World War II Database

Contributor: David Stubblebine

ww2dbaseIn the United States Navy, the name "Ranger" is as old as the Navy itself. As flagship for John Paul Jones in 1778, the sloop Ranger flying the stars and stripes received the new nation's first salute from a foreign fleet at Quiberon Bay, France. Throughout the history of the United States Navy, several ships have borne the name. The aircraft carrier Ranger of the 1930s and 1940s was special in that it was the first United States ship intended as an aircraft carrier from its earliest planning stages rather than being repurposed into a carrier from some other use. This USS Ranger was the United States Navy's fourth aircraft carrier.

ww2dbaseRanger was laid down at Newport News, Virginia on 26 Sep 1931 and launched 25 Feb 1933 with First Lady Mrs. Lou Hoover as sponsor. Because this was during America's Prohibition period, Mrs. Hoover cracked a bottle of sparkling grape juice against the ship's hull. USS Ranger was commissioned on 4 Jun 1934 at Norfolk, Virginia with Captain Arthur L. Bristol in command. Captain Bristol was a 1906 graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and was a decorated World War I veteran. Ranger logged her first aircraft landing on 21 Jun 1934 when Lieutenant Commander Arthur Davis landed a Vought O3U-2 Corsair biplane on her flight deck.

ww2dbaseRanger's shakedown cruise was to South America where she visited the ports of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay before returning to Norfolk. On 28 Mar 1935, Ranger sailed from Norfolk bound for the Pacific, transiting the Panama Canal on 7 Apr 1935. Within a month of her arrival in the Pacific, Ranger took part in Fleet Problem XVI that stretched the fleet from Hawaii to the Aleutians. Ranger remained in the Pacific for the next four years, including being part of Fleet Problem XVII in the Spring of 1936 in the eastern Pacific.

ww2dbaseOn 10 Jun 1936, Captain Patrick Bellinger relieved Captain Bristol as Ranger's commanding officer. Captain Bellinger was a 1907 graduate of the Naval Academy and was Naval Aviator #8. By 1943, Vice-Admiral Bellinger was Commander for Air, Atlantic Fleet.

ww2dbaseIn May 1937, Fleet Problem XVIII again brought Ranger into the central North Pacific. On 3 Jun 1937, Ranger had another change of command when Captain John S. McCain relieved Captain Bellinger after a year in command. Captain McCain was a 1906 academy classmate of Arthur Bristol, a veteran of the Great White Fleet world cruise in 1908-09, and he became a naval aviator at the age of 52, making him one of the oldest officers ever to achieve that qualification. Commanding the aircraft carrier Ranger for two years and immersing himself in carrier doctrine was good experience for McCain, since in 1944 he became the carrier task force commander under Admiral William Halsey.

ww2dbaseFleet Problem XIX in Apr and May 1938 was particularly significant in that it simulated a fleet air attack on installations in the Hawaii and tested the island defenses. The following year, in preparation for Fleet Problem XX in the Caribbean, Ranger transitioned to the Atlantic Fleet in Jan 1939. While operating out of Norfolk, Captain Ralph Wood relieved Captain McCain on 6 Jun 1940. Captain Wood, in fact, held the rank of Commander and was a Captain-designee at the time he assumed command of Ranger, but his full promotion came through a short time later. A 1911 graduate of the Naval Academy, he had also previously served on submarines.

ww2dbaseOn 1 Sep 1939, German forces invaded Poland and the European war moved from a simmer to a boil. Four days later, Franklin Roosevelt instituted the United States Neutrality Patrols in the Atlantic which involved the swift mobilization of all US Navy air and surface forces in the region. On 14 Sep 1939, Ranger joined with battleships USS New York and Texas to become a striking force staged at Hampton Roads, Virginia poised to support destroyers and Coast Guard cutters escorting merchant ships at sea. In the fifteen months of Neutrality Patrols, Ranger's tours ranged from Argentia in Newfoundland in the north to Bermuda and Trinidad in the south.

ww2dbaseDuring that period on 6 Jun 1940, Captain Alfred Montgomery relieved Captain Wood as Ranger's commanding officer. Captain Montgomery was a 1911 Academy graduate and another submarine officer. He also served as Ranger's Executive Officer under Captain Bellinger. In Dec 1940, Ranger's air group became among the first to receive Grumman's F4F Wildcat fighter. Then, on 13 Jun 1941, 1914 Academy graduate Captain William Harrill relieved Captain Montgomery after one year in command. On 7 Dec 1941, Ranger received news of the Pearl Harbor Attack on her last day of a patrol from Trinidad to Norfolk. Four days later, Germany declared war on the United States which, among other things, officially brought the Neutrality Patrols to a close.

ww2dbaseRanger made one more patrol to the South Atlantic, officially a wartime patrol this time, before entering the Norfolk Navy Yard for an overhaul. When she emerged, Ranger's size and age made her best suited for secondary roles since there were by this time four newer, larger carriers in the US fleet. Between Apr and Aug 1942, Ranger made three ferry runs to western Africa with deck loads of Army fighter aircraft. In the midst of those voyages on 30 May 1942, during a stop at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, Captain Calvin Durgin relieved Captain Harrill as Ranger's commanding officer. Captain Dugin was a 1916 Academy graduate and an accomplished naval officer. He had a Master's Degree in aeronautical engineering from M.I.T. and was considered an expert in naval air combat.

ww2dbaseRanger spent Aug and Sep 1942 qualifying carrier pilots, first at Quonset Point and then in Chesapeake Bay, before beginning preparations for her part in the invasion of North Africa set for Nov 1942. Once the invasion force gathered in Bermuda, Ranger and the fleet sailed for North Africa on 25 Oct 1942 as part of Operation Torch. For the landings on 8 Nov 1942, Ranger provided air support to the invasion beaches in French Morocco. On 10 Nov 1942, French submarine Le Tonnant fired four torpedoes at Ranger but all four missed. That same afternoon, Ranger aircraft attacked the French battleship Jean Bart in Casablanca harbor in an effort to silence her guns. Ranger left Africa on 13 Nov 1942 and began her return voyage to America.

ww2dbaseAfter a drydocking at Norfolk, Ranger returned to her aircraft ferrying role with three more crossings to North Africa. On 2 Mar 1943 on the return voyage from her third trip, one of Ranger's patrol planes located two drifting life boats. One of Ranger's escorts, destroyer USS Hobson, picked up 46 survivors from the British merchant ship St. Margaret, torpedoed by U-66 three days earlier. Two weeks later at Quonset Point, Captain Durgin was relieved as Ranger's commanding officer by Captain Gordon Rowe, a 1913 graduate of the Naval Academy and a former aviator on USS Langley.

ww2dbaseRanger spent the next five months ranging from Boston to Argentia qualifying pilots for carrier landings and escorting convoys. She then sailed for Great Britain and joined the British Home Fleet at Scapa Flow, Scotland on 19 Aug 1943. On 31 Aug 1943, Royal Navy Fleet Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser boarded Ranger and remained aboard for the day's exercises. Ranger and her US escorts sailed with the Home Fleet on patrol sorties into the Norwegian Sea including Operation Leader where Ranger's planes bombed German shipping at Bodø, Norway on 4 Oct 1943. Ranger briefly entered drydock at the Navy Yard at Rosyth, Scotland before returning to Boston in the United States by way of Hvalfjörður, Iceland.

ww2dbaseRanger finished 1943 in the Boston Navy Yard and began 1944 on carrier qualification duty out of Quonset Point. She returned to Boston briefly in Feb 1944 to replace a bent propeller. On 20 Apr 1944 Ranger arrived at Staten Island, New York and began loading Army fighter planes for transportation to Casablanca. While loading, Captain Arthur Gavin relieved Captain Rowe as commanding officer on 22 Apr 1944. Captain Gavin did not attend the Naval Academy but was an early Naval aviator and pioneered several innovations in naval endurance flights.

ww2dbaseOn 11 Jun 1944, Ranger completed a three-week overhaul at the Norfolk Navy Yard to install her first aircraft catapult and she also got a new "Dazzle" paint scheme. That same day, she sailed for the Panama Canal and the Pacific. In the Pacific, Ranger continued her ferrying roles, departing San Diego, California on 28 Jul 1944 on her first trip to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii since 1935. Once in Hawaii, Ranger assumed duty as a training carrier, predominately night fighter training. Ranger continued this assignment in Hawaiian waters as well as along the California coast for the rest of the war.

ww2dbaseDuring this period, on 15 Jan 1945 Captain Douglass Johnson relieved Captain Gavin as commanding officer at San Diego. Captain Johnson was a 1920 graduate of the Naval Academy and had been commanding officer of escort carrier USS Fanshaw Bay when that ship was flagship of "Taffy 3" during the Battle off Samar three months earlier.

ww2dbaseWhen World War II ended on 15 Sep 1945, Ranger was at San Diego, California. At the end of that month, Ranger departed for the Atlantic once again and arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana on 16 Oct 1945 in time for the big Navy Day victory celebration eleven days later. After stops at Pensacola, Norfolk, and Philadelphia, Ranger returned to Pensacola, Florida on 22 Jan 1946 to assume carrier qualification duty, relieving USS Guadalcanal. Averaging 200 aircraft landings per week, Ranger passed the milestone of 82,000 career "traps" a short time later.

ww2dbaseOn 1 May 1946, Captain George Dussault relieved Captain Johnson as Ranger's commanding officer. Captain Dussault was a 1923 graduate of the Naval Academy and had previously commanded the escort carrier USS Barnes. Ranger arrived at Norfolk for her deactivation overhaul and on 1 Oct 1946, she experienced her last change of command when Commander Ray Davis relieved Captain Dussault. Commander Davis' command only lasted 17 days without ever putting to sea as USS Ranger was decommissioned at Norfolk on 18 Oct 1946. Preparations began for Ranger's demolition and on 28 Jan 1947, the ship was sold for scrapping.

ww2dbaseAs the United States' fourth aircraft carrier, Ranger was an important ship in the development of America's aircraft carriers, even if her wartime record was not as celebrated as others. Ranger earned two battle stars during World War II (Operation Torch and the Norway Raids) as well as the "Atlantic" clasp on her American Defense Ribbon. The Atlantic clasp was a significant achievement since it was limited to ships, squadrons, and men who participated in the Atlantic Neutrality Patrols prior to the formal declaration of war, and so the clasp essentially amounted to another battle star.

Aircraft Carrier Ranger (CV-4) Interactive Map

Ranger Operational Timeline

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2.  David Stubblebine says:
19 Jan 2022 11:57:26 AM

James Postell (above):
I am not sure what you mean by conning towers on an aircraft carrier, but if you mean islands, Ranger only had one and always did. If you mean those protrusions on either side of the flight deck aft, there are indeed two sets of them but they are the funnels (exhaust stacks), 3 on each side – unique to Ranger.