Photos and the story

Bataan

Class	Independence class
Type	Light carrier (CVL)
Hull	CVL-29
Builder	New York Shipbuilding, Camden
Launched	1943-08-01
Commissioned	1943-11-17
Fate	Afloat. Survived the war. Served in Korea and later as an aircraft transport. Sold for scrap in 1961. Not the Australian destroyer Bataan (I91).
Armament (class)	Light carrier converted from a cruiser hull. Flight deck and an island.
Command	Schaeffer, Valentine Hixon Commanding officer from 17 November 1943; Relieved on 26 August 1944 Heath, John Postell Commanding officer from 26 August 1944; Relieved on 5 June 1945 Gilbert, Ward Carr Commanding officer from 5 June 1945; Relieved on 22 March 1946 Short, William Byfield Jr. Commander in command from 22 March 1946; Relieved on 15 November 1946 Davison, William Hall Lieutenant Commander in command from 15 November 1946; Relieved on 11 February 1947

Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.

The armament line is the class drawing, not a measurement of this hull.

USS Bataan (CVL-29) is an Independence-class light carrier. She was ordered as the light cruiser Buffalo (CL-99), reclassified as a carrier and renamed Bataan on 2 June 1942, launched on 1 August 1943 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation and commissioned on 17 November 1943 with Captain V. H. Schaeffer in command. She is named for the Bataan Peninsula. She is not the Australian destroyer HMAS Bataan (I91) that is also in the catalog.

Her first engagement was the Hollandia attack of 21 to 24 April 1944. She then struck Truk, Satawan and Ponape from 29 April to 1 May, raided Saipan and the Marianas from 11 June and the Bonins on 15 and 16 June, and fought in the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19 and 20 June. She struck the Bonins again on 24 June.

After repairs she joined Task Force 58 and took part in the fleet raids in support of the Okinawa operation from 17 March to 30 May 1945. On 18 April an antisubmarine patrol from her helped sink the Japanese submarine I-56 at about 26°42′N 130°38′E. She then joined the Third Fleet for the operations against the home islands from 10 July to 15 August. She reached New York on 17 October 1945 and carried troops home. She served in Korea in 1950 and 1951.

Her wartime commanding officers, from NavSource: Captain Valentine Hixon Schaeffer, 17 November 1943 to 26 August 1944; Captain John Postell Heath, 26 August 1944 to 5 June 1945; Captain Ward Carr Gilbert, 5 June 1945 to 22 March 1946.

Sources: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), Wikipedia, NavSource Online (commanding officers) and Wikimedia Commons (photograph records).

The pictures on this page are the originals.