The Middle Years
Continued
Although INTREPID was officially an "active" unit of the Pacific Reserve Fleet, activity had been greatly reduced during the months following the war.
Where log entries of preceding years carried accounts of conflict and human suffering, among the most exciting entries, in INTREPID's log of the post-war era was: "Receiving aboard for general mess ... 93 lbs of cabbage and 115 lbs of green peppers". This somewhat comical entry revealed not only the uneventful experience of INTREPID, but of the hundreds of other battle-wearied ships now making the San Francisco Naval Shipyard a metallic graveyard.
During INTREPID's "mothball" period her 1st Commanding Officer was CAPT H. C. Sanchez, who relieved CAPT Blick on April 11, 1946. He assumed command following a 5 month term as Executive Officer. By November 4th, he was relieved as C.O. by CDR A. A. Giesser, who with 8 other officers and a comparative handful of enlisted men prepared INTREPID for complete deactivation. With her guns and machinery weather-proofed and rust-proofed,her status was changed on March 22, 1947 to "out of commission in reserve".
Demobilization of practically every carrier in the U.S. Navy in the years following WWII did not mean an end to the flat-top Navy. Naval aviation ascended the ladder of progress, the WWII carriers became seriously outdated.
The reciprocating engine soon was replaced by the jet engine, and names such as Corsair, Hellcat and Avenger gave way to the needle nosed, jet propelled, Phantoms, Furies and Banshees. The need for modernized carriers to handle the new aircraft was evident. Note : July 21, 1946 marked the first time a jet aircraft had landed on a carrier. An FD Phantom landed on the Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42). By March 1948, a jet squadron was permanently assigned to a carrier when Fighting Squadron 5A, flying FJ-1 Furies, reported to the USS Boxer (then CCV-21)
Although strides were being made in aircraft (a/c) development during the late forties, progress was slow in adapting carriers to accomodate the heavier and faster craft. The U.S. utilized 110 carriers during the war, but by 1950 the nmber in active operation had been drastically reduced to 15. Only 3 were attack carriers. INTREPID and many others waited in mothballs.
At the outbreak of the Korean War U.S. Naval air forces numbered only 14,095 a/c and 9,418 pilots on active duty. However, with the country actively engaged in conflict once again, the recall for many of the carrieres was effected. The 1st to be reactivated and modernized were the ESSEX Class carriers.
While the U.S. Navy engaged in making renovations, British naval authorities were concerned with still greaeter improvements in carrier capabilities. One of the mosot significant advances was the invention of the stam catapult, first installed in the HMS PERSEUS in 1951. Until that time catapult propulsion rested on hydraulic-pheumatic principles - inaugurated aboard cadrriers in 1935. The British steam catapult was first publicly demonstrated in the U.S. on Dec 3, 1953. The following month the USS HANCOCK (then CVA-19) completed fitting the British model. It was not until the end of 1954 that the U.S. could claim its own equivalent. The ship selected to carry the first U.S. built steam catapult was none other than INTREPID.
Also based on British development of the angled deck, in 1952 the USS ANTIETAM (CV-36) was outfitted with a "canted" (preferred American term) deck.
Introduction of the angled deck saved the U.S. defense effort several million dollars due to changing the construction plans of the proposed "super carrier" the USS FORRESTAL (CVA-59). Originally it was intended that FORRESTAL employ a flush-deck feature. By constructing the supperstructure on an elevator it could be withdrawn during flight operations to allow that much more flight deck space for a/c. The angle deck did away with that scheme and also made it possible for existing ships to accept the newer a/c.