USS Philippine Sea (CV/CVA/CVS-47, AVT-11) was one of 24 s of the United States Navy, and the first ship to be named for the Battle of the Philippine Sea. She was launched on 5 September 1945, after the end of World War II, and sponsored by the wife of the Governor of Kentucky.
During her career, Philippine Sea served first in the Atlantic Ocean and saw several deployments to the Mediterranean Sea as well as a trip to Antarctica as a part of Operation Highjump. Sent to the Korean Peninsula at the outbreak of the Korean War, she sent aircraft in support of United Nations ground troops, first during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter and then during the Inchon Landings and the Second Battle of Seoul. She subsequently supported UN troops during the surprise Chinese attack and the Chosin Reservoir Campaign. Philippine Sea saw three tours to Korea during the war, receiving nine battle stars for her service.
For the remainder of her service, she operated primarily out of San Diego and San Francisco, seeing several deployments to the Far East and being redesignated an anti-submarine warfare carrier. She was decommissioned on 28 December 1958 and sold for scrap in 1970.
Construction
Philippine Sea was the last of the 24 ships to be completed, among the largest and most numerous capital ships produced for World War II. CV-47 was ordered simultaneously to and in June 1943.
thumb|left|[[Curtiss SB2C Helldiver|Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldivers aboard Philippine Sea during her cruise in the Mediterranean in 1948]]
The ship was one of the "long-hull" designs of the class, which had begun production after March 1943. This "long-hull" variant involved lengthening the bow above the waterline into a "clipper" form. The increased rake and flare provided deck space for two quadruple mounts; these units also had the flight deck slightly shortened forward to provide better arcs of fire. Of the Essex-class ships laid down after 1942, only followed the original "short-hull" design. The later ships have been variously referred to as the "long-bow units", the "long-hull group", or the "Ticonderoga class". However, the U.S. Navy never maintained any institutional distinction between the long-hull and short-hull members of the Essex class, and applied postwar refits and upgrades to both groups equally.
Like other "long-hull" Essex-class carriers, Philippine Sea had a displacement of . She had an overall length of , a beam of and a draft of . Like other Essex-class ships, she was armed with twelve 38-caliber 5-inch (127 mm) dual-purpose guns arrayed in four twin and four single mountings, as well as 8 quadruple Bofors 40 mm guns and a variable number of Oerlikon 20 mm cannon. Construction on the ship continued throughout the summer of 1945, but Philippine Sea was not completed at the time of V-E Day. The ship was launched on 5 September 1945, only days after V-J Day and the end of World War II. She was christened by the wife of Governor of Kentucky Albert "Happy" Chandler. She left port 30 September and commenced training en route to Norfolk, Virginia. CVG-20 Commander Robert M. Milner made the first takeoff from the carrier on 1 October aboard a Bearcat. Philippine Sea departed Norfolk Naval Shipyard 12 October for Cuban waters where she conducted an abbreviated shakedown cruise and training exercises for CVG-20's Grumman F8F Bearcats and Curtiss SB2C Helldivers until 20 November. Philippine Sea passed through the Panama Canal 8 January and cleared Balboa by 10 January. By 12 January the ship had crossed the equator in an elaborate ceremony, but on 22 January its HO3S-1 was lost due to pilot error, though the crew was recovered. Two days later, it met the remaining ships of Task Force 68. The ship arrived on station on 29 January, from Little America, and launched its R4Ds in the next few days to explore the Antarctic. Commander William M. Hawkes and Byrd both disembarked from Philippine Sea aboard the aircraft to begin their expedition. After her aircraft departed, Philippine Sea returned to Quonset, passing through Balboa again on 22 February and arriving back in port on 27 February. She continued sea trials in the area until 1 July when she arrived at Gravesend Bay, New Jersey, for refit. She was refitted for most of the year at New York Naval Shipyard and Bayonne, New Jersey through 15 November 1947 before conducting trials and training around Quonset and Guantánamo Bay through February 1948. That month, she became flagship of Carrier Division Four led by Rear Admiral Ralph E. Jennings, who established his command aboard her on 4 February. On 20 February she departed for her first deployment in the Mediterranean Sea as part of Vice Admiral Forrest Sherman's 6th Fleet. Here she logged 8,534 flight hours, including 85 hours of night operations. She returned to Quonset 26 June and for repairs to her catapult machinery.
In January 1949, Philippine Sea returned to Carrier Division Four under Rear Admiral Joseph J. Clark and embarked Carrier Air Group 7 for another tour in the Mediterranean, which had a similar fighter complement. She sailed 4 January with the aircraft carrier and supporting ships. There, she conducted joint exercises with carriers of the British fleet. That fall, the ship returned to the Caribbean to shake down with its new upgrades, this time with Carrier Air Group 1. For the rest of the year, she continued fleet exercises in the North Atlantic and testing for new jet engine powered fighter aircraft to test their abilities to operate on aircraft carriers.
Korean War
thumb|An [[Douglas A-1 Skyraider|AD-4 Skyraider takes off from Philippine Sea for a sortie to Korea in the fall of 1950.|alt=A propeller-driven aircraft prepared to take off aboard an aircraft carrier deck]]
With the outbreak of the Korean War on 25 June 1950, Philippine Sea was ordered to Naval Base Pearl Harbor. She sailed for Hawaiian waters on 5 July with Carrier Air Group 11 embarked, flying four squadrons of Vought F4U Corsair fighter-bombers. The ship departed for Japan on 24 July. Leaving Pearl Harbor, Philippine Sea sailed at full speed for the Western Pacific, reaching Okinawa on 4 August. During this time, she took command of Carrier Division One. She was the third aircraft carrier to arrive in Korea, as her sister ship Valley Forge as well as had arrived in July. By the time Philippine Sea arrived in Korea, the UN forces had established superiority in the air and sea.
Philippine Sea arrived in Korean waters on 1 August, The strikes were at first planned to target North Korean lines of communication but the intensity of the battle at Pusan Perimeter forced the carrier to fly primarily close air support missions for troops on the front lines. They also hit targets of opportunity, such as North Korean boats, bridges and dams spotted during missions. She was put in a rotation of continuous action with Valley Forge to assure at least one was launching aircraft at all times. Following the beginning of The Great Naktong Offensive on 31 August, the two carriers launched 263 sorties to prevent the North Koreans from overrunning Pusan Perimeter. The ship sent sorties to defend Masan during the Battle of Masan, in spite of being from the area. The ship steamed to the southern tip of the Peninsula at on 1 September to support the Masan area more easily during the North Korean attacks.
With the other carriers of Task Force 77, Philippine Sea targeted rail and communication centers around North Korean-controlled Seoul to Wonsan in September. The strikes were part of a deception plan to draw North Korean attention away from the UN force massing for an attack on Inchon. Stationed in the Yellow Sea, she sent numerous air attacks on Inchon and Wolmi-do in preparation for Operation Chromite. During this time, she was joined by . They were part of a massive invasion force of some 230 ships and hundreds of aircraft.
thumb|Ensign Jackson being helped from [[Grumman F9F Panther|Grumman F9F-2 Panther after landing blind]]
On 17 September 1950 a pair of Grumman F9F-2 Panthers launched from the deck of Philippine Sea. VF-112 Ensign Edward D. Jackson Jr. was leading a section dispatched to strafe an airfield near North Korea's capital, Pyongyang. Flying on his wing was Ensign Dayl E. Crow. The airfield turned out to be little more than a grass strip littered with burned and shattered Soviet-built war machines. After strafing a locomotive and setting it ablaze, the jets turned north and started down the Han River. Soon, Jackson spotted about 75 river boats. When they starting receiving small arms fire from "passengers" on the vessels, Crow followed Jackson down as they made a low strafing pass, splintering many of the small craft with 20 mm cannon fire. After the pass both attackers started to climb from AGL. Jackson then flew through an aerial booby trap: steel cables strung across the Han to "clothesline" low flying planes. The Panther ripped through the cables like twine, but the whipsawing cable strands caught the starboard wing, shredded the wingtip tank and snapped across the canopy, punching out the windscreen and side windows. The impact knocked Jackson unconscious with severe facial injuries. Jackson regained consciousness and found himself blinded by shards of Plexiglas and blood. Crow was able to guide his leader towards the Yellow Sea, but Jackson was fading in and out of consciousness. With only the left flap down due to damage to the right wing the Panther approached the ship and with the help of LSO Lt.j.g. "Les" Bruestle Throughout the long retreat from the Yalu River, the four carriers' Panthers, Skyraiders and Corsairs provided close air support for the trapped X Corps at Chosin Reservoir. Though the increasingly cold weather proved a problem for Philippine Sea, the ship continued to support the troops as they tried to evacuate from the reservoir and then cleared the path for their retreat to Hungnam. The carriers provided support with hundreds of aircraft sorties as 150,000 UN troops and civilians were evacuated, and then destroyed the port.
For the rest of 1950 and early 1951, she launched numerous attacks against Chinese forces around the 38th Parallel hoping to slow their advance as UN troops retreated. With only brief stops for repair and rest, the carrier continued numerous sorties against Chinese targets. On 25 February, command of Task Force 77 was transferred to Valley Forge. During this time, the cold weather hampered operations and blizzards occasionally shut them down completely. During this tour, the front lines in Korea had largely stabilized, and instead the ship directed its aircraft against strategic targets, including the 23 June attack on the Sui-ho Dam in conjunction with Boxer, Princeton, and Bon Homme Richard, and sending aircraft against targets in Pyongyang.
Philippine Sea returned to San Diego in August 1952. Her designation was changed to CVA, denoting an "attack aircraft carrier" in October. With five more Corsair squadrons of Carrier Air Group 9 embarked, she began a third cruise to the Far East early in December 1952 with about 100 aircraft. This mission continued until an armistice was signed in the summer of 1953, resulting in the de jure cessation of open warfare. While engaged in the search mission, a flight of the ship's Douglas AD Skyraiders was attacked by two Chinese fighter aircraft. The Skyraiders returned fire and shot down the airplanes. Later this came to be known unofficially as the "Hainan Incident".
Following this duty, the ship sailed for Hawaii, where she was used as a prop in the movie Mister Roberts. The ship returned to San Diego on 18 November. Remaining in the area for four months, Philippine Sea conducted several training operations off the California coast. She then began her fifth cruise of the Far East on 1 April 1955 en route to Yokosuka. She operated in waters of Japan, Okinawa, and Taiwan for most of 1955, with Air Task Group 2 consisting of VF-123, VF-143 and VA-55, VF-123 flying the F9F-2 Panther jet fighter-bomber, VF-143 flying the Grumman F9F-6 Cougar jet fighter, and VA-55 flying the AD-6 Skyraider propeller attack bomber. During this time, she made trips to Hong Kong, Keelung and Formosa. On 23 November, she was redesignated as a CVS, or an anti-submarine warfare carrier. Her aircraft complement was replaced with several dozen S2F Tracker anti-submarine aircraft and HSS-1 Seabat helicopters. She returned to San Diego on 23 November 1955. Throughout 1956 she saw little activity as crew went on leave and she was docked for maintenance, and only conducted several routine training operations off the coast of southern California. In late 1956 she moved to Hawaii for more training operations. She was decommissioned 28 December 1958 and berthed with the United States Reserve Fleet at Long Beach, California. She was redesignated AVT-11, an auxiliary aircraft transport and landing training ship, on 15 May 1959. After 10 years docked at the reserve fleet, she was struck from the Naval Vessel Registry on 1 December 1969