USS Intrepid History

  *  December 1, 1941: Intrepid's keel laid at Newport News, Virginia.
  *  December 7, 1941: Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.
  *  April 26, 1943: Launched.
  *  August 16, 1943: Commissioned CV-11.
  *  December 3, 1943: Sailed for Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal
         and San Francisco.
  *  January-February, 1944: Participated in the Marshall Islands   
         invasion.
  *  February 1944: Participated in raid on Truk.
  *  February 17, 1944: Damaged by Japanese aerial torpedo.
  *  September-October 1944: Participated in attacks on invasion of
         the Palaus.
  *  Strikes against the Philippines, Formosa, and Okinawa.
  *  Operated out of Utilic fleet anchorage in the Carolinas as unit
         of Task Force 38.
  *  October 24, 25, 26, 1944: Participated in Battle of Leyte Gulf.
         Helped sink the super-battleship Musashi.
  *  October 30, 1944: Hit by kamikaze--slight damage.
  *  November 25, 1944: Hit by two kamikazes--heavily damaged.
  *  March 1945: Strikes against Tokyo and Okinawa. Near miss by a  
         Japanese heavy bomber kamikaze.
  *  April 6, 1945: Helped sink the Japanese super-battleship Yamato.
  *  April 16, 1945: Damaged during invasion by kamikaze attack off
         Okinawa.
  *  August 1945: Reported back to the Fast Carrier Force. 
         War ended.
  *  August-December 1945: Policed the coasts of China and Korea,   
         aiding in repatriation of Allied POW.
  *  December 1945: Arrived back in the United States after Japan   
         occupation duty.
  *  1946: Put in reserve at San Francisco.
  *  October 1954: Completed modernization at the same yard at      
         which she was built.
  *  1955-1962: Operated in the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet.
  *  1956: Refitted at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Angled deck added.
  *  May 24, 1962: Served as Recovery Ship for Mercury VII space
         capsule (astronaut Scott Carpenter) .
  *  March 23, 1965: Acts as Recovery Ship for Gemini III space
         capsule (astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young).
  *  May 1966-1968: Served with the Pacific Fleet off Vietnam in    
         three combat cruises.
  *  1974: Decommissioned at Quonset Point R.I. Towed to
         Philadelphia for bicentennial celebration.
  *  July 1982: Opens as the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New   
         York City.