USS Kitty Hawk ( AKV - 1 ) USS " Kitty Hawk " ( APV - 1 / AKV - 1 ) , formerly SS " Seatrain New York " , was built in 1932 by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Corporation of Chester , Pennsylvania for Seatrain Lines , Inc . She was acquired by the United States Navy on 25 June 1941 ; and renamed " Kitty Hawk " on 8 July . She was named after Kitty Hawk , North Carolina where the Wright brothers made the world ' s first powered heavier than air flight on 17 December 1903 . She was converted to an aircraft transport by Tietjin & Land Dry Dock Corporation , Hoboken , New Jersey and commissioned on 26 November 1941 , at New York Navy Yard , with Commander E . C . Rogers in command . Service history . 1941 - 1942 . After shakedown , " Kitty Hawk " departed New York on 16 December 1941 , for Hawaii via the Panama Canal with aircraft to replace U . S . losses in the Japanese attack , and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 8 February 1942 . She unloaded her aircraft at Hickam Field and returned to the mainland on 25 February . " Kitty Hawk " returned to Pearl Harbor on 17 May . Intelligence reports arrived indicating that a Japanese fleet was approaching the Hawaiian Islands . Immediately , " Kitty Hawk " loaded the men , armament , and equipment of the 3rd Marine Defense Battalion and aircraft of Marine Air Groups 21 and 45 and sailed at top speed to reinforce Midway , escorted by the destroyer . " En route " , a PBY Catalina reported a submarine in the area which " Gwin " drove off with a heavy barrage of depth charges , enabling " Kitty Hawk " to deliver her vital fighting men and aircraft to Midway on 26 May . Escorted by destroyers " Gwin " and , " Kitty Hawk " departed Midway on 29 May and arrived Honolulu on 1 June . On 5 June , she learned of the American victory in the Battle of Midway , which turned back a Japanese offensive with disastrous results to the Japanese carrier attack force . That same day , she sailed for the West Coast , arriving San Diego on 13 June . " Kitty Hawk " returned to Pearl Harbor on 31 July ; loaded men , equipment and aircraft of the 2nd Echelon of the 23rd Marine Air Group ; and set course for Port Vila , Efate , New Hebrides , arriving on 28 August . She moored alongside the escort carrier transferring 40 aircraft which were immediately catapulted by " Long Island " and flown directly into combat on bitterly - contested Guadalcanal . She sailed on 4 October for San Francisco , discharged and loaded cargo , then headed for Pearl Harbor , arriving on 20 October . Loading badly needed aircraft for the United States Army , she steamed to Palmyra Atoll , arriving on 30 October . There , under hazardous conditions , she embarked more aircraft , cargo and passengers . Sailing on 2 November , she arrived Dumbea Bay , Nouméa on 10 November , where she picked up men from the air group of the fleet carrier after their carrier had been sunk at the battle of the Santa Cruz Islands . Arriving at Espiritu Santo , New Hebrides on 13 November , she discharged army aviators and aircraft . " Kitty Hawk " sailed from Espiritu Santo on 22 November for home with 359 passengers , arriving San Diego on 7 December . 1943 - 1944 . Carrying men and equipment of Marine Air Group 12 , she got underway on 4 January 1943 , for the New Hebrides , arriving at Espiritu Santo on 22 January ; but , as enemy air raids prevented unloading , she sailed on to Pallikulo Bay , a safer place ; then departed for Undine Bay , Efate , where she finished unloading men , munitions and aircraft of Marine Air Group 12 . " Kitty Hawk " returned to San Diego on 20 February . From 20 February 1943 – 25 June 1944 , " Kitty Hawk " made seven voyages to Hawaii and seven to the Southwest Pacific carrying vital aircraft , fighting men and munitions to be used in pressing forward toward Japan . The ship was reclassified AKV - 1 on 15 September 1943 . She returned to the West Coast and arrived at San Francisco for overhaul on 5 August 1944 . " Kitty Hawk " loaded passengers , aircraft , and cargo at San Diego and sailed 29 August for Finschhafen , New Guinea ; Seeadler Harbor , Manus , Admiralty Islands ; Guadalcanal ; and Espiritu Santo , returning San Diego on 12 October 1944 . " Kitty Hawk " sailed directly from San Francisco to Manus , arriving on 12 November . From Manus , she steamed to the Solomon Islands to pick up men of a radio control drone unit : called at Guadalcanal on 26 November , Espiritu Santo on 30 November : then sailed for Pearl Harbor , arriving on 9 December . Two days later , she sailed to Maui Island , where she debarked the radar control unit . 1945 - 1946 . After minor repairs at San Diego , " Kitty Hawk " sailed on 7 January 1945 , to various ports in the South Pacific ; returned to San Francisco on 17 February ; made a quick turn about ; and steamed back to the forward area , returning to the West Coast on 12 June . " Kitty Hawk " received news of the end of hostilities on 13 August 1945 , while at Pearl Harbor . Basing from Pearl Harbor , she carried military cargo to the Marshall Islands , the Mariana Islands , and the Philippines . She departed Pearl Harbor on 24 November for the East Coast . " Kitty Hawk " arrived Bayonne , New Jersey on 15 December ; visited Norfolk , Virginia : decommissioned at New York on 24 January 1946 ; and was returned to her owner , Seatrain Lines , Inc . , the same day . Post war . USS Kitty Hawk was leased to United Fruit Company on the day of decommissioning and returned to her original owners in May 1946 . Reverted to her old name SS Seatrain New York in Chester , PA , she remained a cargo ship until being sold to Hua Eng Copper and Iron Industrial Company Limited of Taiwan for scrapping in March 1973 .