USS Tarawa (CV-40)
History of the USS Tarawa Aircraft Carrier
The USS Tarawa (CV-40) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her keel was laid down at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia on March 11, 1944. She was launched on May 12, 1945 and commissioned on December 8, 1945 under the command of Captain Alvin Ingersoll Malstrom.
After a period of training and upkeep, USS Tarawa was deployed to the Western Pacific. She arrived at Saipan on August 20, 1946, operating in the Marianas and Japan until October. The carrier then sailed north to China, operating neat Tsingtao until heading back to the Marianas at the end of the month. She sailed to Pearl Harbor in January 1947.
USS Tarawa remained in Hawaii until February. She then headed to Kwajalein for fleet exercises as part of Task Force 57. The aircraft carrier returned to Pearl Harbor in March before heading to San Francisco in April. She operated out of California for more than 16 months.
In September 1948, the USS Tarawa began an around-the-world cruise. On this voyage, her ports of call included Tsingtao, Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombo in the newly independent Republic of Ceylon, Bahrain, Jeddah, Port Said, Greece, Turkey, Crete and Gibraltar. She returned home to Norfolk, Virginia on February 21, 1949 and was decommissioned on June 30.
When the Korean War began, the USS Tarawa was recommissioned on February 3, 1951 under the command of Captain J.H. Griffin. The aircraft carrier served as a replacement for carriers in the Sixth and Second Fleets when they were deployed to Korea. She was redesignated as an attack aircraft carrier, CVA040, on October 1, 1952. The carrier headed to Korea in the spring of 1954 shortly after the war ended.
The USS Tarawa returned to the United States in September, heading to Boston Naval Shipyard in Massachusetts in December 1954 to undergo conversion to an antisubmarine warfare carrier, redesignated as CVS-40 on January 10, 1955. She participated in training and fleet exercises into 1956.
As part of Task Force 88, the USS Tarawa participated in Operation Argus in August and September 1958. The operation included a series of nuclear weapons tests high in the atmosphere. The carrier served as the flagship for Commander Task Force 88, and she was responsible for missile tracking, scientific measurement, photographic missions and observation missions during the operation.
USS Tarawa spent the rest of her active career with the Atlantic Fleet. She operated mostly off the East Coast and in the Caribbean, participating in fleet exercises, training pilots and barrier patrols against Soviet submarines and surface ships. The aircraft carrier was decommissioned on May 13, 1960 and reclassified as an aircraft transport, AVT-12, in May 1961. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on June 1, 1967 and sold for scrap on October 3, 1968.
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)
U.S. Navy, A Brief History of Aircraft Carriers – USS Tarawa
