USS Wright (CVL-49/AVT-7) was a light aircraft carrier of the U.S. Navy, later converted to the command ship CC-2. It is the second ship named "Wright". The first was named for Orville Wright; the second honored both Wright brothers: Orville and Wilbur.

Construction

Wright was laid down on 21 August 1944, at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, launched on 1 September 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Harold S. Miller, a niece of the Wright brothers, and commissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 9 February 1947.

Service history

Wright departed Philadelphia on 18 March 1947 and stopped briefly at Norfolk, Virginia, en route to the Naval Air Training Base at Pensacola, Florida. After her arrival there on 31 March, Wright soon commenced a rigorous schedule of air defense drills and gunnery practice while acting as a qualification carrier for hundreds of student pilots at the Naval Air Training Base, relieving Saipan. Wright would embark on 40 operational cruises—each of between one and four days' duration off the Florida coast. In addition, the carrier embarked a total of 1,081 naval reservists and trained them in a series of three two-week duty tours.

On 3 September 1947, Wright embarked 48 Midshipmen for temporary training duty and later welcomed 62 Army officers when she stood out to sea on 15 October, in company with to let her guests observe flight operations in the Pensacola area. The exercises included the catapulting of Grumman F6F Hellcats for rocket-firing operations.

That exercise was her last prior to her departure from Pensacola on 24 October, to return north. She arrived at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard soon thereafter and from 1 November to 17 December, underwent post-shakedown repairs and alterations before she returned to Pensacola two days before Christmas, where she resumed her regular schedule of pilot qualification training under the operational control of the Chief of Naval Air Training, Commander Air Atlantic. Wright spent the year 1948 engaged in those pilot carrier qualification operations, before she put into the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 26 January 1949, to commence a four-month overhaul. She was relieved as training carrier by .

There were highlights and breaks from the cycle of periods in port and at sea. From 11 to 14 April 1967, Wright lay at anchor off the coast of Uruguay, providing a worldwide communications capability in support of President Lyndon B. Johnson as he attended the Latin American summit conference at Punta del Este. On 8 May 1968, Wright went to the aid of after that amphibious assault ship had suffered a machinery failure and had gone dead in the water, south of Norfolk. Wright towed the helpless assault ship before other ships arrived on the scene to help out. Later that same year, Wright received the coveted Captain Edward F. Ney Memorial Award in the large mess afloat category. That award is given annually to the ship that maintains the highest food standards. During the Pueblo crisis in February 1969, Wright, while en route to Port Everglades, Florida, was hurriedly recalled to Norfolk and, upon her arrival there, stood by, on alert.

Decommissioning

Ultimately decommissioned on 27 May 1970, Wright was placed in reserve at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The ship was stricken from the Navy List on 1 December 1977, and sold by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping on 1 August 1980.

Awards

USS Wright (CVL-49)

  • Navy Occupation Service Medal with "Europe" clasp
  • National Defense Service Medal
  • Korean Service Medal
  • United Nations Korean Medal
  • Republic of Korea War Medal (retroactive)

USS Wright (CC-2)

  • National Defense Service Medal with star (2 awards)

<gallery caption="USS Wright Lifecycle">

File:F4U-5 Corsair of VF-23 on USS Wright (CVL-49), in November 1948.jpg|F4U-5 Corsair of VF-23 on USS Wright in November 1948

File:USS Wright (CVL-49) underway at sea with trainig aircraft (NH 97618).jpg|USS Wright underway at sea with North American T-6 Texans on board somewhere between the late 1940s and the early 1950s

File:Vought F4U-4 Corsair of VF-14 aboard USS Wright (CVL-49), in early 1951.jpg|F4U-4 Corsairs of VF-14 aboard USS Wright in early 1951

File:Vought F4U-4 Corsairs of VF-14 aboard USS Wright (CVL-49), in early 1951.jpg|F4U-4 Corsairs of VF-14 on USS Wright in early 1951

File:USS Wright (CVL-49), HMS Illustrious (R87) and HMS Eagle (R05) underway in the North Sea in September 1952 (IWM A32288).jpg|USS Wright, HMS Illustrious (R87) and underway in the North Sea in September 1952

File:USS Wright (CC-2) underway on 17 June 1963 (NH 97620).jpg|USS Wright as (CC-2) underway on 17 June 1963

File:USS Wright (CC-2) underway at sea in September 1963 (NH 97623).jpg|USS Wright underway at sea in September 1963

File:UH-2B of HC-4 on USS Wright (CC-2) c1966.jpg|UH-2B of HC-4 on board USS Wright in c. 1966

File:USS Wright (CC-2) at sea c1967.jpg|USS Wright at sea in c. 1967

</gallery>

References

Further reading

  • Ghosts of the East Coast: Doomsday Ships https://coldwarveteran.us/
  • Photo Archive US Navy : http://www.navsource.net/archives/02/49.htm