USS Oriskany Essex Class Aircraft Carrier

USS Oriskany was an Essex Class aircraft carrier with the United States Navy that was named after the revolutionary war battle of Oriskany. The keel was laid down in 1944 at the New York Naval Shipyard and the ship was launched on October 1945. The ship finally entered service on September 25, 1950 when it was commissioned in the New York Naval Shipyard with Captain Percy H. Lyon in command.

The construction of USS Oriskany was suspended in 1947 with nearly 85% of the ship complete. The suspension was due to remodeling of the ship as a prototype of the SCB-27 modernization program to upgrade the World War II Essex class carriers to handle the heavy modern jets, mainly the Savages. The flight deck structure was heavily reinforced; stronger elevators, powerful hydraulic catapults and new arresting gear were installed; the island structure was rebuilt completely; the anti-aircraft turrets were removed and the hull was blistered.

USS Oriskany was taken for carrier qualification operations off Jacksonville, Florida and made a Christmas call at Newport, Rhode Island. It embarked upon Carrier Air Group 1 for the shakedown at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. After Carrier Group 4 training it was deployed with the 6th Fleet at Mediterranean Sea. After calling on all ports of Italy and France it returned to Rhode Island. Another set of overhauling was taken up in 1951-52 at New York Naval Shipyard. It included installation of a new flight deck, steering system and bridge. It was then assigned to the Pacific Fleet.

USS Oriskany was sent to aid UN Forces at Korea and her aircrafts made successful sorties to disrupt enemy supply lines and bomb the coastal areas. Its strikes continued except for a brief upkeep operation in Japan. It returned to base in San Diego on 18 May, 1953. it was then assigned to the 7th Fleet to oversee the truce prevailing in Korea. It returned to San Diego once again on April 22, 1954 and underwent another set of overhauling. In 1956 it was once again deployed in the Western Pacific.

In 1956 USS Oriskany was once again chosen for another SCB-125A upgradation. It included fitting of an angular flight deck, aft-deck edge elevator, enlarged forward elevator, enclosed hurricane bow and the hydraulic catapults were replaced by the steam-catapults. It was the first aircraft career to be fitted with the Naval Tactical Data System. In 1963 it was sent to Vietnam following an warning of a coup detat in the country. In 1963 a freak accident resulted in a horrific fire abroad the carrier.

USS Oriskany was decommissioned in 1976 and struck off from Naval Register in 1989. Many proposals were received for various uses and finally the ship was sunk off the coast off Florida at Pensacola in 2006 to convert it into an artificial reef. It received seven battle crosses for services in Korea and Vietnam. USS Oriskany