740 x 605 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: 80-G-K-9904 (Color)

    USS Valley Forge (CV-45)


    View of the carrier's island, with members of the American Ordnance Association visiting on board, while the ship was operating near Long Beach, California, 27 April 1949. An F8F-2 "Bearcat" fighter is parked alongside the island.
    Note large SX radar antenna atop the tripod mast, and many onlookers standing on the island walkways.

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

    Online Image: 124KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: 80-G-428267

    USS Valley Forge (CV-45)


    Crewmen use flight deck tractors with power brooms to sweep snow from the carrier's flight deck, during operations off Korea, circa early 1951.
    Photo is dated 8 May 1951, but Valley Forge ended her second Korean War deployment in late March of that year.
    Plane parked in the foreground is a F4U-4 "Corsair" fighter. Those on the forward flight deck are an AD "Skyraider" attack plane and a HO3S helicopter.

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

    Online Image: 128KB; 740 x 615 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: 80-G-689246

    USS Valley Forge (CVS-45)


    In harbor, 20 January 1956, with crewmen paraded on her flight deck spelling out the ship's nickname: "HAPPY VALLEY".

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

    Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 605 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: USN 1038267

    USS Valley Forge (CVS-45)


    Operating at sea on 27 August 1958, with a HS-7 HSS-1 anti-submarine helicopter about to land forward. S2Fs of VS-36 are parked on her flight deck.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

    Online Image: 150KB; 740 x 625 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-N-1038267.

     
    Photo #: USN 1043094

    Task Group ALFA


    Formation portrait of the Atlantic Fleet anti-submarine group's ships and aircraft, taken during exercises in 1959 with Secretary of the Navy William B. Franke embarked.
    Ships include the group flagship, USS Valley Forge (CVS-45) in center, two submarines, and seven destroyers. Identifiable among the latter are USS Eaton (DDE-510) at left front, USS Beale (DDE-471) following Eaton, USS Waller (DDE-466) in the center foreground, and USS Conway (DDE-507) at right front. Aircraft overhead include two four-plane formations of S2F "Trackers" and three HSS-1 "Seabat" helicopters from the Valley Forge air group, plus one shore-based P2V "Neptune".

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

    Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 565 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-N-1043094.

     
    Photo #: NH 96948

    USS Valley Forge (CVS-45)


    Ten-million cubic foot "Winzen" research balloon on the carrier's flight deck just prior to launching, during Operation "Skyhook", Refly "B", 30 January 1960.
    The balloon carried scientific devices to measure and record primary cosmic rays at 18-to-22 miles altitude.

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

    Online Image: 109KB; 590 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 96946

    USS Valley Forge (LPH-8)


    Underway in the Pacific Ocean, circa 1962-63, prior to her "FRAM II" overhaul. She has fifteen UH-34 helicopters spotted in take-off positions on her flight deck.
    Photo was received by "All Hands" magazine on 22 July 1963.

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

    Online Image: 138KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 96957

    USS Valley Forge (LPH-8)


    U.S. Marines double-time across the ship's flight deck, on their way to board HUS-1 helicopters, during Exercise "Pot Shot", circa 1961-62.
    Photograph was received 6 March 1963.
    Note aircrewman standing by the helicopter at right.

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

    Online Image: 125KB; 740 x 625 pixels

     

    For additional views of USS Valley Forge, see:

  • USS Valley Forge (CV-45) -- 1946-49 Ship Portraits;
  • USS Valley Forge (CV/CVA-45) -- 1950-53 Ship Portraits;
  • USS Valley Forge (CVS-45) -- 1954-60 Ship Portraits;
  • USS Valley Forge (LPH-8) -- 1961-71 Ship Portraits;
  • USS Valley Forge (CV-45) -- Actions and Activities, 1946-1949;
  • USS Valley Forge (CV/CVA-45) -- Korean War Era Actions and Activities, 1950-1953;
  • USS Valley Forge (CVS-45) -- Actions and Activities as an ASW Carrier, 1954-1960 and
  • USS Valley Forge (CV-45) -- Miscellaneous Views and Ship's Insignias.


    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 13 September 1999
    Link added 7 October 2001