USS Bataan (CVL-29)

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USS Bataan preparing for her second Korean War deployment
History
United States
Name	Bataan
Namesake	Battle of Bataan
Awarded	16 December 1940
Builder	New York Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down	31 August 1942
Launched	1 August 1943
Commissioned	17 November 1943
Decommissioned	11 February 1947
Recommissioned	13 May 1950
Decommissioned	9 April 1954
Stricken	1 September 1959
Honors and awards	6 Battle Stars (World War II) 7 Battle Stars (Korea)
Fate	Sold for scrapping in May 1961
General characteristics
Class and type	Independence-class aircraft carrier
Displacement	11,120 long tons (11,300 t) light 16,260 long tons (16,520 t) full load
Length	Overall: 622.5 ft (189.7 m) Waterline: 600 ft (180 m)
Beam	Extreme: 109 ft 2 in (33.27 m) Waterline: 71 ft (22 m)
Draft	26 ft (7.9 m)
Speed	32 kn (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Complement	156 officers and 1,372 men
Armament	26 × Bofors 40 mm guns (2×4, 9×2) 18 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons (18×1)

USS Bataan (CVL-29/AVT-4), originally planned as USS Buffalo (CL-99) and also classified as CV-29, was an 11,000 ton Independence-class light aircraft carrier which was commissioned in the United States Navy during World War II on 17 November 1943. Serving in the Pacific Theatre for the entire war, taking part in operations around New Guinea, the Invasion of the Mariana Islands, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Battle of Okinawa, and Attacks on the Japanese home islands. After World War II's end she was converted into an anti-submarine carrier and placed in reserve on 11 February 1947.

She was reactivated on 13 May 1950 at Philadelphia in order to participate in the Korean War. After the war she returned to Pearl Harbor, and reported for a preinactivation overhaul on 26 August 1953. After moving to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, Bataan was decommissioned on 9 April 1954 and assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Francisco. Although she was reclassified an auxiliary aircraft transport and redesignated AVT-4 on 15 May 1959, her name was struck from the Navy List on 1 September 1959. She was sold to Nicolai Joffe Corp., Beverly Hills, California, on 19 June 1961 for scrapping.