USS SHANGRI-LA (CVS-38)

Essex-class aircraft carrier; redesignated an antisubmarine warfare carrier (CVS-38) on 30 June 1969. Made her only Vietnam War combat deployment in 1970.

Ship's data

Class: Essex-class aircraft carrier
Hull number: CVS-38 (redesignated from CVA-38, 30 June 1969)
Launched: 24 February 1944, Norfolk Navy Yard
Commissioned: 15 September 1944
Decommissioned: 30 July 1971
Displacement: 27,100 long tons (standard)
Length: 888 ft (overall)
Beam: 93 ft
Complement: 3,448 officers and enlisted

Service history

USS SHANGRI-LA was laid down at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, on 15 January 1943, launched on 24 February 1944, and commissioned on 15 September 1944. After a shakedown cruise to Trinidad, she transited the Panama Canal in January 1945 and joined the Pacific Fleet, operating with the fast carrier task forces in the final months of the Second World War. She earned two battle stars for that service. She took her name from President Roosevelt's deflection that the 1942 Doolittle Raid had been launched from "Shangri-La," the hidden refuge of James Hilton's novel — the ship christened at the Norfolk Navy Yard.

She was decommissioned on 7 November 1947 and recommissioned on 10 May 1951. Reclassified an attack aircraft carrier (CVA-38) in 1952, she decommissioned again that November for modernization at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard under the SCB-27C and SCB-125 programs, which gave her an angled flight deck, steam catapults, and overhauled arresting gear. She recommissioned on 10 January 1955.

From 1956 SHANGRI-LA deployed to the Western Pacific, and through the 1960s alternated Mediterranean deployments with the Sixth Fleet and operations in the western Atlantic from her home port at Mayport, Florida. In 1965 she collided with the destroyer USS NEWMAN K. PERRY off Sardinia and had her hull patched at sea.

She was redesignated an antisubmarine warfare support carrier (CVS-38) on 30 June 1969. The following year she returned to the Western Pacific after a decade's absence for the only Vietnam War combat deployment of her career, embarking Carrier Air Wing 8 and operating on Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin — a deployment that circumnavigated the globe. She was decommissioned for the last time on 30 July 1971, stricken in 1982, and sold for scrapping in 1988.

Western Pacific / Vietnam War Deployment

5 March – 17 December 1970 · Gulf of Tonkin — Yankee Station · Attack Carrier Air Wing 8 (CVW-8)

Shangri-La's 1970 cruise was her only Vietnam War combat deployment and the last of her career. Operating on Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin with Carrier Air Wing 8, she logged 12,691 launches and 11,994 recoveries before returning home in December — a circumnavigation of the globe.

Air wing & flight operations

Launches

12,691

Recoveries

11,994

Days deployed

288

Squadron	Nickname	Aircraft	Role
VF-111	Sundowners	F-8H Crusader	Fighter
VF-162	—	F-8H Crusader	Fighter
VA-172	Blue Bolts	A-4C Skyhawk	Attack
VA-12	Flying Ubangis	A-4C Skyhawk	Attack
VA-152	Mavericks	A-4E Skyhawk	Attack
VFP-63 Det 38	—	RF-8G Photo Crusader	Light photographic (detachment)
VAW-121 Det 38	—	E-1B Tracer	Airborne early warning (detachment)
HC-2 Det 38	—	UH-2C Seasprite	Helicopter combat support (detachment)

Ports of call

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Subic Bay, Philippines
Da Nang, South Vietnam
Yokosuka, Japan
Manila, Philippines
Hong Kong
Sydney, Australia
Wellington, New Zealand

Chronology

5 March 1970: Deployed from Mayport, Florida, bound for Rio de Janeiro and the Gulf of Tonkin.
9 March 1970: An F-8H Crusader was lost at sea during the South Atlantic transit; the pilot was declared lost.
14 March 1970: Anchored at Rio de Janeiro for refueling and liberty.
23 March 1970: Refueled at sea from the British oiler Olmeda, southeast of Cape Town.
30 March 1970: Shifted operational control from the Second to the Seventh Fleet after the Indian Ocean transit.
5 April 1970: Moored at Cubi Point, Subic Bay, Philippines.
11 April 1970: Began the first combat line period on Yankee Station, Gulf of Tonkin (through 1 May).
13 May 1970: Second combat line period on Yankee Station (through 27 May).
30 May 1970: Moored at Subic Bay; a ruptured fire main flooded and damaged the refrigeration spaces.
14 June 1970: Third combat line period on Yankee Station (through 2 July).
21 June 1970: Entered Da Nang harbor, Republic of Vietnam, to receive elevator parts by helo; returned to Yankee Station the same day.
3 July 1970: A sheared No. 1 shaft coupling sent the ship to Subic Bay, then to Japan for repair.
11 July 1970: Drydocked at Yokosuka, Japan (through 23 July).
27 July 1970: Fourth combat line period on Yankee Station (through 16 August).
1 September 1970: Fifth combat line period on Yankee Station (through 27 September).
6 September 1970: Change of command: Captain H. R. Poorman relieved by Captain H. P. Maulden.
7 October 1970: Anchored at Manila, Philippines (through 9 October).
12 October 1970: Anchored at Hong Kong; set typhoon evasion on 17 October as Typhoon Joan passed to the southeast.
21 October 1970: Final combat line period on Yankee Station (through 5 November).
18 November 1970: Moored at Sydney, Australia.
22 November 1970: Anchored at Wellington, New Zealand.
1 December 1970: Rounded Cape Horn, completing a round-the-world cruise.
6 December 1970: Anchored at Rio de Janeiro.
17 December 1970: Returned to Mayport, Florida, to begin preinactivation for decommissioning.

Records held

1970 Command History (OPNAV Report 5750-1)

Command history covering 1 January – 17 December 1970. Primary source.

Held

Deck log — July 1970

Daily deck log, USS Shangri-La (CVS-38), July 1970.

In QC review

Deployment deck logs

Daily deck logs across the 5 March – 17 December 1970 WESTPAC deployment, captured month by month.

In preparation

Sources

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS) — https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/shangri-la.html
Naval History and Heritage Command — USS Shangri-La (CVS-38) 1970 Command History (OPNAV Report 5750-1) — https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/archives/command-operation-reports/vietnam/Shangri-La%201970.pdf
USS Shangri-La deployment record (navysite.de) — https://www.navysite.de/cv/cv38deploy.htm

Products

Deployment Records

The deployments documented above will be offered as Deployment Records beginning at launch — each a $29 PDF report on a single deployment of USS SHANGRI-LA, assembled once from the reviewed records and sold as a fixed document, every fact cited to its source.

About Deployment Records

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