page_title: Timeline for aircraft carrier service
section_title: Post-war 1945–1949
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline for aircraft carrier service / Post-war 1945–1949
caption_attribution_description: English: The light U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Wright (CVL-49) underway, probably taken in the early 1950s. On deck are Grumman AF-2S and AF-2W Guardian aircraft of Anti-Submarine Squadron 24 (VS-24).
context_page_description: Aircraft carriers have their origins during the days of World War I. The earliest experiments consisted of fitting temporary "flying off" platforms to the gun turrets of the warships of several nations, notably the United States and the United Kingdom. The first ship to be modified with a permanent flight deck was the battlecruiser HMS Furious, which initially had a single flying-off deck forward of the original superstructure. Subsequently, she was modified with a separate "landing on" deck aft and later with a full flush deck. Other ships, often liners, were modified to have full flush flight decks, HMS Argus being the first to have such modification begun. Those first faltering steps gave little indication of just how important the aircraft carrier was to prove to be. During the inter-war years, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States built up significant carrier fleets so that by the beginning of World War II, they had 18 carriers between them. The 1940 Battle of Taranto and 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor in retrospect showed the world that the aircraft carrier was to be the most important ship in the modern fleet.
context_section_description: 1945
  USS Reprisal (incomplete) launched to clear slipway.
  8 July – USS Valley Forge (CV-45) launched.
  23 August – USS Leyte launched.
  1 September – USS Wright launched.
  5 September – USS Philippine Sea launched.
  10 September – USS Midway commissioned.
  22 September – HMS Hercules launched, laid up for possible future use.
  13 October – USS Oriskany launched; Katsuragi assigned to repatriation duty.
  19 October – HMS Edgar renamed and commissioned as HMS Perseus.
  27 October – USS Franklin D. Roosevelt commissioned.
  18 November – USS Princeton commissioned.
  20 November – Kaiyo decommissioned.
  30 November – Junyō and Ryūhō decommissioned.
  3 December – First landing by a jet-powered aircraft on a carrier, HMS Ocean.
  8 December – USS Tarawa commissioned.
  1946
  Ryūhō sold for scrap.
  HMS Unicorn decommissioned and placed in reserve;
  January – HMS Audacious renamed HMS Eagle.
  9 February – HMS Theseus commissioned.
  March – Graf Zeppelin refloated by the Soviet Union, repaired, and designated "PO-101" (Floating Base Number 101).
  2 March – USS Kearsarge commissioned.
  14 Mar – HMS Warrior commissioned as HMCS Warrior.
  19 March – HMS Eagle launched.
  April – Katsuragi placed on standby.
  2 April – USS Coral Sea launched.
  11 April – USS Leyte commissioned.
  9 May – HMS Triumph commissioned.
  11 May – USS Philippine Sea commissioned.
  1 July – USS Independence and USS Saratoga used during a Bikini Atoll atomic test; both ships were damaged, but survived the test.
  14 July – USS Saipan commissioned.
  21 July – FH Phantom became the first purely jet-powered aircraft to operate from an American aircraft carrier.
  25 July – USS Saratoga sunk by an underwater atomic bomb test at Bikini Island.
  6 August – HMS Colossus renamed Arromanches and loaned to France.
  16 August – Hōshō decommissioned.
  28 August – USS Independence decommissioned.
  September – First helicopter landing aboard a naval escort vessel at sea.
  1 September – Hulk of Kaiyo sold for scrap.
  18 October – USS Ranger decommissioned.
  3 November – USS Valley Forge commissioned.
  8 November – USS Bennington decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  15 November – Katsuragi decommissioned.
  December – HMS Indefatigable decommissioned.
  December – HMS Argus sold for scrap.
  19 December – First Indochina War begins.
  22 December – Katsuragi sold for scrap.
  1947
  HMS Indomitable and HMS Formidable placed in reserve.
  HMS Majestic and HMS Terrible purchased by Australia.
  Junyō sold for scrap.
  9 January – USS Essex, USS Yorktown, USS Bon Homme Richard, USS Bunker Hill, and USS Ticonderoga decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  13 January – USS Belleau Wood and USS Cowpens decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  15 January – USS Hornet decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  28 January – USS Ranger sold for scrap.
  9 February – USS Wright commissioned.
  11 February – USS Cabot, USS Monterey, USS Langley, and USS Bataan decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  17 February – USS Lake Champlain, USS Enterprise, USS Franklin, and USS Wasp decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  1 March – USS San Jacinto decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  22 March – USS Intrepid decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  April – HMS Venerable decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  22 April – HMS Centaur launched.
  23 April – USS Lexington decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  30 April – Hōshō sold for scrap.
  6 May – HMS Albion launched.
  9 May – USS Hancock decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  16 August – Graf Zeppelin sunk in target practice by the Soviet Union.
  12 August – USS Oriskany construction suspended.
  1 October – USS Coral Sea commissioned.
  7 November – USS Shangri-La decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  1948
  January – HMS Furious sold for scrap.
  25 February – USS Randolph decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  21 March – HMS Magnificent loaned to Canada and commissioned as HMCS Magnificent.
  23 March – HMS Warrior returned to UK.
  May – HMS Venerable sold to Netherlands.
  28 May – HMS Venerable recommissioned as HNLMS Karel Doorman.
  20 June – USS Princeton decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  22 June – HMS Bulwark launched.
  24 June – Soviet blockade of Berlin increased tensions in what
caption: USS Wright
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