The “Fighting I” Launched

USS Intrepid in early 1945, National Archives image.

After seventeen months of construction, the USS Intrepid was launched, the fifth Essex-class aircraft carrier to be launched during WWII. Her keel was laid 1 December 1941 in Newport News, Virginia. The 900-foot carrier, capable of housing nearly 3,400 men at a single time, was commissioned CV-11 in August 1943. The Intrepid earned the nickname “Fighting I” during service in the battles of the Marshall Islands, Truk, Leyte Gulf, and Okinawa. She is credited with helping to sink the Japanese battleships Musashi and Yamato. She was hit by five direct kamikaze attacks and suffered heavy casulaties.

Since 1982, the Intrepid has functioned as the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City and is a designated National Historic Landmark.

Post by Curator Kimberly Guise.