USS Leyte ( CV - 32 ) USS " Leyte " ( CV / CVA / CVS - 32 , AVT - 10 ) was one of 24 s built during and shortly after World War II for the United States Navy . The ship was the third US Navy ship to bear the name . " Leyte " was commissioned in April 1946 , too late to serve in World War II . She spent most of her career in the $ 3 , Caribbean , and Mediterranean , but also saw service in the Korean War , in which she earned two battle star s . She was reclassified in the early 1950s as an attack carrier ( CVA ) , then as an Antisubmarine Aircraft Carrier ( CVS ) , and finally ( after inactivation ) as an aircraft transport ( AVT ) . Unlike most of her sister ships , " Leyte " received no major modernizations , and thus throughout her career retained the classic appearance of a World War II ship . She was decommissioned in 1959 and sold for scrap in 1970 . Construction and Commissioning . " Leyte " was one of the " long - hull " ships . She was laid down as " Crown Point " on 21 February 1944 at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co . , Newport News , Virginia , and renamed " Leyte " on 8 May 1945 to commemorate the recent Battle of Leyte Gulf . She was launched on 23 August , sponsored by Mrs . James M . Mead , and commissioned on 11 April 1946 , with Captain Henry F . MacComsey in command . Service history . " Leyte " joined battleship on a good will cruise down the western seaboard of South America in the fall of 1946 before returning to the Caribbean on 18 November to resume shakedown operations . In 1948 , the carrier was equipped with its first helicopter detachment of HO3S - 1 utility helicopters , and participated in a fleet exercise , " Operation Frigid " , in the North Atlantic . In the years preceding the Korean War , the Leyte participated in numerous other fleet exercises in the Atlantic and Caribbean , trained naval reservists , and deployed three times to the Mediterranean : April – June 1947 , July – November 1947 , September 1949 – January 1950 , and May – August 1950 . The latter included a demonstration of airpower over Beirut , Lebanon on 13 August , supporting the Middle East against Communist pressure . " Leyte " returned to Norfolk on 24 August , and after 2 weeks of preparation , departed on 6 September to join Task Force 77 ( TF 77 ) in the Far East to support United Nations Forces in Korea . " Leyte " arrived at the Sasebo base for U . S . Fleet Activities in Sasebo , Japan on 8 October 1950 and made final preparations for combat operations . From 9 October - 19 January 1951 , the ship and her aircraft spent 92 days at sea and flew 3 , 933 sorties against North Korean forces . Her pilots accumulated 11 , 000 hours in the air while inflicting massive damage upon enemy positions , supplies , transportation , and communications . Among the squadrons based on " Leyte " were the VF - 32 Swordsmen , flying the F4U Corsair . This squadron included the first African - American naval aviator , Ensign Jesse LeRoy Brown who was killed in action on 4 December 1950 . " Leyte " returned to Norfolk for overhaul 25 February 1951 . After fleet training exercises in the Caribbean terminated on 21 August , the carrier departed for her fifth tour of duty with the United States Sixth Fleet on 3 September . She returned to Norfolk on 21 December for operations out of Hampton Roads , and again steamed for the Mediterranean on 29 August 1952 . Reclassified CVA - 32 on 1 October , she returned to Boston on 16 February 1953 for deactivation . On 8 August , however , she was ordered to be retained in the active fleet , and , redesignated CVS - 32 on the same day , work was begun converting her to an ASW carrier . At 15 : 15 on 16 October 1953 , while still under conversion to an antisubmarine carrier , " Leyte " suffered an explosion in her port catapult machinery room . Within minutes , naval base and city fire trucks were on the scene . After a hard and gallant fight , the fire was extinguished at 19 : 57 . As a result of the fire , 37 men died and 28 were injured . Conversion completed on 4 January 1954 , " Leyte " departed Boston for Quonset Point , Rhode Island , as flagship of Carrier Division 18 ( CarDiv 18 ) . She remained there for the next five years conducting ASW tactical operations along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean . " Leyte " departed Quonset Point in January 1959 for the New York Navy Yard where she commenced preinactivation overhaul . She was redesignated AVT - 10 and decommissioned both on 15 May 1959 , and was assigned to the Philadelphia group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet , where she remained until sold for scrap in September 1970 . Awards . " Leyte " received two battle star s for Korean service .