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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Kitty Hawk (AKV-1)
ex
 USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1) (1941 - 1942)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Bravo - Lima - November
 NBLN
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp)
Bottom Row American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
Kitty Hawk Class Aviation Transport:
  • Laid down for Seatrain Lines, 21 February 1932, as SS Seatrain New York at Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Chester, PA.
  • Launched, 19 September 1932
  • Acquired by the Navy, 25 June 1941
  • Renamed Kitty Hawk, 8 July 1941
  • Converted to an Aircraft Transport at Tietjin & Land Dry Dock Co., Hoboken, N.J.
  • Commissioned Transport and Aircraft Ferry, USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1), 26 November 1941, at New York Navy Yard, CDR. Elbert C. Rogers in command
  • During World War II USS Kitty Hawk was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater
  • Redesignated Aircraft Transport (AKV-1), 15 September 1943
  • Decommissioned, at New York, 24 January 1946
  • Chartered to United Fruit Co., 24 January 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 7 February 1946
  • Returned to Seatrain Lines Inc., 10 May 1946, at Chester, PA., name reverted to SS Seatrain New York
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 13 March 1973, to Hua Eng Copper and Iron Industrial Co. Ltd., Taiwan
    Specifications:
    Displacement 4,000 t.(lt), 16,480 t.(fl)
    Length 478'
    Beam 63' 6"
    Draft 22' 10" (lim)
    Speed 16 kts.
    Complement
    Officers 17
    Enlisted 238
    Largest Boom Capacity 11 t.
    Cargo Capacity 3,300 DWT
    non-refrigerated 592,000 Cu ft
    Armament
    one single 5"/38 cal dual purpose gun mount
    four single 3"/50 cal dual purpose gun mounts
    two twin 40mm AA gun mounts
    Fuel Capacity NSFO 8,730 Bbls
    Propulsion
    one De Laval steam turbine
    three Babcock and Wilcox header-type boilers, 420psi 680°
    double De Laval Main Reduction Gears Ship's Service Generators
     three turbo-drive 200Kw 230V A.C.
     one Diesel-drive 90Kw 230V A.C.
    single propeller, 8,000shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    Merchant Service Seatrain Lines
    Kitty Hawk 127k SS Seatrain New York underway in the 1930s. This photo, taken by Green Studio, Chester, PA., may show her on trials or just after delivery by the Sun shipyard at Chester in late 1932.
    Photo courtesy Shipscribe.com    		 Mike Green
    USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1)
    Kitty Hawk
    NS0263ck    		 66k
    Namesake

    AVP-1 was named for a small village in North Carolina and for Kill Devil Hill, the site approximately four miles south of the village, where Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful sustained powered flights in a heavier-than-air machine on 17 December 1903.
    Map - Google Maps
    Photo - First successful flight of the Wright Flyer, by the Wright brothers, 17 December 1903, at Kill Devil Hills, about four miles south of Kitty Hawk, NC. This is described as "the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air, powered flight" by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

    		 NavSource
    Wright Brothers, Kitty Hawk
    NS0263cka    		 72k
    Kitty Hawk
    80-G-31899    		 106k USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1) soon after completion of conversion at the end of 1941.
    US National Archives, RG-80-G. photos # 80-G-31899 & 80-G-31902, US Navy photos now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Robert Hurst
    Kitty Hawk
    80-G-31902    		 93k
    Kitty Hawk
    09170112    		 1,252k View of the San Francisco, CA. waterfront, 10 February 1942, with merchant ships and warships present. The U.S. Navy battleship USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) is at the bottom, with the aircraft transport USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1) across pier the from her. The other battleship is USS New Mexico (BB-40). Pennsylvania is painted in Camouflage Measure 11, New Mexico in Camouflage Measure 12 (Modified).
    U.S. National Archives photo # NA 80-G-K-1026    		 Bob Canchola
    Kitty Hawk
    09170109    		 145k Aerical view of USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1) moored pierside in the Port of San Francisco, 10 February 1942
    U.S. National Archives photo # NA 80-G-K-1026 (cropped)    		 John Chiquoine and Dave Schroeder
    Kitty Hawk
    09170107    		 371k USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1) wrapping up unloading at Fox 1, Ford Island, Naval Station Pearl Harbor, 1 April 1942. USS Enterprise (CV-6) is in the background at Fox 2.
    U.S. National Archives photo # 80-G-16756, U.S. Navy photo and exracts from USS Ditty Hawk (APV-1) April 1942 War Diary now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives.    		 Photo-John Chiquoine and Dave Schroeder
    Caption-Tracy White
    Kitty Hawk 85k Loading a VMF-211 Brewster F2A-3 Buffalo aboard USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1) at Pearl Harbor for shipment to Midway Island, in May 1942. Photo courtesy Strike Fighter Squadron 2 Robert Hurst
    Kitty Hawk
    09170110
    NA 80-G-73391    		 86k USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1) moored pierside at Fila Harbor, New Hebrides, 28 August 1942, transferring aircraft to USS Long Island (ACV-1)
    U.S. National Archives photo #'s NA 80-G-73391 and 80-G-73393    		 John Chiquoine and Dave Schroeder
    Kitty Hawk
    09170111
    NA 80-G-73393    		 175k
    Kitty Hawk 77k A Grumman F4F-4 "Wildcat" fighter is lifted on board USS Long Island (ACV-1) from USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1), at Fila Harbor, New Hebrides, 28 August 1942. This plane was en route to Guadalcanal as part of the second group of US Marine Corps planes to be based at Henderson Field. Note that the F4F's markings appear to have been taped over.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-73394, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Kitty Hawk
    09170102    		 128k USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1) underway, 27 October 1942.
    U.S. National Archives photo # NA 80-G-20048 a U.S. Navy photo now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret
    Kitty Hawk 75k USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1) at anchor, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from DANFS    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret
    USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1 / AKV-1)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR. Rogers, Elbert Charles29 November 1941 - ?
    02CAPT. DuVall Jr., Elmer Ellsworth :RADM17 June 1942 - ?
    03CDR. Windle, John W.5 June 1943 - ?
    04LCDR. Lee Jr., Norman Ingvar2 July 1945 - ?
    05LT. Wright, Richard Stanley4 January 1946 - 24 January 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves. Photos courtesy Bill Gonyo
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    MARAD Vessel History Database
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Force Ship Type Index Back To The Transport and Aircraft Ferry (APV) Photo Index Back To The Aviation Transport (AKV) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 1 November 2024