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USS Antietam (CV-36)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Antietam (CV-36). 

USS Antietam (CV-36) was laid down on 15 March 1943 by the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pa.; launched on 20 August 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Millard E. Tydings, the wife of Senator Tydings of Maryland; and commissioned on 28 January 1945, Capt. James R. Tague in command.

The aircraft carrier completed fitting out at Philadelphia until 2 March when she got underway for her shakedown cruise. The ship arrived in Hampton Roads on the 5th and conducted operations from Norfolk until 22 March when she stood out of Chesapeake Bay bound for Trinidad in the British West Indies.

USS Antietam (CV-36) remained in the Far East for a little more than three years. The Yellow Sea constituted her primary theater of operations while her air group provided support for the Allied occupation of North China, Manchuria, and Korea. USS Antietam (CV-36) remained in reserve at Alameda, Calif., until communist forces from the north invaded South Korea in the summer of 1950. Between 15 October 1951 and mid-March 1952, USS Antietam's air group flew nearly 6,000 sorties of all types. She returned to Yokosuka on 21 March 1952 at the conclusion of her fourth cruise with TF 77 to begin preparations for her voyage back to the United States.

After resuming operations along the eastern seaboard early in 1957, USS Antietam (CV-36) was assigned on 21 April 1957 to training duty with the Naval Air Training Station, Pensacola, Fla. In January 1959, after the deepening of the channel into Pensacola had been completed, USS Antietam's home port was changed from Mayport to Pensacola. For the remainder of her active career, the carrier operated out of Pensacola as an aviation training ship. On 23 October 1962, USS Antietam (CV-36) was relieved by Lexington (CVS-16) as aviation training ship at Pensacola and was placed in commission, in reserve, on 7 January 1963. She remained in that status until she was decommissioned on 8 May 1963. Berthed at Philadelphia, Pa., she remained in reserve until May of 1973 when her name was stricken from the Navy List. On 28 February 1974, she was sold to the Union Minerals & Alloys Corp. for scrapping.

For a complete history of USS Antietam (CV-36) please see its DANFS page.