USS Bunker Hill ( CV - 17 ) USS " Bunker Hill " ( CV / CVA / CVS - 17 , AVT - 9 ) was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy . The ship , the second US Navy ship to bear the name , was named for the Battle of Bunker Hill . " Bunker Hill " was commissioned in May 1943 , and served in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations , earning eleven battle star s and a Presidential Unit Citation . She was badly damaged in May 1945 by Japanese " kamikaze " attacks , with the loss of hundreds of her crew , becoming one of the most heavily damaged carriers to survive the war . After the attack she returned to the U . S . mainland for repairs and was decommissioned in 1947 . While in reserve she was reclassified as an attack carrier ( CVA ) , then an antisubmarine carrier ( CVS ) , and finally an Auxiliary Aircraft Landing Training Ship ( AVT ) , but was never modernized and never saw active service again . " Bunker Hill " and were the only ships never recommissioned after World War II . Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1966 , she served as an electronics test platform for many years in San Diego bay , and was sold for scrap in 1973 . An effort to save her as a museum ship in 1972 was unsuccessful . Construction and commissioning . " Bunker Hill " was laid down on 15 September 1941 at the Bethlehem Steel Company , Quincy , Massachusetts , and launched on 7 December 1942 , sponsored by Mrs . Donald Boynton . She was commissioned on 24 May 1943 , with Captain J . J . Ballentine in command . Service history . World War II . 1943 – 44 . Reporting to the U . S . Pacific Fleet in the autumn of 1943 , " Bunker Hill " participated in carrier operations during : the crucial carrier air raid on the major Imperial Japanese Navy base at Rabaul , along with the and the on 11 November 1943 ; Gilbert Islands operation , including support of the landings on Tarawa Atoll ( 13 November – 8 December ) ; the air raids on Kavieng in support of the amphibious landing s in the Bismarck Archipelago ( 25 December 1943 , 1 January , and 4 January 1944 ) ; air raids in the Marshall Islands ( 29 January – 8 February ) ; the huge carrier air raid s on Truk Atoll ( 17 – 18 February ) , during which eight I . J . N . warship s were sunk ; air raids on the Marianas Islands ( Guam , Saipan , and Tinian ) ( 23 February ) ; air raids on Palau , Yap , Ulithi , and Woleai in the Palau Islands ( 30 March – 1 April ) ; air raids on Truk , Satawan , and Ponape in the Caroline Islands ( 29 April – 1 May ) ; raids in support of the U . S . Army landings around Hollandia ( 21 – 28 April ) ; combat operations in the Marianas in support of the amphibious landings on Saipan and Guam ( 12 June – 10 August ) , including the titanic Battle of the Philippine Sea , just west of the Marianas . On 19 June 1944 , during the opening phases of the landings in the Marianas , " Bunker Hill " was damaged when the explosion of a Japanese aerial bomb scattered shrapnel fragments across the decks and the sides of the aircraft carrier . Two sailors were killed , and about 80 more were wounded . " Bunker Hill " continued to fight , with her antiaircraft fire shooting down a few IJN warplanes . During the Battle of the Philippine Sea , about 476 Japanese warplanes were destroyed , nearly all of them shot down by Navy F6F Hellcat fighter plane s , such as those carried by " Bunker Hill " During September , " Bunker Hill " carried out air raids in the Western Caroline Islands , and then she and her task force steamed a to the north to launch air raids on Luzon , Formosa , and Okinawa , through early November . On 6 November 1944 , " Bunker Hill " steamed eastward from the forward area , and she was taken to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard , for a period of major overhaul / upkeep work and weaponry upgrades , as all warships must undergo periodically . She departed from the Port of Bremerton on 24 January 1945 , and then she steamed westward back into the combat area in the Western Pacific . 1945 . During the remaining months of World War II , " Bunker Hill " fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima ; the 5th Fleet raids against Honshū and the Nansei Shoto ( 15 February – 4 March ) ; and the 5th and 3rd Fleet raids in support of the Battle of Okinawa . On 7 April 1945 , " Bunker Hill " s planes took part in an attack by the Fast Carrier Task Force of the Pacific Fleet on Imperial Japanese Navy forces in the East China Sea . The superbattleship , one light cruiser , and four destroyer s were sunk during this " Operation Ten - Go " , as it was called by the Japanese Navy . On the morning of 11 May 1945 , while supporting the invasion of Okinawa , " Bunker Hill " was struck and severely damaged by two Japanese " kamikaze " planes . An A6M Zero fighter plane emerged from low cloud cover , dove toward the flight deck and dropped a 550 - pound ( 250 kilogram ) bomb that penetrated the flight deck and exited from the side of the ship at gallery deck level before exploding in the ocean . The Zero next crashed onto the carrier ' s flight deck , destroying parked warplanes full of aviation fuel and ammunition , causing a large fire . The remains of the Zero went over the deck and dropped into the sea . Then , a short 30 seconds later , a second Zero , piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa , plunged into its suicide dive . The Zero went through the antiaircraft fire , dropped a 550 - pound bomb , and then crashed into the flight deck near the carrier ' s " island " , as " kamikazes " were trained to aim for the island superstructure . The bomb penetrated the flight deck and exploded . Gasoline fires flamed up and several explosions took place . " Bunker Hill " lost a total of 346 sailors and airmen killed , 43 more missing ( and never found ) , and 264 wounded . She was heavily damaged and was sent to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard for repairs . She was still in the shipyard when the war ended in mid - August 1945 . Post - war . In September 1945 , " Bunker Hill " reported for duty with the Operation Magic Carpet fleet , returning veterans from the Pacific . She remained on this duty as a unit of TG 16 . 12 until January 1946 , when she was ordered to Bremerton for deactivation . She was decommissioned into reserve on 9 January 1947 . While she was laid up in mothballs , she was reclassified three times , becoming CVA – 17 in October 1951 , CVS – 17 in August 1953 , and AVT – 9 in May 1959 , with the latter designation indicating that any future commissioned operations would be as an " Auxiliary Aircraft Landing Training Ship " . As all " Essex " - class carriers survived the war , " Bunker Hill " was surplus to the needs of the navy . She and , which also had sustained severe damage from an aerial attack , were the only aircraft carriers in the " Essex " - class that did not experience any active duty after the end of World War II , despite their being repaired . Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in November 1966 , " Bunker Hill " was used as a stationary electronics test platform at the Naval Air Station North Island , San Diego , during the 1960s and early 1970s . " Bunker Hill " was sold for scrapping in May 1973 . Awards . " Bunker Hill " received the Presidential Unit Citation for the period 11 November 1943 to 11 May 1945 . In addition , she received 11 battle star s for her World War II service .