USS Tarawa ( CV - 40 ) USS " Tarawa " ( CV / CVA / CVS - 40 , AVT - 12 ) was one of 24 s built during and shortly after World War II for the United States Navy . The ship was the first US Navy ship to bear the name , and was named for the bloody 1943 Battle of Tarawa . " Tarawa " was commissioned in December 1945 , too late to serve in World War II . After serving a short time in the Far East , she was decommissioned in 1949 . She was soon recommissioned after the Korean War began , serving in the Atlantic as a replacement for carriers sent to Korea . In the early 1950s , she was redesignated an attack carrier ( CVA ) and then an antisubmarine warfare carrier ( CVS ) . Except for one tour in the Far East , she spent her entire second career operating in the Atlantic and Caribbean . Unlike many of her sisters , " Tarawa " received no major modernizations , and thus throughout her career retained the classic appearance of a World War II ship . She was decommissioned in 1960 , and while in reserve was redesignated an aircraft transport ( AVT ) . She was sold for scrap in 1968 . Construction and Commissioning . " Tarawa " was one of the " long - hull " ships . She was laid down on 11 March 1944 at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard , Portsmouth , Virginia . She was launched 12 May 1945 , sponsored by Mrs . Julian C . Smith ( the wife of Lieutenant General Julian C . Smith , USMC , who commanded the 2nd Marine Division at Tarawa ) . She was commissioned on 8 December 1945 , with Captain Alvin Ingersoll Malstrom in command . Service history . Early service . " Tarawa " remained in the Norfolk area until 15 February 1946 , when she sailed for shakedown training in the vicinity of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base , Cuba , and returned briefly to Norfolk on 16 April , before visiting New York in the latter part of the month . She arrived at Norfolk once again on the 30th . From then until late June , the warship completed her post - shakedown overhaul . On 28 June , she exited Hampton Roads bound for the west coast . " Tarawa " transited the Panama Canal early in July and reached San Diego , California on the 15th . Following training and upkeep , she left San Diego for a deployment to the western Pacific . The aircraft carrier reached Pearl Harbor on 7 August and soon thereafter continued on her voyage west . She reached Saipan on 20 August and operated in the vicinity of the Mariana Islands until late September when she headed for Japan . After a stop at Yokosuka from 28 September – 3 October and one at Sasebo from 7 – 11 October , the aircraft carrier got underway for the northern coast of China . She arrived in the vicinity of Tsingtao on the 15th and operated in that area until the 30th when she headed back to the Marianas . On 7 November , the carrier reached Saipan and , for the remainder of her Far Eastern tour , conducted operations in the Marianas . The only exception was a brief voyage to Okinawa and back early in January 1947 , after which she departed Guam on the 14th to return to Pearl Harbor . The warship arrived in Pearl Harbor on 24 January and remained in Hawaiian waters until 18 February when she got underway for fleet exercises in the vicinity of Kwajalein . As a unit of Task Force 57 ( TF 57 ) , she participated in battle practice attacks upon the carriers of TF 38 until early March . " Tarawa " returned to Pearl Harbor on 11 March for about a month , then headed for the west coast and arrived in San Francisco on 29 April . After more than 16 months of air operations out of San Francisco and San Diego , " Tarawa " stood out of San Diego on 28 September 1948 and embarked upon a cruise most of the way around the world . She stopped at Pearl Harbor at the end of the second week in October and then continued her voyage on to her first foreign port of call , Tsingtao , China . The carrier arrived there on 29 October and spent the next five weeks observing events in strife - torn northern China . Early in December , she headed south for liberty calls at Hong Kong and Singapore . The warship departed the latter port on 23 December and headed for the newly independent Republic of Ceylon , and arrived at its capital , Colombo , on 29 December . Departing Ceylon on 2 January 1949 , she steamed toward the Persian Gulf to call at Bahrain and Jeddah before transiting the Suez Canal on the 20th – 21st . Leaving Port Said , " Tarawa " continued her voyage to Greece , Turkey , and Crete . From Souda Bay , Crete , the warship headed across the Mediterranean on 8 February . She stopped overnight at Gibraltar on the 12th – 13th and then started out across the Atlantic . On 21 February , she ended her voyage at Norfolk . From then until early summer , the carrier conducted normal operations along the east coast and in the Caribbean area . After inactivation overhaul , " Tarawa " was placed out of commission on 30 June 1949 and was berthed with the New York Group , Atlantic Reserve Fleet . Recommissioning . Her retirement , however , lasted less than 18 months . On 30 November 1950 , she was ordered reactivated in response to the Navy ' s urgent need for warships – particularly for aircraft carriers – to prosecute the war which had erupted in Korea the previous summer . On 3 February 1951 , " Tarawa " was recommissioned at Newport , Rhode Island , Captain J . H . Griffin in command . Though reactivated in response to the Korean War , " Tarawa " never saw service in that conflict . Rather , she served as a replacement in the 6th and 2nd Fleet s for carriers dispatched to the war zone . On 1 October 1952 , she became an attack aircraft carrier , and was redesignated CVA - 40 . The warship finally made it to the Asiatic war zone in the spring of 1954 , but long after the July 1953 armistice had ended hostilities . The ship returned to the east coast in September 1954 and resumed her normal operations . In December , she entered the Boston Naval Shipyard for overhaul and conversion to an antisubmarine warfare ( ASW ) aircraft carrier . On 10 January 1955 , while still undergoing conversion , she was redesignated CVS - 40 . Her alterations were completed that summer and , after shakedown , the carrier operated around Quonset Point , Rhode Island , conducting training missions with the ASW air squadrons based there . That fall , she participated in exercises with Hunter - Killer Group 4 before returning to Quonset Point to prepare for the 1956 Springboard exercise . In August and September 1958 , " Tarawa " was part of " Navy Task Force 88 " ( TF 88 ) during Operation Argus , which was involved in conducting nuclear tests in the very high atmosphere . " Tarawa " served with the Atlantic Fleet for the remainder of her active career . She remained on the east coast , operating out of Quonset Point and Norfolk and occasionally visiting the Caribbean area for exercises . In the main , her duty consisted of barrier patrols against the increasingly large Soviet submarine and surface fleet and assignments training pilots for the Atlantic Fleet . In May 1960 , however , " Tarawa " s active career come to an end . She was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , where she remained until the late 1960s . During her retirement , she received one more change in designation when she became AVT - 12 in May 1961 . On 1 June 1967 , her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register , and on 3 October 1968 , she was sold to the Boston Metals Corporation , Baltimore , Maryland for scrapping .