NPS Photo The US Navy Honors the Victory at SaratogaWritten by Richard Rosen, Volunteer In Parks It was just two and a half years after the 1777 Victory at Saratoga that Congress commissioned in the Continental Navy the first of six fighting ships that carried the name Saratoga well into the 20th century. 
Naval History and Heritage Command Saratoga I: April 1780 to March 1781; service 11 monthsThis first Saratoga was a "sloop of war," a small, fast and maneuverable vessel intended to guard the coast and seek and capture enemy merchant shipping in the Atlantic and Caribbean. She was about 70' long with a crew of 80 and mounted 18 guns, mostly nine-pounders. Formidable enough to intimidate and overcome even armed merchant ships and combatants of similar class, but no match for the heavyweights of the Royal Navy. Congress commissioned ships like our Saratoga and even some larger vessels into the nascent US Navy. These were accompanied by armed ships chartered by some of the states and by "privateers." Privateers were civilian ships officially authorized by Congress or states to harass and capture enemy shipping. The owners and crews shared any gain from the sale of the vessels and cargos ("prizes") that they might recover. Estimates suggest that there were several thousand privateers supplementing - and often sailing together with - ships of the "official" American navies during the Revolution. Saratoga 1 was lost without a trace following a storm off Haiti on March 15, 1781. 
U.S.S. Saratoga Association Saratoga II: April 1814 to 1815; service 10 months (sold 1825)Officially listed as a Corvette, this Saratoga was built in Vergennes, Vermont for service on Lake Champlain during the War of 1812. Larger than Saratoga I at 143 feet, with a complement of 212 officers and men. She had eight 24-pounder guns, six 42-pounder carronades, and twelve 32-pounder carronades. Carronades were short, smooth-bore heavy cannons for short-range combat. In active service for a relatively short time, she nevertheless gave the United States a critical advantage in defeating the British attempt to, once again, invade New York via the lake corridor used by Burgoyne in 1777. With Saratoga as his flagship, Master Commandant Thomas MacDonough, overall commander of American naval forces on the Lake, won a decisive victory at Plattsburg Bay in September of 1814. This British defeat helped ensure a favorable climate for the Americans in crafting the peace which was concluded early in 1815. At the conclusion of the war, the Saratoga was laid up and sold at Whitehall, NY in 1825. 
U.S.S. Saratoga Association Saratoga III: September 1842 to August 1907; 65 total yearsStill in the age of sail this Saratoga had the longest overall period of service albeit with several periods of de-commissioning for overhaul and repair. Classed as a sloop of war, her length was 146' 4" with a complement of 210 and armament of four 8" shell guns and 18 32-pounders. "Shell guns" fired exploding shells in a flat trajectory suitable for naval combat. Saratoga III was truly a ship of the seven seas initially posted to the Africa Squadron under Commodore Matthew Perry to control the West African slave trade which, by this time, was outlawed by the US. (Slavery was still legal however, given America's self-sustaining slave population). Perry's mission also included support for Liberia, established as a haven for freed American slaves. Saratoga III later sailed the Gulf of Mexico, protecting US interests in the war with Mexico stemming from the US annexation of Texas. Later, as part of the Brazil Squadron she cruised the South American coast. By 1850, having transited to the Pacific via Cape Horn, Saratoga III joined the East India Squadron as part of Commodore Perry's opening of Japan and the Far East to American commerce. Upon returning to home waters in 1854, Saratoga III served again off Africa until the outbreak of the Civil War. Decommissioned in 1861 and recommissioned in 1863 she performed combat and blockade duties against the Confederacy until the close of the war. Following several periods of de- and recommissioning, the Saratoga III, now in the age of steam, served the Navy as a utility and training vessel. Her last 11 years of commissioned service was as a training and school ship. Her story ends in 1907 with her sale in Philadelphia to a private concern. [Note: The armored cruiser New York, 1883-1938, was renamed Saratoga from 1911 to 1917. This Saratoga is not considered among the six in the present history.] 
Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives Saratoga IV: September 1920
Intended as fast battle scouts for the main fleet, Saratoga IV marks this history's passage from the age of sail to the age of iron ships now encompassing all of the emerging military technologies of the 20th century. Saratoga IV is probably best known as the United States Navy's first aircraft carrier having been converted and reclassified in 1923. This brings us to Saratoga V. 
United States Navy Saratoga V: Launched in 1925, commissioned in 1927 and served until 1946; 19 yearsDesignated as a fast carrier, CV-3, Saratoga V displaced 33,000 tons, with a length of 888 feet, a speed of 34 knots, and a complement of 2111 crew and 81 aircraft. Assigned to the Pacific Fleet, CV-3 spent most of her time until the outbreak of World War II in testing and fleet exercises developing the tactics for the use of air power in naval warfare. These exercises covered much of the eastern Pacific, from the Canal Zone to Hawaii and West Coast naval bases. When Pearl Harbor was struck, Saratoga V had just concluded a modernization overhaul at Bremerton, Washington and immediately departed to fleet operations near Hawaii. On January 11, 1942, she was first bloodied by a torpedo attack by a Japanese submarine which required a return to Bremerton for repairs. Throughout the war in the Pacific, Saratoga V's planes flew thousands of air strikes against shore installations in the famous "island-hopping" battles on the path to Tokyo. Her planes are credited with sinking major ships of the Japanese Navy including a carrier, two cruisers, several destroyers as well as inflicting severe damage to a battleship and numerous other naval and merchant ships. CV-3 suffered her most significant damage in early 1945 at Iwo Jima in a bombing and Kamikaze attack and was forced to retire for repairs. At the War's end, she made eight "magic carpet" runs ferrying 30,000 veterans back home. Saratoga V was the oldest carrier in service at the end of the War and earned seven battle stars for her service. This Saratoga's final act was less glamorous than her active service. Now surplus to Navy requirements, she served as a test ship in the Bikini atomic bomb tests in 1946. Even so, she survived the first blast at 500 yards from ground zero. It took the second, on July 25, to send her to the bottom... The Service of Saratoga V 
Left image
Right image
National Naval Aviation Museum Saratoga VI: Launched in 1955, commissioned in 1956 and served until 1994; 36 yearsDesignated an Attack Carrier CVA-60 (later a multi-purpose carrier, CV-60), Saratoga VI was a conventionally-powered carrier of the Forrestal class. She displaced 56,000 tons, with a length of 1,063 feet, a speed of 33 knots and a complement of 3,826 crew and 70 to 90 aircraft. A recitation Saratoga VI's career reads like the headlines of the 70s, 80s and 90s. She patrolled off the coast of Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis, steamed off the coast of Lebanon during the six-day war, saw combat in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War and in the Red Sea during the Persian Gulf War. Although not officially in a wartime status like her predecessor, CV-60's career was steeped in action. Using her advanced aircraft and technologies she monitored events and crises around the world. These included training exercises with NATO allies, enforcing "no-fly" zones over the former Yugoslavia, tracking Soviet and other potentially hostile forces, providing humanitarian aid and "showing the flag" at times of particular tension. In two years deployed to Vietnam her aircraft flew 15,000 combat missions. Her 22 cruises to the Mediterranean covered a period when that region of the world was particularly volatile, as it remains to this day. Finally, this last of the Saratogas participated in the Desert Shield/Storm actions in 1990 and 1991 employing its airpower in missions of both deterrence and destruction. Following its decommissioning in 1994, CV-60 was held in donation status (for possible use as a museum ship) but by 2014 the decision was made to permanently retire her.
Since January 2019, the USS Saratoga Association and its Membership have continued to lobby the Secretary of the Navy to consider naming a future Navy ship the Saratoga. They have continued to submit request letters from individuals, former SARATOGA Sailors (including at least one former Commanding Officer), as well as endorsements from local, state and federal elected officials. For further reading: |
Last updated: July 13, 2024