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Between 1954 and 1959, fourteen modernized Essex and Ticonderoga class aircraft carriers of the SCB-27 type were further updated under the SCB-125 program. This work, incorporating new features not known or accepted when the earlier scheme was originated in the later 1940s, greatly enhanced seakeeping and high-performance aircraft operations. Perhaps the most significant new attribute was the British-developed "angled flight deck", in which the carrier's aircraft landing area was slanted several degrees off to port, enabling aircraft to easily "go around" in the event of recovery difficulties. The benefits this brought to carrier aviation operating safety can hardly be overemphasized.
Another notable SCB-125 alteration included moving the after aircraft elevator from the centerline to the starboard deck edge, greatly facilitating aircraft handling. In fact, this change had already been made on the last six of the SCB-27s, the steam-catapult SCB-27C type, the final three of which received both modernization schemes in the same shipyard session. Blending the flight deck's forward end into the upper hull form, creating the so-called "hurricane" bow, constituted the final significant change. This concept, already adopted for the Forrestal class "super carriers" then under construction, improved seakeeping in rough seas. It also provided a covered location for the carriers' secondary conning station, whose portholes, visible across the upper bow plating, were a distinctive feature of the refitted ships.
Though the SCB-125 program significantly changed the ships' appearance, the scope of the work was much less than that of SCB-27 and generally took seven or eight months' shipyard time, rather than the two years or more that was typical of the earlier modernization. The exception was Oriskany, the SCB-27 prototype and the last to get the SCB-125 treatment. Uniquely, she had her hydraulic catapults replaced with more powerful steam types and received many other improvements in a reconstruction that lasted twenty-eight months in 1957-59.
As quickly as new carriers and steam catapult conversions joined the fleet during the later '50s, the seven SCB-125 hydraulic catapult ships were reassigned to the anti-submarine mission, replacing unmodernized carriers. Four of the seven steam catapult carriers also became ASW ships during the 1960s, though some of these operated very little, if at all, in that role. Most of the ASW ships received SQS-23 long-range sonars in 1960-66. Nine ships left active service in 1969-71, as major reductions in fleet strength were implemented. Three more decommissioned in 1972-74. Hancock and Oriskany lasted into the middle-'70s, and the veteran Lexington remained operational as training carrier until 1991. All four of the Essex class museum ships are of the modernized SCB-27/SCB-125 configuration.
The SCB-125 program involved the further rebuilding
of fourteen ships, as listed below in the order of the completion
of this work:
Essex/Ticonderoga class characteristics, as
modified under project SCB-125 with steam catapults:
This page features limited pictorial coverage of Essex/Ticonderoga class aircraft carriers modernized under the SCB-125 program, with links to pages concerning individual ships.
For views of the unmodified Essex and Ticonderoga
classes and the earlier SCB-27 modification of the design, see:
| If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
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Photo #: NH 75661 USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) At sea, launching F9F "Cougar" fighters, 10 January 1956. Note steam rising from her port catapult. Photographed by B.W. Kortge. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 111KB; 740 x 590 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 97539 USS Hancock (CVA-19) Underway at sea on 15 July 1957. She was then serving with the Seventh Fleet in the western Pacific. There are seven FJ "Fury", ten F2H "Banshee" (two different models); two F7U "Cutlass", fifteen AD "Skyraider" and three AJ "Savage" aircraft on her flight deck. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 605 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 97410 USS Oriskany (CVA-34) Off the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, California, on 27 April 1959, following installation of her new angled flight deck and hurricane bow. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 600 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 97589 USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) Underway at sea off Mayport, Florida, with Carrier Air Group Ten (CAG-10) embarked, August 1960. Aircraft parked on the forward flight deck include F8U and F4D fighters, A4D and AD attack planes. Photographed by PH1 R.A. Moulder. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 116KB; 595 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 97343 USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31) With her crew "spelling out "Hello San Diego", while en route to San Diego on 9 February 1963. She returned to San Diego, her home port, on 11 February, following a Western Pacific cruise that had begun seven months earlier, on 12 July 1962. Aircraft on her flight deck include three E-1, eleven F-8, six F-3, thirteen A-4 and nine A-1 types. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 144KB; 740 x 600 pixels |
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Photo #: K-33170 USS Intrepid (CVS-11) Steaming in the South China Sea, with her attack air group parked on the flight deck, 13 September 1966. Photographed by V.O. McColley. Official U.S. Navy Photograph. Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-K-33170. NOTE: Though reproductions of this photo from the Naval Historical Center's collections are available in black & white only, those from the National Archives should be available in color. |
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Photo #: NH 97458-KN (Color) USS Yorktown (CVS-10) At sea off Hawaii, circa the early 1960s. Note HSS-1 helicopters on her flight deck, with noses painted red. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 124KB; 740 x 560 pixels |
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Photo #: USN 1059601 USS Randolph (CVS-15) Underway at sea on 27 February 1962, with two S2F airplanes on her catapults. Official U.S. Navy Photograph. Online Image: 121KB; 740 x 615 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-N-1059601. |
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Photo #: NH 97582 USS Bennington (CVS-20) Underway off the coast of California, 25 November 1967. Photographed by Dolenga. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 80KB; 740 x 520 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 97488-KN (Color) USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14) With her rails manned, circa 1970-72, following conversion to an anti-submarine warfare support aircraft carrier. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 99KB; 740 x 600 pixels |
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Photo #: USN 1142110 USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31) Catapults an A-4 "Skyhawk" attack plane, during operations off Vietnam, March 1967. Photographed by JOC R.D. Moeser, USN. Official U.S. Navy Photograph. Online Image: 166KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-N-1142110. |
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For more views of Essex/Ticonderoga class
aircraft carriers that received the SCB-125 modernization, see:
For views of the unmodified Essex and Ticonderoga
classes and the earlier SCB-27 modification of the design, see:
| If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
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Historical Center home page.Page made 9 October 2001
Link removed 25 August 2003