Today in American Military History - 1933
Aircraft carrier 'Ranger' (CV-4) launched, America's smallest fleet carrier.
USS Ranger (CV-4) was the first ship of the United States Navy to be designed and built from the keel up as an aircraft carrier. Ranger was a relatively small ship, closer in size and displacement to the first US carrier—Langley—than later ships. An island superstructure was not included in the original design, but was added after completion. Deemed too slow for use with the Pacific Fleet's carrier task forces against Japan, the ship spent most of World War II in the Atlantic Ocean where the German fleet was a weaker opposition. Ranger saw combat in that theatre and provided air support for Operation Torch. In October 1943, she fought in Operation Leader, air attacks on German shipping off Norway. The ship was sold for scrap in 1947.