Aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) launched - 7 December 1942

USS Bunker Hill, a 27,100-ton Essex class aircraft carrier built at Quincy, Massachusetts, was commissioned in May 1943. After working up in the Atlantic, she arrived in the Pacific war zone in time to participate in strikes on Rabaul and in the conquest of the Gilberts during November and December 1943. In the first two months of 1944, Bunker Hill took part in the Marshalls operation and raids on Truk and the Marianas. Air attacks on Japanese bases throughout the Central Pacific, and support for landings at Hollandia, New Guinea, followed in March, April and May. In June, Bunker Hill was part of the fast carrier forces that covered the invasion of Saipan and defeated the Japanese Mobile Fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. In the latter action, she was lightly damaged, suffering two crewmen killed and many injured when a bomb hit nearby.

Bunker Hill helped actively prosecute the war with Japan through most of the remaining months of 1944. Her planes supported the invasions of the Palaus in September, Leyte in October, and raided enemy bases in the Western Pacific. Early in November, following more than a year of combat operations, she steamed to the United States for an overhaul.

Repairs completed by late January 1945, Bunker Hill returned to the Western Pacific in time to participate in the February invasion of Iwo Jima and in raids on targets in Japan during February and March. As flagship of Task Force 58, she was also active in the next big operation, to capture Okinawa, and provided aircraft for the massive effort to sink the Japanese battleship Yamato on 7 April. While off Okinawa on 11 May, Bunker Hill was hit by two enemy "Kamikaze" suicide planes, losing nearly 400 crewmen killed in the resulting explosions and fires. Despite severe damage, the carrier was able to return under her own power to the U.S. for repairs.

Source: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-b/cv17.htm

This video is part from "The United Newsreel" (1942 - 1946).

Видео Aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) launched - 7 December 1942 канала Colonel Tannenbusch