USS ''Lake Champlain'' (CV/CVA/CVS-39) was one of 24 s completed during or shortly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. She was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, named for the Battle of Lake Champlain in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. Commissioned on 3 June 1945, ''Lake Champlain'' did not participate in World War II combat operations. She served as a transport, bringing troops home from Europe as part of

Operation Magic Carpet Operation Magic Carpet was the post–World War II operation by the U.S. War Shipping Administration (WSA) to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European (ETO), Pacific, and Asian theaters. Hundreds of Libert ...

. Like many of her sister ships, she was decommissioned shortly after the war but was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s. Redesignated as an attack carrier (CVA), she participated in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

before spending the rest of her career in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Mediterranean. In the late 1950s, she was redesignated as an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). ''Lake Champlain'' was the prime recovery ship for the first crewed

Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...

mission (''

Freedom 7 Mercury-Redstone 3, or ''Freedom 7'', was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astr ...

''), the second uncrewed

Gemini Gemini most often refers to: * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Gemini (astrology), an astrological sign Gemini may also refer to: Science and technology Space * Gemini in Chinese astronomy, the Gemini constellat ...

mission (

Gemini 2 Gemini 2 (Gemini-Titan 2; GT-2) was the second spaceflight of the American human spaceflight program Project Gemini, and was launched and recovered on January 19, 1965. Gemini 2, like Gemini 1, was an uncrewed mission intended as a test flig ...

), and the third crewed Gemini mission (

Gemini 5 Gemini 5 (officially Gemini V) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was a 1965 crewed spaceflight in NASA's Project Gemini. It was the third crewed Gemini flight, the eleventh crewed American spacefligh ...

). ''Lake Champlain'' had a unique modernization history. She was the only ''Essex''-class ship to receive the SCB-27A modernization program conversion, which involved a rebuild of the superstructure, flight deck, and other features, but did not also receive the SCB-125 conversion for an

angled flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface on which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters ...

and hurricane bow. Therefore, she was the last operational US aircraft carrier with an axial flight deck. ''Lake Champlain'' was decommissioned in 1966 and sold for scrap in 1972.

Construction and commissioning

''Lake Champlain'' was one of the "long-hull" ''Essex''-class ships. Her

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

took place in Drydock No. 8 at the

Norfolk Navy Yard The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a United States Navy, U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest ...

, Portsmouth, Virginia, on 15 March 1943. The hull was launched from drydock on 2 November 1944. ''Lake Champlain'' was commissioned on 3 June 1945 under the command of Captain Logan Ramsey. The ship was sponsored by Mrs. Mildred Lucas, wife of Senator Warren Austin of

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

Service history

Operation Magic Carpet

After shakedown and visits to New York and

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, ''Lake Champlain'' was assigned to "Magic Carpet" duty to repatriate US military personnel. She departed Norfolk for England on 14 October, arriving at

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

on the 19th to embark veterans and return them to New York. She set a speed record for crossing the Atlantic on 26 November 1945, averaging 32.048 kn on a run from

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, a distance of 3,360.3 nautical miles, completed in 4 days, 8 hours, 51 minutes. This record stood until surpassed by in the summer of 1952. ''Lake Champlain'' was laid up in the

reserve fleet A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully Ship decommissioning, decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothba ...

at Norfolk on 17 February 1947.

Korean War

''Lake Champlain'' was recalled to service for the

. In August 1950, she began her SCB-27A modernization program modernization at

Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the sole designer, builder, and refueler of aircraft carriers and one of two providers of submarines for the United States Navy. Founded as the Chesapeake Dry Dock ...

. She recommissioned on 19 September 1952. A shakedown cruise in Cuban and Haitian waters lasted from 25 November to 25 December 1952. The carrier departed Mayport, Florida, for Korea on 26 April 1953 via the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

, Indian Ocean, and

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

. ''Lake Champlain'' became the largest ship to date to transit the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

. She moored at

Yokosuka is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 373,797, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th-most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city i ...

, Japan, on 9 June 1953. As flagship of Carrier Task Force 77 (TF 77), she sailed from Yokosuka on 11 June and arrived off western Korea on 14 June. The carrier's air group immediately launched sorties to crater runways; assault enemy troops; attack trenches, bunkers, and gun positions; and provide

close air support Close air support (CAS) is defined as aerial warfare actions—often air-to-ground actions such as strafes or airstrikes—by military aircraft against hostile targets in close proximity to friendly forces. A form of fire support, CAS requires ...

to ground forces. Her planes also escorted

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined Propeller (aeronautics), propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to ...

heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually Aerial bomb, bombs) and longest range (aeronautics), range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy ...

s. ''Lake Champlain'' continued strikes until the truce was signed on 27 July. Relieved by on 11 October, ''Lake Champlain'' headed toward the South China Sea, arriving in Singapore on 24 October. Departing the Pacific on 27 October, she steamed toward home, calling at

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

Port Said Port Said ( , , ) is a port city that lies in the northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, straddling the west bank of the northern mouth of the Suez Canal. The city is the capital city, capital of the Port S ...

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

, and

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

before arriving at Mayport, Florida, on 4 December 1953.

Postwar years

NATO, Middle East and reclassification

In the following years, ''Lake Champlain'' made several cruises to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, participating with

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

forces. On 25 April 1957, in response to tensions in Jordan (see 1957 alleged Jordanian military coup attempt), she joined fleet elements in a high-speed run to the vicinity of Lebanon, supporting King Hussein. The tensions eased and ''Lake Champlain'' returned to Mayport on 27 July. Converted to an antisubmarine carrier and reclassified (CVS-39) on 1 August, ''Lake Champlain'' trained off the eastern seaboard in her new role. ''Lake Champlain'' was near the island of

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

when the Spanish city of

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

was devastated by the floods on the night of 14 October 1957. The American ambassador to Spain,

John Davis Lodge John Davis Lodge (October 20, 1903 – October 29, 1985) was an American film actor, lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was the 79th governor of Connecticut from 1951 to 1955, and later served as U.S. ambassador to Spain, Argentina, and Swit ...

, requested ''Lake Champlain'' provide assistance for rescue operations. The ship's

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

helicopters undertook numerous rescue missions, and the ship's crew participated in the relief efforts following the disaster. She departed

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

, New Jersey, on 8 February 1958 for another Mediterranean cruise, returning to Mayport, Florida, on 30 October. After a yard overhaul, she departed for the Mediterranean on 10 June, visiting Spain, Denmark, and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

before returning to Mayport on 9 August. The carrier operated off Florida and in the Caribbean until 15 June 1959, when she sailed on another Mediterranean cruise, returning to her newly assigned home port,

Quonset Point Quonset Point (), also known simply as Quonset, is a small peninsula in Narragansett Bay in the town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Its name is widely known from the Quonset hut, which was first manufactured there. ''Quonset'' is an Algo ...

, Rhode Island, on 4 September. The carrier operated out of Quonset Point until 29 June 1960, when she made a midshipmen's cruise to Halifax, Nova Scotia, returning on 12 August. Beginning on 7 February 1961, she made a cruise to the Caribbean, returning on 2 March.

Project Mercury

''Lake Champlain'' was selected as the prime recovery ship for America's first crewed space flight. She sailed for the recovery area on 1 May 1961 and was on station on 5 May when Commander

Alan Shepard Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he became the List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astr ...

was recovered, along with his spacecraft ''

'', after

splashdown Splashdown is the method of landing a spacecraft or launch vehicle in a body of water, usually by parachute. This has been the primary recovery method of American capsules including NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Orion along with th ...

some downrange from

Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...

. Helicopters from the carrier visually tracked the descent of the capsule and were over it two minutes after splashdown. They recovered Shepard and the ''Freedom 7'' capsule, delivering them safely to ''Lake Champlains flight deck. During retrieval, the vessel was under the command of then-

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Ralph Weymouth Ralph Weymouth (May 26, 1917 – January 22, 2020)Ralph Weymouth
. Military Times. Acc ...

. There were minor complications in retrieval as the helicopters intended to retrieve Shepard from the craft lacked the explosive squibs required to cut the Mercury craft's radio antenna. The antenna was designed to aid in locating the craft if it landed out of visual range. Had it deployed, it would have complicated retrieving Shepard. Fortunately, the antenna malfunctioned and did not deploy.

Caribbean and Cuban blockade

For the next year, the ship operated along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean. In June 1962, she and her escorts embarked First and Third Class Regular NROTC Midshipmen for a summer training cruise from NAS Quonset Point to offshore training areas,

Canadian Forces Base Halifax Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Halifax is Canada's east coast naval base and home port to the Royal Canadian Navy Atlantic fleet, known as Canadian Fleet Atlantic (CANFLTLANT), that forms part of the formation Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT). I ...

Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (), officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, (also called GTMO, pronounced Gitmo as jargon by the U.S. military) is a United States military base located on of land and water on the shore of Guant ...

, and

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

. In Kingston, she represented the US at the island's independence celebration on 3 August. The midshipmen acted as tour guides for visitors aboard and provided an honor guard ashore for then-VP Lyndon Johnson's speech. On 24 October, ''Lake Champlain'' joined in the quarantine of Cuba, where the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

was constructing bases for offensive missiles. US warships deployed throughout the western Atlantic, interdicting the flow of military supplies to Cuba and enforcing American demands for the withdrawal of the missiles. After the American demands were substantially complied with, ''Lake Champlain'' sailed for home on 23 November via St. Thomas,

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands () are an archipelago between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Caribbean Sea, geographically forming part of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, Caribbean islands or West Indie ...

, arriving at Quonset Point on 4 December 1962. For the next few months, the carrier conducted operations and underwent overhaul in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

waters. In September 1963, while on a cruise to Guantanamo Bay, her training was interrupted when she was ordered to Haiti to provide relief following Hurricane Flora. Her helicopters located victims and delivered food and medical supplies. On 6 May 1964, a collision occurred between ''Lake Champlain'' and the destroyer while underway in the Atlantic Ocean. ''Decatur'' sustained significant damage to her masts, superstructure, and stacks, and one of the destroyer's crew was injured.

North Atlantic and Project Gemini

''Lake Champlain'' returned to Quonset Point on 9 November for operations in New England waters. She visited

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

briefly in spring 1965 and steamed to Spain in the fall for landings near

Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...

. She sailed on 6 November from

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

for the United States, stopping at Gibraltar and arriving at Quonset Point on 25 November. The first half of 1965 saw ''Lake Champlain'' performing training duties and conducting exercises along the East Coast. On 19 January 1965, she was the recovery ship for the uncrewed

mission. For Fiscal Year 1966, the Navy proposed a modernization program for ''Lake Champlain''. Secretary of Defense

Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson ...

refused to authorize the proposal, citing the limited effectiveness of anti-submarine carriers. ''Lake Champlain'' completed her last major duty on 29 August 1965 when she served as the primary recovery ship for

. Shortly afterward, she sailed to the

Philadelphia Navy Yard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy shipyard and was historically important for nearly two centuries. Construction of the original Philadelphia Naval Shipyard began during the American Revolution in 1776 at Front ...

, where she commenced inactivation. She was decommissioned on 2 May 1966 and laid up in the Reserve Fleet. The

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy, officially the Armada, is the Navy, maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation ...

considered acquiring ''Lake Champlain'' but instead chose the carrier , which was renamed '' Dédalo''.¿Otro portaaviones Dédalo?
/ref> The 24-year-old ''Lake Champlain'' was stricken from the Navy List on 1 December 1969 and sold by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping on 28 April 1972.

Awards

Gallery

File:USS_Lake_Champlain_(CV-39)_at_Norfolk_VA_1945.jpeg, USS ''Lake Champlain'' in August 1945 File:USS Lake Champlain (CVA-39) underway in November 1952.jpg, ''Lake Champlain'' in November 1952 File:Aft view of USS Lake Champlain (CVA-39) in 1953.jpg, ''Lake Champlain'' in 1953 File:F2H-2 of VF-62 on elevator of USS Lake Champlain (CVA-39) 1953.jpg, F2H-2 Banshee onboard ''Lake Champlain'' in 1953 File:Overhead view of USS Lake Champlain (CVA-39) c1955.jpg, ''Lake Champlain'' in 1955 File:Shepard on Deck of Champlain after Recovery - GPN-2000-001362.jpg,

Astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

Alan B. Shepard onboard ''Lake Champlain'' on 5 May 1961

References

* *

External links

Naval Historical Center page on ''Lake Champlain''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lake Champlain (CV-39) 1944 ships Cold War aircraft carriers of the United States Korean War aircraft carriers of the United States Ships built in Portsmouth, Virginia Ticonderoga-class aircraft carriers World War II aircraft carriers of the United States Space capsule recovery ships