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U.S.S. Randolph/CV-15

USS Randolph (CV/CVA/CVS-15) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The second US Navy ship to bear the name, she was named for Peyton Randolph, president of the First Continental Congress. Randolph was commissioned in October 1944, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning three battle stars. Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career she operated exclusively in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Caribbean. In the early 1960s she served as the recovery ship for two Project Mercury space missions, including John Glenn's historic first orbital flight.

She was decommissioned in 1969 and sold for scrap in 1975.

F6F-5 Hellcat of VF-12 engulfed in flames on the U.S.S. Randolph (CV 15), 1945 WRG# 0001168
F6F-5 Hellcat of VF-12 engulfed in flames on the U.S.S. Randolph (CV 15), 1945
[Source: Jack Cook Collection]

Sources:
Wikipedia
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