USS Saratoga and her sister ship USS Lexington were the two largest
aircraft carriers in the world until 1944. The keel of the battle
cruiser USS Saratoga (CC-3) was laid by New York Shipbuilding in
Camden, New Jersey, on September 25, 1920. Work on the fast,
formidably armed battle cruiser was suspended in February 1922,
when the Washington Naval Conference negotiated limits on warship
sizes and numbers. Once the accord was signed, the decision was
made to covert the 28 percent complete Saratoga into an aircraft
carrier (the same fate befell her sister ship, Lexington). Launched
as an aircraft carrier on April 7, 1925, she became the largest
ship of that type afloat. Saratogas revolutionary turboelectric
drive and hull design allowed her to operate at 33 knots (either
forward or backward), a trait believed to be useful in the event of
combat damage to either end of her flight deck. And damaged she
was. Though in port at San Diego, California, when the Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor, during the ensuing war the ship was damaged
repeatedly, and sometimes severely. Despite this, she fought
throughout the war, earning eight battle stars. Following the war,
in view of her age, past damage, and the limitations of her design,
Saratoga was deemed surplus and was expended as a target during the
Bikini Atoll nuclear tests. She survived the first Able bomb test
but was sunk by the Baker test on July 25, 1946. This 144-page
volume, an expansion of the authors earlier work, immerses the
reader in the construction and operation of the ship at peace and
war, as well as detailing the many refits and repairs she
underwent, through over 350 photos and illustrations.
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