USS Leyte (CV-32)
History of the USS Leyte Aircraft Carrier
The USS Leyte (CV-32) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was originally planned as the USS Crown Point but was renamed on May 8, 1945 to commemorate the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Her keel was laid down at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Virginia on February 21, 1944. She was launched on August 23, 1945 and commissioned on April 11, 1946 under the command of Captain Henry F. MacComsey.
Completed too late to join the fighting in World War II, USS Leyte first sailed down the west coast of South America on a good will cruise. After she returned to the Caribbean on November 18, 1946, she became involved in a number of fleet exercises in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Caribbean. The aircraft carrier helped to train a number of naval reservists as well.
USS Leyte was deployed to the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet four times before the Korean War: April to June 1947, July to November 1947, September 1949 to January 1950 and May to August 1950. On August 13, 1950, her aircraft flew over Beirut, Lebanon to show support for the Middle East against pressure from the Communists. She headed back to Norfolk, Virginia on August 24.
On September 6, the USS Leyte headed to the Far East as part of Task Force 77, supporting UN Forces in Korea. She made her final preparations for combat at the base in Sasebo, Japan before spending October 9 until January 19, 1951 off the coast of Korea. Her aircraft conducted over 3,900 sorties against the North Koreans, spending 11,000 hours in the air striking numerous North Korean targets before returning to Norfolk for overhaul on February 25.
The USS Leyte spent several months in the Caribbean for training exercises before returning to the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet on September 3. Her next Mediterranean deployment began on August 29, 1952, when she became reclassified as CVA-32. The aircraft carrier was ordered to Boston, Massachusetts for deactivation, but the decision was reversed. Instead, she was redesignated as an antisubmarine warfare support carrier, CVS-32, and she underwent conversion instead of deactivation procedures.
During her conversion on October 16, 1953, there was an explosion in her port catapult machinery room. The resulting fires were extinguished less than five hours later, but 37 men had been killed and 28 others injured. Conversion work was finished on January 4, 1954.
USS Leyte sailed to Quonset Point, Rhode Island to become the flagship of Carrier Division 18. She spent the next five years based there, conducting tactical operations for antisubmarine warfare along the East Coast and in the Caribbean.
The USS Leyte headed to Brooklyn Naval Shipyard in New York on January 1959. She was reclassified as AVT-10 and decommissioned on the same day, May 15, 1959. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on June 1, 1969 and sold for scrap in September 1970. The aircraft carrier earned two battle stars for her service in the Korean War.
The use of asbestos was common in shipbuilding components for much of the 20th Century because of its resistance to heat, fire, water and corrosion. Because of their asbestos exposure onboard ship and in the shipyards, seaman, shipyard workers and longshoreman are at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma .
Sources include:
John Hedley-Whyte and Debra R Milamed, "Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences," Ulster Med. J. 77(3):191-200 (Sep 2008)
