USS Lake Champlain (CV-39)

• Namesake: USS Lake Champlain (CV-39) was named after the Battle of Lake Champlain, a pivotal naval engagement during the War of 1812. • Essex-class Carrier: She was an Essex-class aircraft carrier, the backbone of the U.S. Navy’s carrier force during World War II and the early Cold War. • Commissioning: Lake Champlain was commissioned on June 3, 1945, just after the end of combat operations in Europe in World War II. • Operation Magic Carpet: She played a vital role in Operation Magic Carpet, repatriating thousands of American servicemen from the Pacific back to the United States after WWII. • Record-Setting Atlantic Crossing: In 1945, she set a record for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic by a naval vessel, making the trip from Gibraltar to Norfolk in 4 days, 8 hours, and 51 minutes. • Korean War Service: After being modernized and recommissioned in 1952, Lake Champlain served as the flagship of Task Force 77 during the Korean War, launching airstrikes against enemy targets. • First Angled Deck Carrier: She was the last U.S. aircraft carrier built with a straight flight deck and never received the modern angled flight deck conversion that many of her sister ships did. • Operation Deep Freeze: In 1957, she participated in Operation Deep Freeze, supporting the U.S. Antarctic program by transporting helicopters and personnel to the region. • Space Capsule Recovery: Lake Champlain served as the recovery ship for the first manned Project Mercury space mission, retrieving astronaut Alan Shepard and his Freedom 7 capsule from the Atlantic in May 1961. • Decommissioning and Fate: She was decommissioned on May 2, 1966, and subsequently sold for scrap in 1972, ending her notable service career.