October 13, 1945: The last of the Essex class carriers was launched, the USS Oriskany CV-34, at the New York Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn. Her beginning and end were both delayed but for different reasons. She was laid down in May of 1944 and before her launch the war she was designed to fight ended. The construction was suspended in Aug. 1947 and not continued until after the outbreak of the Korean war in 1950.

Her trials were conducted off Jacksonville, Florida in Dec. 1950 and she was deployed into active service in the Mediterranean. After returning to the USA for an overhaul she began her voyage to Korea. Oriskany and her crew received two battle stars for service in Korea.

She decommissioned in 1955 and recommissioned in 1957 for the upcoming conflict in Vietnam. During the war in Vietnam the men of the Oriskany flew over 19,000 combat and support sorties and won five battle stars in that conflict.

Oriskany decommissioned on Sept. 30, 1976 and was sold for scrap in 1993, but she was repossessed when the contractor defaulted. She was sold again in 1996 and again repossessed. Finally it was decided to sink her as an artificial reef off of Florida, but after being towed from Corpus Christie to Florida the sinking was canceled until further study on the site could be conducted. So a delay in construction and a delay in destruction has marked both ends of her life. She is currently located in Beaumont, Texas awaiting her final fate.

(Note, Oriskany was finally sunk as a reef on May 17, 2006.)

© 2005 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com

Oriskany CV-34 seen in Beaumont, Texas.