Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
7339322
label
Information on History of the USS Monterey, a World War II Carrier Ship the President Served On [Fact Sheet]
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
7339322
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
Information on History of the USS Monterey, a World War II Carrier Ship the President Served On [Fact Sheet]
citationUrl
collections
White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
largeImageUrl
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
7339322
levelOfDescription
item
productionDates
day
23
logicalDate
1975-05-23
month
5
year
1975
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
996c867e6d3f1b28
ocrText
Digitized from Box 11 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
May 23, 1975
Office of the White House Press Secretary
NOTICE TO THE PRESS
Information on the USS Monterey
The President's service on the Monterey began in May 1943 prior to
the ship's being commissioned. He served as a Navigator until
December 1944 when the ship had to undergo extensive repairs because
of a typhoon. The President was discharged in December 1944 as a
Lt. Cmdr.
The President served on the organizing committee to establish the Monterey
reunion. He attended the first reunion held in 1965 at the Columbia
University Club in New York City.
In 1967 he attended the reunion which was held in Philadelphia. (The Monterey
was in mothballs there and those attending the reunion went aboard the ship.)
Subsequent meetings attended:
1969
Washington D. C.
1971
Philadelphia
1973
Annapolis
The 1975 reunion will be the first combined with enlisted men.
Vital statistics of the USS Monterey:
Designation:
CBL-26 (Light Carrier)
Displacement:
11,000 tons
Length of Flight Deck:
622 feet
Width of Flight Deck:
109 Feet
Draft:
26 feet
Maximum speed published:
31 knots
Complement:
people 1, 569; Aircraft 45
Fossil-fueled propelled
(estimate refueling every ten days under
operative conditions -- every two weeks
would be down to 25% to 30% of their fuel --
under transient conditions -- every 2 weeks
refueling)
Firepower
Twenty 45 millimeter (size of shell)
Twenty 20 millimeters
-2-
Brief History of the USS Monterey:
Ships of the Monterey class came into being as a result of the disasterous
initial phases of the war in the Pacific when the Lexington, the Hornet,
the Yorktown and the Wasp were sunk. As a result, the Navy needed
carriers in a hurry. Cruisers of the Cleveland class were converted to
carriers. Among the ships in this group were the Independence, the
Princeton, the Belleau Wood, the Monterey and others.
The Monterey was commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on June
17, 1943.
Following the usual shakedown cruise, the Monterey left Philadelphia
on September 20, 1943 for the Pacific. After being outfitted with planes
and additional pe rsonnel the Monterey departed San Diego on October 5 for
Pearl Harbor which it reached on October 9. Training exercises followed
and the Monterey was engaged in the Pacific War. Specifically, it was
involved in numerous strikes against Makin Atoll, the Gilbert Islands,
the Tarawa Atolls, Kwajalein and Ebeye Islands, Eniewetok Atoll, the
Marshall Islands, Truk Atoll, the Marianas Islands, Wake Island, Iwo
Jima, Manilla and Luzon (P.I), Panay Island, etc.
On December 18, 1944 a typhoon severely damaged the Monterey and it was
drydocked eventually at Bremerton, Washington where it underwent exten-
sive repairs. On April 5, 1945, the Monterey returned to Pear Harbor
and was engaged in the final battles in the Pacific.
On June 1, 1970 the Monterey was "declared in excess of Navy needs" and
was stripped and sold to Boston Metals, a Maryland firm, for $226, 000.
#
#11:
#