La Fayette in 1951
Career (France)
Laid down:	11 April 1942
Launched:	22 May 1943
Fate:	Sold for scrapping
General characteristics
Class and type:	Independence-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	11,000
Length:	622.5 ft (189.7 m)
Beam:	71.5 ft (21.8 m) (waterline) 109' 2" (33.3 m) (overall)
Draft:	26 ft (7.9 m)
Speed:	31 knots
Complement:	1,569 officers and men
Armament:	26 × 40 mm guns
Aircraft carried:	45 aircraft

The La Fayette (R96) was an 11,000-ton Independence-class aircraft carrier that served French Navy as the from 1951 to 1963. She was the first French vessel named after the 18th century general Marquis de Lafayette. She was the USS Langley (CVL-27), serving the United States Navy from 1943 to 1947.

[edit] History

Built at Camden, New Jersey, the Langley was originally ordered as the light cruiser USS Fargo (CL-85), but by the time her keel was laid in April 1942, she had been redesigned as an aircraft carrier, using the original cruiser hull and machinery. Commissioned in August 1943, Langley served in the Pacific theatre during World War 2. The carrier was decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in February 1947.

Langley was taken out of "mothballs" early in 1951, refurbished and transferred to France under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program. Based in Toulon, La Fayette carried out many missions in the Far East until June 1953. During this action, her airgroup included F6F Hellcats and SB2C Helldivers. Modernized in 1953-1954, she served in the Mediterranean and on the African coasts. In early 1956 she returned to Indo-China which had been partitioned after the cease fire equipped with F4U Corsairs and TBF Avengers. She was invloved in the Suez Crisis air and landing operations along with Arromanches (R 95) and British carriers beginning in October 1956. In March 1960, La Fayette participated in the rescue operations in the Moroccan city of Agadir, damaged by an earthquake. It then took part in the repatriation of the first refugees from Algeria. After more than a decade of French Navy service, she was returned to the United States in March 1963 and was sold for scrap a year later.^[1]

In French service, La Fayette sailed nearly 350,000 nautical, its planes having carried out 19,805 landings. The La Fayette was awarded the Military Cross for its first missions in Indo-China. The name of La Fayette is now carried by the frigate La Fayette (F710).

[edit] References

• The original version of this article based on US Navy public domain text.
• This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

[edit] External links

• (French) PA. La Fayette R96 (USS Langley in the French Navy)
• navsource.org: USS Langley
• hazegray.org: USS Langley
• Angel on the Yardarm: The Beginnings of Fleet Radar Defense and the Kamikaze Threat - Review of book by John Monsarrat, who served aboard Langley during major battles of the Pacific War from January 1944 to May 1945.
• USS Langley at Nine Sisters Light Carrier Historical Documentary Project

v • d • e Independence-class aircraft carrier  United States Navy Independence · Princeton · Belleau Wood · Cowpens · Monterey · Langley · Cabot · Bataan · San Jacinto  French Navy Bois Belleau (ex-USS Belleau Wood) · La Fayette (ex-USS Langley)  Spanish Navy Dédalo (ex-USS Cabot) Preceded by: None · Followed by: Saipan class List of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy