17. USS Saratoga and Operation Magic Carpet
USS Saratoga served in the Pacific throughout World War II with distinction, with aircraft from its squadrons sinking a Japanese aircraft carrier during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in 1942. The ship survived several torpedo hits during the war, as well as extensive damage from kamikaze attacks during the Battle of Okinawa. While under repair for the latter, the ship was converted to a training carrier, and was in that role when the war ended. Saratoga was the first aircraft carrier to be converted to bring home troops from the Pacific. By the summer of 1946 enough carriers had been converted to accommodate Magic Carpet that Saratoga was released to other duties.
At the time Saratoga was released in July 1945 the ship had carried 29,204 Pacific War veterans home to the United States, the most of any individual ship involved in Operation Magic Carpet. Following its final Magic Carpet voyage it was fitted with monitoring gear and took on its passengers’ goats, pigs, and other animals before being sent to Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. While anchored in the lagoon there it and several other ships, some of which had likewise participated in Magic Carpet, were subjected to the explosions of two atomic bombs. Saratoga survived the first bombing, but sank as a result of the second bombing on July 25, 1946.
