USS ''Bunker Hill'' (CV/CVA/CVS-17, AVT-9) was one of 24 s built during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. The ship was named for the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War. Commissioned in May 1943 and sent to the Pacific Theater of Operations, the ship participated in battles in the Southwest Pacific, Central Pacific and the drive toward Japan through Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and air raids on the Japanese homeland. While covering the invasion of Okinawa, ''Bunker Hill'' was struck by two

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending t ...

s in quick succession, setting the vessel on fire. Casualties exceeded 600, including 352 confirmed dead and an additional 41 missing, with 264 wounded. These were the second heaviest personnel losses suffered by any carrier to survive the war, after . After the attack, ''Bunker Hill'' returned to the U.S. mainland and was still under repair when hostilities ended. After the war, ''Bunker Hill'' was employed as a troop transport bringing American service members back from the Pacific, and was decommissioned in 1947. While in reserve the vessel was reclassified as an attack carrier (CVA), then an antisubmarine carrier (CVS) and finally an Auxiliary Aircraft Landing Training Ship (AVT), but was never modernized and never saw active service again. ''Bunker Hill'' and were the only ships never recommissioned after World War II.Friedman, p. 156 Stricken from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

in 1966, ''Bunker Hill'' served as an electronics test platform for many years in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

Bay. An effort to save her as a museum ship in 1972 was unsuccessful and she was sold for scrap in 1973.

Construction and commissioning

''Bunker Hill'' was laid down on 15 September 1941, as hull number 1509 at the

Bethlehem Steel Company The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succ ...

Fore River Shipyard Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901. I ...

, Quincy, Massachusetts, and launched on 7 December 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Donald Boynton. The carrier was commissioned on 25 May 1943, with Captain J. J. Ballentine in command. The carrier took aboard her air group at Norfolk, Virginia, at the end of June, and on 15 July sailed south to Trinidad on her shakedown cruise. Three weeks later the ship returned to Norfolk, and on 4 September sailed south to the Panama Canal on the way to San Diego, Pearl Harbor, and the Pacific Theater of Operations.

Service history during World War II

1943–44

''Bunker Hill'' had worked up with VF-17, a new fighter squadron flying F4U Corsairs. The Corsair, a new airplane, had some difficulties in its development, and the Navy gave consideration to replacing VF-17's Corsairs with

Grumman F6F Hellcat The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United States Navy's dominant fighter in the second ha ...

s. The squadron successfully argued for retention of its Corsairs, as they felt they were better combat aircraft. Hence, ''Bunker Hill'' had departed for the combat theater with VF-17 and its Corsairs aboard. While en route from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, the pilots found that the Navy had decided not to use Corsairs aboard carriers, to avoid carrying parts and supplies for two fighters (the Corsair and the Hellcat) and with the challenges the U.S. Navy was having in getting Corsairs approved for carrier use at that time. (The British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

developed an appropriate landing technique for its shipboard Corsairs by very early 1944, using a curving approach that kept the LSO (landing signal officer) in view while coming aboard, and this was adopted by the U.S. Navy by late 1944.) VF-17 was ordered to the Southwest Pacific, where it was land-based. It was replaced aboard ''Bunker Hill'' by

VF-18 Fighting Squadron 18 (VF-18) was an aviation unit of the United States Navy which served aboard in the fall of 1944. It was the second squadron to bear the designation VF-18. Over the course of two and a half months of strike operations from 6 Se ...

, whose men and Hellcats had also been ferried aboard the carrier from San Diego to Pearl Harbor. ''Bunker Hill'' departed Pearl Harbor on 19 October en route to the Southwest Pacific. The carrier's air group participated in the air raid on the major

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...

base at Rabaul, along with and on 11 November 1943. During the mission the carriers' fighters (VF-18) escorted bombers to Rabaul, and CV-17 was reunited with VF-17, then land-based at Ondonga Airfield in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

. The tailhooks were reinstalled on the squadron's Corsairs, enabling them to land and refuel on their former ship while providing air cover to the task force as its own planes were escorting the raid on Rabaul. On 14 November the carrier set a course for the Gilbert Islands to cover the invasion and occupation of

Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

Kavieng Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island of the same name. The town is located at Balgai Bay, on the northern tip of the island. As of 2009, it had a population of 17,248. Kavi ...

in support of the amphibious landings in the Bismarck Archipelago (25 December 1943, 1 January, and 4 January 1944); air raids in the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Intern ...

(29 January – 8 February); the large-scale carrier air raids on

Truk Atoll Chuuk Lagoon, previously Truk Atoll, is an atoll in the central Pacific. It lies about northeast of New Guinea, and is part of Chuuk State within the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). A protective reef, around, encloses a natural harbo ...

(17–18 February), during which eight I.J.N.

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster ...

s were sunk; and air raids on the

Marianas Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

(

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, Saipan, and

Tinian Tinian ( or ; old Japanese name: 天仁安島, ''Tenian-shima'') is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of the ...

) (23 February). ''Bunker Hill'' returned to Hawaii (28 February – 4 March 1944), and completed voyage repairs and upkeep while in dry dock at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard (6–9 March). At this time, CAG-17 detached from the carrier, which subsequently took on the newly formed CVG-8, along with four night fighting Hellcats of VF(N)-76. During 15–20 March, ''Bunker Hill'' steamed for

Majuro Majuro (; Marshallese: ' ) is the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak (Sunrise) Chain of the Marshall Islands. The ato ...

, Marshall Islands. At this point, CVG-8 reported 41 F6F-3s of VF-8, 32 SB2C-1Cs of VB-8, 22 TBF-1Cs of VT-8, and a flag F6F-3 on board, along with the four F6F-3Ns. Subsequent combat operations included air raids on

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...

Yap Yap ( yap, Waqaab) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federated States of Micr ...

Ulithi Ulithi ( yap, Wulthiy, , or ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap. Overview Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the larges ...

, and Woleai in the

Palau Islands Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

(30 March – 1 April); raids in support of the U.S. Army landings around Hollandia (21–28 April); air raids on Truk, Satawan, and Ponape in the

Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the ce ...

(29 April – 1 May), and combat operations in the Marianas in support of the amphibious landings on Saipan and Guam (12 June – 10 August), including the titanic

Battle of the Philippine Sea The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) was a major naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invas ...

, just west of the Marianas. On 19 June 1944, during the opening phases of the landings in the Marianas, ''Bunker Hill'' was damaged when the explosion of a Japanese aerial bomb scattered shrapnel fragments across the decks and the sides of the aircraft carrier. Two sailors were killed, and about 80 more were wounded. ''Bunker Hill'' continued to fight, with her antiaircraft fire shooting down a few IJN warplanes. During the

, about 476 Japanese warplanes were destroyed, nearly all of them shot down by Navy F6F Hellcats, such as those carried by ''Bunker Hill.'' During September, ''Bunker Hill'' carried out air raids in the Western Caroline Islands, and then she and her task force steamed north to launch air raids on

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

, Formosa, and

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, through early November. On 6 November 1944, ''Bunker Hill'' steamed eastward from the forward area, and went to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard, for a period of major overhaul/upkeep work and weaponry upgrades. The carrier departed from the Port of Bremerton on 24 January 1945 and returned to the combat area in the Western Pacific. Stopping at Pearl Harbor on the way, the carrier took aboard Carrier Air Group 84, which included

VF-84 Fighter Squadron 84 or VF-84 was an aviation unit of the United States Navy. Originally established on 1 May 1944, it was disestablished on 8 October 1945. It was the first US Navy squadron to be designated as VF-84. Operational history VF-84 flew ...

, a new squadron built around a nucleus of veterans of VF-17, the carrier's original squadron.

1945

In 1945, ''Bunker Hill'' was the flagship of Task Force 58, commanded by Vice-Admiral Marc A. Mitscher. Commodore

Arleigh Burke Arleigh Albert Burke (October 19, 1901 – January 1, 1996) was an admiral of the United States Navy who distinguished himself during World War II and the Korean War, and who served as Chief of Naval Operations during the Eisenhower and Kenn ...

was his chief of staff, and the admiral's staff all were accommodated aboard the carrier. Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa hit Bunker Hill (new)

Second_kamikaze_hits_USS_Bunker_Hill_(CV-17)_11_May_1945

Iwo Jima

In the task force's final drive across the central Pacific, ''Bunker Hill'' operated with the other fast carriers and their screening gunships in the Battle of Iwo Jima, the 5th Fleet raids against Honshū and the Nansei Shoto (15 February – 4 March), and the 5th Fleet's support of the Battle of Okinawa. On 7 April 1945, ''Bunker Hill''s planes took part in an attack by the

Fast Carrier Task Force The Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38 when assigned to Third Fleet, TF 58 when assigned to Fifth Fleet), was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific War from January 1944 through the end of the war in August 1945. The task ...

of the Pacific Fleet on Imperial Japanese Navy forces in the East China Sea. The carrier's aircraft had located the Japanese battleship ''Yamato'', the largest battleship in the world. In

Operation Ten-Go , also known as Operation Heaven One (or Ten-ichi-gō 天一号), was the last major Japanese naval operation in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The resulting engagement is also known as the Battle of the East China Sea. In April 1945, t ...

the battleship, screened by one

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...

and eight destroyers, steamed toward Okinawa to interfere with the Allied invasion of that island. The aircraft of the task force attacked and sank ''Yamato'', the cruiser, and four of the destroyers.

Okinawa

On the morning of 11 May 1945, while supporting the invasion of Okinawa, ''Bunker Hill'' was struck and severely damaged by two Japanese ''

'' planes. A

Mitsubishi A6M Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-based fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M w ...

fighter plane piloted by

Lieutenant Junior Grade Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies. United States Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), i ...

Seizō Yasunori Sub Lieutenant was a Japanese student who joined the Imperial Japanese Navy. On May 11, 1945, he flew a kamikaze suicide mission against during the Battle of Okinawa near the end of World War II. Early life Yasunori was born on a farm outside ...

emerged from low cloud cover, dove toward the flight deck on the starboard quarter and dropped a 550-pound (250 kilogram) bomb that penetrated the flight deck and exited from the side of the ship at gallery deck level before exploding in the ocean.. The Zero then crashed onto the carrier's flight deck, destroying parked warplanes full of aviation fuel and ammunition, causing a large fire. The remains of the Zero went over the deck and dropped into the sea. Then 30 seconds later, a second Zero, piloted by

Ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

Kiyoshi Ogawa Kiyoshi Ogawa ( ja, 小川清 ''Ogawa Kiyoshi'', October 23, 1922 – May 11, 1945) was a Japanese naval aviator ensign () of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. As a kamikaze pilot, Ensign Ogawa's final action took place on May 11, ...

, plunged into its suicide dive. The Zero went through the antiaircraft fire, dropped a 550-pound bomb, and then crashed into the flight deck near the carrier's "island", as ''kamikazes'' were trained to aim for the island superstructure. The bomb carried by the second kamikaze penetrated to the pilots' ready room, where 22 members of VF-84 lost their lives. Gasoline fires flamed up and several explosions took place. ''Bunker Hill'' lost 393 sailors and airmen killed, including 41 missing and never found, and 264 wounded. Among the casualties were three officers and nine enlisted men from Mitscher's staff. The admiral relinquished command by visual signal; he and his remaining staff were transferred by

breeches buoy A breeches buoy is a rope-based rescue device used to extract people from wrecked vessels, or to transfer people from one place to another in situations of danger. The device resembles a round emergency personal flotation device with a leg har ...

to destroyer ''English'' and then to ''Enterprise'', which became the flagship. ''Bunker Hill'' was heavily damaged but was able to steam at 20 knots to

, where the Marine pilots of

VMF-221 Marine Fighting Squadron 221 (VMF-221) was a reserve fighter squadron of the United States Marine Corps. Originally commissioned during the World War II, it flew the Brewster F2A-3, and after reconstitution in 1943, the F4U Corsair. The squadro ...

, who had been aloft during the kamikaze attack and were diverted to other carriers, rejoined their ship. The carrier returned home by way of Pearl Harbor, and was sent to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard for repairs. She was still in the shipyard when the war ended in mid-August 1945.

Post-war

On 27 September 1945, ''Bunker Hill'' sailed from Bremerton to report for duty with the Operation Magic Carpet fleet, returning veterans from the Pacific as a unit of TG 16.12. The vessel made return trips to the west coast from Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and Guam and Saipan. The ship was opened for visitors on Navy Day 27 October 1945 while in port at Seattle, WA. In January 1946 the ship was ordered to Bremerton for deactivation, and was decommissioned into reserve on 9 January 1947. CV-17 deck as laboratory NAN1-68

While in reserve ''Bunker Hill'' was reclassified three times, becoming CVA-17 in October 1951, CVS-17 in August 1953, and AVT-9 in May 1959, with the latter designation indicating that any future commissioned operations would be as an "Auxiliary Aircraft Transport Carrier". As all ''Essex''-class carriers survived the war, ''Bunker Hill'' was surplus to the needs of the navy. She and , which also had sustained severe damage from an aerial attack, were the only aircraft carriers in the ''Essex''-class that did not experience any active service after the end of World War II. Although their wartime damage had been successfully repaired, it was their resultant like-new condition which kept them out of commission, as the Navy for many years envisioned an "ultimate reconfiguration" for ''Bunker Hill'' and ''Franklin'' which never took place. Stricken from the

in November 1966, ''Bunker Hill'' was used as a stationary electronics test platform at the

Naval Air Station North Island Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island , at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay in San Diego, California, is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the United States Navy – Naval Base Coronado (N ...

, during the 1960s and early 1970s. On 2 July 1973 the vessel was sold for scrap to Zidell Explorations, Inc. of Oregon. An effort to save her as a museum ship in 1972 was unsuccessful. Some relics survive. Six hundred tons of steel armor plate, manufactured before the atomic age, are used by

Fermilab Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. Since 2007, Fermilab has been opera ...

to shield experiments from interference by ambient or background subatomic particles. Dome-shaped protective shrouds from the carrier's mothballing were incorporated in a residence in West Linn, Oregon. The

ship's bell A ship's bell is a bell on a ship that is used for the indication of time as well as other traditional functions. The bell itself is usually made of brass or bronze, and normally has the ship's name engraved or cast on it. Strikes Timing of s ...

was purchased from the scrapper, displayed for a while at the

San Diego Air and Space Museum San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM, formerly the San Diego Aerospace Museum) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California, United States. The museum is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, ...

, and in 1986 was provided to the

guided missile cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

which bears the name USS ''Bunker Hill''.

Notable sailors

Henry McIlhenny Henry Plumer McIlhenny (October 7, 1910 – May 11, 1986) was an American connoisseur of art and antiques, world traveler, socialite, philanthropist, curator and chairman of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Early life and art collections During hi ...

served aboard the ship for almost a year and a half at the end of World War II. * Bruce Meyers served aboard ''Bunker Hill'' during World War II. He survived the May 1945 Kamikaze attack, and would go on to create the original fiberglass dune buggy, the Meyers Manx. * Paul Newman, as a radioman-gunner in a

Grumman TBF Avenger The Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft manufactured by General Motors) is an American World War II-era torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air and naval a ...

torpedo bomber, would have served with his squadron VT-84 aboard ''Bunker Hill'' in 1945, but missed the Battle of Okinawa, as his pilot had developed an ear infection and the plane crew was grounded and did not join CAG-84 aboard the ship. *

Card Walker Esmond Cardon Walker (January 9, 1916 – November 28, 2005), commonly known as E. Cardon Walker or Card Walker, was an American businessman who served as a top executive at Walt Disney Productions during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He was born in ...

served as Flight Control 1943–45. He returned to work at the Walt Disney Studios after the war, eventually becoming CEO, president, and finally chairman of the Walt Disney Company. Walker retired from the Disney board of directors in 2000, having served 50 years on the board. Of the original crew, he was the only flight deck officer who survived the war.

Awards

''Bunker Hill'' received the Presidential Unit Citation for the 18 months between 11 November 1943 and 11 May 1945, from the first combat in the Solomon Islands to the day the ship was knocked out of the war by kamikazes. In addition, she received 11

battle stars A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

for service in the following battles:Udoff (1994), p. 27 * Presidential Unit Citation *

American Campaign Medal The American Campaign Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was first created on November 6, 1942, by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was intended to recognize those military members who had perfo ...

* Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (11 stars) *

World War II Victory Medal The World War II Victory Medal is a service medal of the United States military which was established by an Act of Congress on 6 July 1945 (Public Law 135, 79th Congress) and promulgated by Section V, War Department Bulletin 12, 1945. The Wo ...

Philippine Presidential Unit Citation The Philippine Presidential Unit citation BadgeThe AFP Adjutant General, ''Awards and Decorations Handbook'', 1997, OTAG, p. 65. is a unit decoration of the Republic of the Philippines. It has been awarded to certain units of the United States mi ...

Philippine Liberation Medal The Philippine Liberation Medal is a military award of the Republic of the Philippines which was created by an order of Commonwealth Army of the Philippines Headquarters on 20 December 1944, and was issued as the Philippine Liberation Ribbon. The d ...

Gallery

File:USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) underway at sea in 1943 (NH 67565).jpg, ''Bunker Hill'' underway at sea in 1943 File:USS Bunker Hill hit by two Kamikazes.jpg, ''Bunker Hill'' burning after

Kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending t ...

strikes, 11 May 1945 File:USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) afire after being hit by Kamikazes off Okinawa, 11 May 1945 (80-G-274266).jpg, Smoke fills the sky as the fire rages on ''Bunker Hill'' on 11 May 1945 File:USS Bunker Hill CV-17 Pasadena CL-65 1945.jpg, Burning ''Bunker Hill'' with

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

giving assistance on 11 May 1945 File:USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) moored at San Diego, California (USA), circa in 1970 (NH 78294-KN).jpg, ''Bunker Hill'' moored at San Diego,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in 1970 File:USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) arrives at Tacoma in April 1973.jpg, ''Bunker Hill'' arrives at Tacoma in April 1973

References

Sources

* Belote, James and Belote, William. ''Titans of the Seas''. New York: Harper & Row, 1975. . * * Blackburn, Tom and Hammel, Eric. ''The Jolly Rogers: The Story of Tom Blackburn and Navy Fighting Squadron VF-17''. Pacific, California: Pacific Military History, 1997. . * Bowman, Martin W. ''Vought F4U Corsair''. Marlborough, UK: The Crowood Press Ltd., 2002. . * Cook, Lee. ''The Skull & Crossbones Squadron: VF-17 in World War II''. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 1998. . * * Irons, Martin. ''Corsair Down!''. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2022. * Tillman, Barrett, ''U.S. Navy Fighter Squadrons in World War II''. North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 1997. . * Udoff, Irv. ''The Bunker Hill Story''. Paducah, Kentucky: Turner Publishing, 1994. .

External links and further reading

* .
USS ''Bunker Hill'' pictures from the U.S. Naval History Center
* Barry, Dan,

, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', August 13, 2009. Story about the combat experiences of a sailor aboard ship during the kamikaze attack and their effects on his life. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bunker Hill (Cv-17) Essex-class aircraft carriers Ships built in Quincy, Massachusetts 1942 ships World War II aircraft carriers of the United States Maritime incidents in May 1945