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Photo # 80-G-301351:  USS Langley leading Task Group 38.3 into Ulithi anchorage, 12 December 1944

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Langley (CVL-27), 1943-1964

USS Langley, an 11,000-ton Independence class small aircraft carrier built at Camden, New Jersey, was originally ordered as the light cruiser Fargo (CL-85). By the time her keel was laid in April 1942, she had been redesigned as an aircraft carrier, using the original cruiser hull and machinery. Commissioned in August 1943, Langley went to the Pacific late in the year and entered combat during the Marshalls operation in January-February 1944. During the next four months, her planes attacked Japanese positions in the central Pacific and western New Guinea. In June 1944, she took part in the assault on the Marianas and in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

Langley continued her war role through the rest of 1944, participating in the Palaus Operation, raids on the Philippines, Formosa and the Ryukyus, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. In January-February 1945, she was part of the Third Fleet's foray into the South China Sea, the first massed carrier attacks on the Japanese Home Islands and the invasion of Iwo Jima. More combat activity followed in March-May, as Langley's planes again hit targets in Japan and supported the Okinawa operation. Overhauled in the U.S. in June and July, she was en route back to the Pacific war zone when the conflict ended in August.

Following service transporting Pacific veterans home, Langley went to the Atlantic, where she carried out similar missions in November 1945 - January 1946. Inactive at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the remainder of 1946, the carrier decommissioned there in February 1947. Langley was taken out of "mothballs" early in 1951, refurbished and transferred to France under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program. After more than a decade of French Navy service, under the name La Fayette, she was returned to the United States in March 1963 and sold for scrapping a year later.

This page features selected views of USS Langley (CL-27).

For views of Langley while she was serving in the French Navy, see:

  • La Fayette (French Aircraft Carrier).

    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: 80-G-87113

    USS Langley (CVL-27)


    Underway off Cape Henry, Virginia, (36 55'N; 75 45'W) with two SNJ training planes on her flight deck, 6 October 1943.
    Photographed by a blimp of squadron ZP-14, out of NAS Weeksville, N.C.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 520 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-321677

    USS Langley (CVL-27)


    At anchor in harbor, February 1944.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 101KB; 740 x 590 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-258424

    USS Langley (CVL-27)


    Anchored in Ulithi harbor, Caroline Islands, on 31 October 1944, following the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
    USS Hornet (CV-12) and many other ships are in the background

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 118KB; 740 x 590 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-301351

    Task Group 38.3


    Enters Ulithi anchorage in column, 12 December 1944, while returning from strikes on targets in the Philippines.
    Ships are (from front): Langley (CVL-27); Ticonderoga (CV-14); Washington (BB-56); North Carolina (BB-55); South Dakota (BB-57); Santa Fe (CL-60); Biloxi (CL-80); Mobile (CL-63) and Oakland (CL-95).

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 615 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-301354

    Task Group 38.3


    Makes a simultaneous turn to port from column formation, while entering Ulithi anchorage on 12 December 1944 after strikes against the Japanese in the Philippines.
    Ships are (from front): Langley (CVL-27); Ticonderoga (CV-14); Washington (BB-56); North Carolina (BB-55); South Dakota (BB-57); Santa Fe (CL-60); Biloxi (CL-80); Mobile (CL-63) and Oakland (CL-95).

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 121KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-312491

    USS Langley (CVL-27)


    Underway with a task force in the Pacific, 27 March 1945. Photographed from USS McCord (DD-534).

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 520 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-233487

    USS Langley (CVL-27)


    Lieutenant Commander Edward C. Outlaw, Commander Fighting Squadron 32 and Air Group 32, with other VF-32 pilots in flight quarters after a sweep over Truk, 29 April 1944.
    Note steward serving drinks, status boards on the bulkhead and ventilator on the overhead

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 99KB; 740 x 590 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-284074

    USS Langley (CVL-27)


    An F6F "Hellcat" fighter landing "high" during flight operations in the vicinity of the Nansei Shoto, 10 October 1944. Task Force 38 carriers hit Japanese targets in the Okinawa area on that day.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 595 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-700447

    USS Langley (CVL-27)


    Scene on the flight deck, looking forward, as the carrier shoots down a Japanese plane during air attacks on Task Force 38 off Formosa, 14 October 1944. The falling plane is visible directly ahead of the ship.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 103KB; 740 x 595 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-305484

    USS Langley (CVL-27)


    Rolling sharply as she rides out a Pacific storm. Photographed from USS Essex (CV-9).
    The original photograph is dated 13 January 1945, but Morison, "History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II", Vol. 13, captions this view as having been taken during the "Great Typhoon" of 18 December 1944.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-425966

    USS Langley (CVL-27)


    Undergoes reactivation at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Pennsylvania, in January 1951. She was later transferred to the French Navy.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 600 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     

    For views of Langley while she was serving in the French Navy, see:

  • La Fayette (French Aircraft Carrier).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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    Page made 29 December 2000
    Link added 27 October 2001