Langley was used to demonstrate the benefits of carrier based airpower. She was used in numerous aviation tests, and trained many pilots. The lessons learned from her were applied to newer and larger carriers. As those carriers came on line, she was no longer needed as a fleet carrier. In 1937 Langley emerged as a Sea Plane Tender reclassified AV-3. The most noticeable change in her conversion was the removal of the forward half of her flight deck. She operated in the Pacific for most of her life. She was anchored off Cavite in the Philippines when war broke out and on December 8th she sailed for Darwin, Australia via Balikpapan, and Borneo arriving there January 1, 1942. 

Her first wartime assignment was ASW duties with the RAAF. Later that month  she operated with the ABDA forces (American, British, Dutch, and Australian) Forces then gathering to oppose Japanese landings in Indonesia. She was ferrying a load of 32 P-40's to Tjilatjap, Java when Japanese aircraft found her. She managed to escape damage in the first two attacks but the third caught her in the narrow confines of the harbor and scored five hits. Her load of aircraft were set afire and steering was damaged. Flooding left her listing and dead in the water and she was ordered abandoned. Her destroyer escorts fired shells and torpedoes into her to make sure she didn't fall into the hands of the Japanese. She went down with the loss of 16 lives about 75 miles south of Tjilatjap.

Loose Cannon has produced not one, but two different models of this important first carrier and later seaplane tender. The first version USS Langley CV-1 can be used to model her from 1922 to 1936, the second kit is of her in her AV-3 configuration and can be used for a 1937 to the time of her loss. These kits share many common parts with different airwings and some instructions.