David Doyle Books Review

Legends of Warfare
USS Intrepid (CV11/CVA-11/CVS-11)
by David Doyle

Reviewed by Martin J Quinn
April 2022

David Doyle Books has released a new book. This one covers the USS Intrepid, (CV/CVA/CVS-11), an Essex-class carrier, which was built during World War II and served until 1973. This book is 144 pages long, and includes a history of the Intrepid, from keel laying, to World War II, two modernizations, service off the coast of Vietnam, through her current service as a museum ship. The book contains over 300 photos.

This book is laid out in the same fashion as other books in the series, with an introduction and four subsequent chapters.

- Chapter 1 - Intrepid Goes to War
- Chapter 2 - Cold War and the Space Age
- Chapter 3 - Vietnam
- Chapter 4 - Museum

Not surprisingly, about 60% the book deal with her construction and World War II service in the Pacific, where she became a bit of a magnet for Japanese bombs, torpedoes and kamikazes. She had to return to Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard so many times for repairs during the war that the shipyard began to refer to Intrepid as "our ship".

The subsequent chapters deal with the rest of Intrepid's career - modernization, service in the Mediterranean, her role in recovering the space capsule Aurora 7, and her service off Vietnam. Retired in 1973, she was host to Navy's Bicentennial Celebration while berthed in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in 1976. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in February 1982, the ship was towed to New York City and eventually docked on Manhattan's West Side, opening her doors to the public as a museum on August 4, 1982.

The book is full of great archival photographs - including some in color - from her entire career, with a wealth of interesting details. There are many photos - especially of her late World War II service - that I've never seen before. For modelers, there's plenty of detail shots for those building the Intrepid in either her WWII or angled-deck configurations.

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enlarge images

Conclusions:

Once again, David Doyle has put out another high quality, hardcover book. It has great info and tons of terrific pictures. I think this will appeal to both naval historians and modelers alike. Highly recommended.

This is USS Intrepid (CV/CVA/CVS-11) - Legends of Warfare, by David Doyle. Published by Schiffer Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7643-6357-3. The book retails for $24.99 (with a pre-sale price of $19.99), and is available to order directly from David's website. Thanks to David Doyle Books for the review sample.