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USS San Jacinto CVL-30

USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) was the second ship of the U.S. Navy to bear the name. An Independence class light aircraft carrier, she was originally laid down as the light cruiser, Newark (CL-100). Built by the New York Shipbuilding Co. of Camden, New Jersey, she was renamed and re-designated Reprisal, CV-30 on June 2.1942. While she was being constructed, she was re-named San Jacinto, converted to a light aircraft carrier and reclassified as CVL-30. Sponsored by Mrs. Jesse Jones, San Jacinto was launched on September 26 and commissioned on November 15, 1943, Captain Harold M. Martin in command.

USS San Jacinto departed for the Pacific war zone, via the Panama Canal, San Diego and Pearl Harbor, upon completing her shakedown cruise in the Caribbean. On her arrival at Majuro in the Marshall Islands, San Jacinto embarked Air Group 51 fighters and torpedo planes. She was now part of the fast carrier strike force of Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's Task Force 58/38. San Jacinto provided air support to protect the carriers striking at Wake and Marcus Islands until the fleet steamed to the Marianas on June 5, 1944. In the largest fleet action since the battle of Midway two years before, San Jacinto conducted air strikes preparatory to the American seizure of Saipan.

The Japanese Fleet reacted strongly to the American thrust, launching more than 400 planes against the invasion fleet. The ensuing battle became know to America pilots as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot". The aircraft launched from the San Jacinto achieved their most one-sided victory of the war while her gunners aided in downing the few enemy planes able to breach the fleet's defenses. Prior to departing to Eniwetok Atoll for refueling, San Jacinto struck against Rota and Guam and provided air combat and anti-submarine patrols for her task group.

Departing Eniwetok, San Jacinto participated in carrier strikes against the Palaus on July 15, 1944, and strikes on Chichi, Haha and Iwo Jima on August 5. USS San Jacinto then made a brief stop at Eniwetok and took up dawn to dusk combat air and anti-submarine patrols. This was in support of the other carriers striking at Yap, Ulithi, Anguar and Babelthuap during the assault on the Palaus on September 15, 1944. Future President George H.W. Bush was one of the TBF Grumman Avenger pilots flying from the USS San Jacinto. Shot down over enemy territory on September 2, he was later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Replenishing at Manus, San Jacinto participated in strikes against Okinawa and again provided dawn to dusk air protection for the strikes against Formosa, northern Luzon and the Manila Bay area from October 12 to October 19, 1944. San Jacinto then furnished close air support for the American troops landing on Leyte in the central Philippines. This mission was interrupted on October 24 with the tri-pronged approach of the Japanese fleet. First sending her aircraft to strike the central force in the Sibuyan Sea, San Jacinto then turned to attack the northern Japanese force off Cape Engano. After returning to Ulithi, she participated in attacks on the Manila Bay area before steaming to Guam to exchange air groups, receiving Air Group 45. In December of 1944, San Jacinto suffered slight damage during a typhoon and was repaired at Ulithi.

Departing Ulithi, San Jacinto entered the South China Sea with the fast carrier force and launched attacks on Formosa, Cam Rahn Bay, French Indochina and Hong Kong. Refueling and replenishing at sea, San Jacinto and the task force continued to provide support for the American invasion of Luzon with strikes against the Ryukyu Islands. San Jacinto then joined in the first carrier strikes against the home islands of Japan in February and March of 1945. San Jacinto gave air support for the marines landing at Iwo Jima and followed with further strikes against Tokyo and Okinawa before returning to Ulithi.

San Jacinto came under increasingly heavy attack as the carrier force supported the invasion of Okinawa. More than 500 Japanese aircraft attacked on April 5, 1945 and though 300 of these were brought down by fighter planes and antiaircraft guns, many got through. San Jacinto continued to defend against the suicide plane attacks, staging strikes at the Kamikaze airfields on Kyushu and providing close air support for the troops on Okinawa. She successfully weathered another typhoon on June 5 and then replenished at Leyte. In her final raids as part of Task Force 58, San Jacinto sent her aircraft against Hokkaido and Honshu, Japan on July 9 and staged operations off the coast of Japan until the enemy surrendered on August 15, 1945. Following several mercy flights over prisoner of war camps in Japan, USS San Jacinto then returned to the United States, arriving at Alameda, California on September 14, 1945.

USS San Jacinto was decommissioned on March 1, 1947 and was berthed at San Diego as part of the Pacific Reserve Fleet. She was reclassified as an auxiliary aircraft transport (AVT-5) on May 15, 1959 and struck from the Navy list on June 1, 1970. San Jacinto was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and earned five battle stars for her service in World War II.

If you were exposed to asbestos while serving on the USS San Jacinto (CVL-30), or have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, Asbestos.com offers a free packet with more information. Enter your contact information in the form in the right column and we'll send a copy immediately.

Aircraft Carriers Index

USS America USS Antietam CV 36 K USS Antietam CV 36 USS Badoeng Strait CVE 116 USS Bairoko CVE 115 USS Bairoko CVE 115 USS Belleau wood CVL 24 USS Bennington CV 20 USS Bon Homme Richard CVa USS Boxer CV USS Bunker CV USS Cabot CVL 28 USS Constellation CV USS Coral Sea CV USS Corregidor CVE 58 USS Sable ix USS San jacinto CVL USS Saratoga CV USS Saratoga CV3 USS Shangri La

USS Cowpens CVL 25 USS Enterprise CV 6 USS Enterprise CVN USS Essex CV 9 USS Forrestal CV USS Franklin CV 13 USS Hancock CV 19 USS Hornet CV 12 USS Hornet CV 8 USS Independence C1 USS Independence CVL 22 USS Intrepid CV 11 USS Kearsage CV 33 USS Kearsage CV USS Kitty Hawk USS Sicily CVe USS Sitkoh bay USS Tarawa CV USS Ticonderoga CV USS Valley forge CV

USS Lake Champlain CV 39 USS Langley CV 1 USS Langley CVL 27 USS Lexington CV 16 USS Lexington CV 2 USS Leyte CV 32 USS Midway CV USS Oriskany CV USS Phillipine Sea CV USS Point cruz CVE USS Princeton CV USS Princeton CVL USS Randolph CV USS Ranger CV USS Rendova USS Wasp CV 18 USS Wasp CV 7 USS Wolverine IX 64 USS Yorktown CV 10 USS Yorktown CV 5

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