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Builder: Bethlehem Steel Corp., Fore River, Quincy, Mass.
Named after the battle fought, June 17, 1775 on Breed's Hill, adjacent to Bunker Hill (a height in Charlestown, Mass.)
On the morning of 11 May 1945, while supporting the Okinawa invasion, USS Bunker Hill was hit and severely damaged by two kamikazes. She suffered the loss of 346 men killed, 43 missing, and 264 wounded. Although badly crippled she managed to return to Bremerton via Pearl Harbor.
Repaired and returned to active service, but did not resume flight operations, as she served as part of the "Magic Carpet" fleet, returning veterans from the Pacific until decommissioned.
Laid up in excellent condition and retained awaiting the "ultimate" Essex-class modernization, which never materialized.
Reclassified as an "Attack Aircraft Carrier" and redesignated CVA-17, 1 October 1952, while in reserve.
Reclassified as an "Antisubmarine Warfare Support Aircraft Carrier" and redesignated CVS-17, 8 August 1953, while in reserve.
Reclassified as an "Auxiliary Aircraft Transport" and redesignated AVT-9, May 1959, while in reserve.
Fate: Although struck from the Naval Vessel Register, her hulk was used as a stationary electronics test platform at San Diego until November 1972. Sold to Zidell Dismantling, Tacoma, WA, 9 February 1973, for $316,999.99. About 600 tons of her armor plate have been put to use at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
Specifications (As built, 1943) Displacement: 27,100 tons standard; 36,380 tons full load Dimensions (wl): 820' x 93' x 28.5' (full load) / 249.9 x 28.3 x 8.7 (full load) meters Dimensions (max.): 872' x 147.5' / 265.8 x 45 meters Armor: 4"-2.5" belt; 1.5" hangar & protective deck(s); 4" bulkheads; 1.5" STS (top, side of pilot house); 2.5" (top) steering gear Power plant: 8 boilers (565 psi, 850°F); 4 steam turbines; 4 shafts; 150,000 shp (design) Speed: 32.7 knots Endurance (design): 20,000 nautical miles @ 15 knots Armament: 4 twin & 4 single 5"/38 gun mounts; 8 quad 40-mm/56-cal gun mounts; 46 single 20-mm/70-cal guns mounts Aircraft: 92 (Air Group 17, June 1943) Aviation facilities: 1 deck-edge, 2 centerline elevators; 1 flight deck, 1 hangar deck catapults Crew: 2,600+ (ship's company + air wing, as designed)
Source: https://www.navsource.org/archives/02/17.htm
World War II
1943-44
Reporting to the U.S. Pacific Fleet in the autumn of 1943, Bunker Hill participated in carrier operations during: the crucial carrier air raid on the major Imperial Japanese Navy base at Rabaul, along with USS Essex and USS Independence on 11 November 1943; Gilbert Islands operation, including support of the landings on Tarawa Atoll (13 November - 8 December); the air raids on Kavieng 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 (29 January - 8 February); the huge carrier air raids on Truk Atoll (17 - 18 February), during which eight I.J.N. warships were sunk; air raids on the Marianas Islands (Guam, Saipan, and Tinian) (23 February); air raids on Palau, Yap, Ulithi, and Woleai in the Palau Islands (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 (29 April - 1 May); 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, 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 Battle of the Philippine Sea, about 476 Japanese warplanes were destroyed, nearly all of them shot down by Navy F6F Hellcat fighter planes, 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 a to the north to launch air raids on Luzon, Formosa, and Okinawa, through early November.
On 6 November 1944, Bunker Hill steamed eastward from the forward area, and she was taken to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard, for a period of major overhaul/upkeep work and weaponry upgrades, as all warships must undergo periodically. She departed from the Port of Bremerton on 24 January 1945, and then she steamed westward back into the combat area in the Western Pacific.
1945
During the remaining months of World War II, Bunker Hill fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima; the 5th Fleet raids against Honshū and the Nansei Shoto (15 February - 4 March); and the 5th and 3rd Fleet raids in 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 of the Pacific Fleet on Imperial Japanese Navy forces in the East China Sea. The superbattleship Yamato, one light cruiser, and four destroyers were sunk during this Operation Ten-Go, as it was called by the Japanese Navy.
On the morning of 11 May 1945, while supporting the invasion of Okinawa, Bunker Hill was struck and severely damaged by two Japanese kamikaze planes. An A6M Zero fighter plane piloted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Seiz Yasunori emerged from low cloud cover, dove toward the flight deck 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 next 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, a short 30 seconds later, a second Zero, piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, 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 penetrated the flight deck and exploded. Gasoline fires flamed up and several explosions took place. Bunker Hill lost a total of 346 sailors and airmen killed, 43 more missing (and never found), and 264 wounded. She was heavily damaged 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
In September 1945, Bunker Hill reported for duty with the Operation Magic Carpet fleet, returning veterans from the Pacific. She remained on this duty as a unit of TG 16.12 until January 1946, when she was ordered to Bremerton for deactivation. She was decommissioned into reserve on 9 January 1947.
While she was laid up in mothballs, she 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 Landing Training Ship". As all Essex-class carriers survived the war, Bunker Hill was surplus to the needs of the navy. She and Franklin, 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 duty after the end of World War II, despite their being repaired. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in November 1966, Bunker Hill was used as a stationary electronics test platform at the Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, during the 1960s and early 1970s.
