As built, Oriskany held a length of 911 feet, a beam of 129 feet, and a draught of 30.5 feet. Her propulsion scheme incorporated 8 x Boilers feeding 4 x Westinghouse geared steam turbines developing 150,000 horsepower to 4 x Shafts. This propelled Oriskany to speeds of 33 knots out to ranges of 20,000 nautical miles. Onboard was a crew of 2,600 and up to 100 aircraft could be carried depending on type and model. Three elevators serviced the flight deck (one deck-edge and two centerline). Armor included up to 4" at the belt and 4" at the bulkheads. Displacement was 30,800 tons.
USS Oriskany was one of the U.S. Navy warships featured in the Korean War (1950-1953) and, for her service in the conflict, she was awarded two Battle Stars. In October 1952, she was reclassified from "CV" to "CVA" and, on January 2nd, 1957, the warship was decommissioned for the first time. With the arrival of the Vietnam War, she was recommissioned for service (this on March 7th, 1959) and went on to earn five additional Battle Stars. In 1966, an onboard fire claimed the lives of forty-four of her crew. On June 30th, 1976, she was reclassified from "CVA" back to "CV" and saw decommissioning for the second, and final, time on September 30th, 1976. She was struck from the Naval Register on July 25th, 1989. Her hulk was sold for scrap in 1995 though she survived the scrapman's torch to instead be sunk as an artificial reef off the coast of Florida (Gulf of Mexico) in May of 2006. In this way she served as the pilot vessel for the artificial reef program.
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