USS Shangri-La CV-38 / CVA-38 / CVS-38

Type:
Aircraft Carrier
Class:
Builder:
Norfolk Naval Shipyard
Portsmouth, Virginia
Hull Number:
CV-38
CVA-38 (Oct. 1952)
CVS-38 (June 30, 1969)
Ordered:
1942
Commissioned:
September 15, 1944
Keel Laid:
January 15, 1943
Decommissioned:
July 30, 1971
Launched:
February 24, 1944
Stricken:
July 15, 1982
Fate:
Sold Aug. 9, 1988 and scrapped.

Notes
Following the Doolittle Raid on Japan President Franklin D. Roosevelt was asked where
the raid was launched from, since the truth was top secret he said "Shangri-La" the
mythical utopia from the novel Lost Horizons.

Sponsored by Mrs. Josephine Doolittle, wife of General James H. Doolittle.


Builder's Data
Page published Feb. 16, 2009