NewsBreak Original

What a great piece of American history. I took a complete tour of the ship, including the engine room. It was very cool seeing how this ship was run. Service History of the Red Oak Victory After final outfitting, USS Red Oak Victory (AK-235) was commissioned as a US Navy vessel on December 5, 1944. Only a very few Victory ships became Navy commissioned vessels and they were designated as either AK (auxiliary cargo ships) or AT (attack transports). AS AN AK, the USS Red Oak Victory carried ammunition to supply the needs of the Pacific Fleet in World War II. Ships of the US Pacific Fleet at Ulithi Atoll, March 1945 In January 1945, USS Red Oak Victory under command of Lieutenant Commander John S. Sayers, USNR, with a crew of 13 officers and 91 enlisted men sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge to war service in the Pacific Theater of Operations. She would not return to the United States for 18 months.

USS Hornet (CV/CVA/CVS-12) is an Essex-class aircraft carrier built for the United States Navy (USN) during World War II. Completed in late 1943, the ship was assigned to the Fast Carrier Task Force (variously designated as Task Force 38 or 58) in the Pacific Ocean, the navy's primary offensive force during the Pacific War. In early 1944, she participated in attacks on Japanese installations in New Guinea, Palau, and Truk among others. Hornet then took part in the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign and most of the subsidiary operations, most notably the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June, nicknamed the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" for disproportionate losses inflicted upon the Japanese. The ship then participated in the Philippines Campaign in late 1944, and the Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign in the first half of 1945. In June, she was badly damaged by a typhoon and had to return to the United States for repairs.