World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseUSS Bunker Hill was commissioned during WW2. She was sent to the Pacific Ocean, participating in the strike on Rabaul, New Britain on 11 Nov 1943 six months after her commissioning. She then took part in the Gilbert Islands invasion, an attack on Kavieng in New Ireland, the Marshall Islands invasion, the carrier raid on Truk in the Caroline Islands, the Mariana Islands invasion, and many raids on Japanese bases across the Pacific Ocean. On 6 Nov 1944, she entered a period of maintenance and repairs at Puget Sound Navy Yard in Washington, United States, and did not return to combat until 24 Jan 1945. In Feb 1945, she launched aircraft to support the Iwo Jima invasion. Later that month, Bunker Hill's aircraft raided the Japanese home islands. In Apr 1945, she supported the Okinawa invasion, where her aircraft was involved in the sinking of the battleship Yamato.

ww2dbaseOn 11 May 1945, while off Okinawa, Bunker Hill was struck by two kamikaze special attack aircraft. The first was a Zero fighter, whose 250-kilogram bomb tore through the vessel and exploded in the sea before the aircraft struck the flight deck and started a fire. 30 seconds later, Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa (also flying a Zero fighter) repeated the same attack, dropping his 250-kilogram bomb, which ignited aviation fuel, before plunging into the flight deck near the control tower. The two kamikaze special attacks killed 373 men aboard USS Bunker Hill and wounded 264 more. Badly damaged, she limped back to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for repairs. When she re-emerged from the shipyard in Sep 1945, the war was already over. Her last active duty mission was Operation Magic Carpet in which she brought home troops from the Pacific.

ww2dbaseWhile being on the decommissioned reserve list, USS Bunker Hill was re-classified several times. In May 1959, her final re-classification named her an auxiliary aircraft landing training vessel (AVT). She was used as a stationary electronics test platform in the 1960s and early 1970s, and was sold for scrap in May 1973.

Aircraft Carrier Bunker Hill (CV-17) Interactive Map

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Bunker Hill Operational Timeline

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50.  C. Peter Chen says:
8 Dec 2012 08:25:52 AM

Thanks for the info Brent.

59.  David Stubblebine says:
23 May 2013 10:03:20 PM

Michael Horn:

I found two sources that said Bunker Hill was scrapped by Zidell Shipbuilding in Tacoma, Washington beginning Aug 4 1973.

102.  David Stubblebine says:
14 Dec 2016 04:06:01 PM

Mr. Sherry (above):
Muster Rolls for USS Bunker Hill list Seaman 2nd class Ernest A Findley as a plank-owner in May 1943 and the Oct 1945 Muster Roll still lists him as part of the crew, by this time as a Boatswain’s Mate 2nd class. Bunker Hill (and all members of her crew & attached air group) indeed were awarded a Presidential Unit Citation but 11 Silver Stars sounds a little high - Bunker Hill (and all members of her crew & attached air groups) earned 11 Battle Stars in WWII, which is still pretty impressive.

143.  David Stubblebine says:
4 Sep 2019 09:12:02 PM

Anonymous (above):
24 May 1943 was the commissioning of the USS Bunker Hill, Wasp was commissioned exactly 6 months later, both at Quincy, Mass. Muster Rolls do not list Charles Smythe on either ship. In all of the WWII searchable Muster Rolls at Fold3.com, Charles Wyatt Smythe, Jr. appears only once, on the rolls of the cruiser USS Quincy where he is listed as being transferred off the ship on 25 Nov 1940 at Norfolk, Va. for a training assignment. That record lists his service number as 400 81 73 and that he enlisted on 16 Sep 1940 at Springfield, Mass. My only other thought is that if he was a gunner on an aircraft carrier, is it possible he was an aircraft gunner? If so, he may have been listed on the rosters of the Air Group and not necessarily the ship. These records were not kept in a uniform manner throughout the fleet so it is not terribly surprising that his name would not pop up in a search of Muster Rolls. My best advice (as always) would to request a copy of his service record. See https://ww2db.com/faq/#3.

145.  David Stubblebine says:
14 Oct 2019 04:22:29 PM

Jenn (above):
Ahh... “90-Day wonder school.” That explains why he was not mentioned in the Muster Rolls. Muster Rolls only list Navy enlisted personnel, they do not list Navy officers or members of the Marine detachment (if the ship had one). Navy officers are listed monthly in the opening pages of that month’s Deck Logs, which are available from the National Archives but not available online as far as I know.

164.  David Stubblebine says:
22 Sep 2024 02:50:18 PM

Wayne Murphy (above):
USS Bunker Hill (CV17) was a short-hull Essex-class carrier. The entire question of Short-hull vs. Long-hull has grown larger than it ever needed to be. The Navy never paid any attention to the distinction and simply called them all Essex-class. The length differences amounted to only 16 feet, less than 2% of the total length, to allow room for additional anti-aircraft mounts on the bow and the stern. The Long-hull vs. Short-hull distinction is largely a post-war invention created by model makers who paid closer attention to such details than the Navy did.