launches from
Boxer in March 1948, the first time an all-jet aircraft was launched from an American aircraft carrier at sea. In spite of manning difficulties brought on by the
demobilization of the US military after World War II,
Boxer remained active in Pacific readiness drills around the West Coast and Hawaii. In 1948, she conducted a number of short cruises with
US Navy Reserve personnel. On 10 March 1948, a
North American FJ-1 Fury launched from
Boxer, the first such launch of an
all-jet aircraft from an American carrier, which allowed subsequent tests of jet aircraft carrier doctrine. For the remainder of 1948 and 1949, she participated in numerous battle drills and acted as a training carrier for jet aircraft pilots. She was dispatched to the Far East on another tour on 11 January 1950. She joined the
7th Fleet in the region, making a goodwill visit to
South Korea and entertaining South Korean president
Syngman Rhee and his wife
Franziska Donner. and at the end of the tour returned to San Diego on 25 June 1950, the same day as the outbreak of the
Korean War.
Boxer was ordered into service to ferry aircraft from California to the fighting on the
Korean Peninsula. She made a record-breaking crossing of the Pacific Ocean, leaving
Alameda, California, on 14 July 1950 and arriving at
Yokosuka, Japan, on 23 July, a trip of 8 days and 7 hours. She carried 145
North American P-51 Mustangs and six
Stinson L-5 Sentinels of the
United States Air Force destined for the
Far East Air Force as well as 19 Navy aircraft, 1,012 Air Force support personnel, and of supplies for the United Nations troops fighting the
North Korean invasion of South Korea, including crucially needed spare parts and ordnance. She began her return trip from Yokosuka on 27 July and arrived back in California on 4 August, for a trip of 7 days, 10 hours and 36 minutes, again breaking the record for a trans-Pacific cruise. By the time
Boxer arrived in Korea, the UN forces had established superiority in the air and sea.
F-51 Mustangs at
Alameda for the Korean theater, in July 1950. After rapid repairs in California,
Boxer embarked
Carrier Air Group 2, flying the
Vought F4U Corsair propeller driven fighter-bomber, and departed again for Korea on 24 August, this time in a combat role. En route to the peninsula, the carrier narrowly avoided
Typhoon Kezia which slowed her trip. She was the fourth aircraft carrier to arrive in Korea to participate in the war, after
Triumph and
Valley Forge had arrived in June and followed in early August. She arrived too late to participate in the
Battle of Pusan Perimeter, but instead she was ordered to join a flotilla of 230 US ships which would participate in
Operation Chromite, the UN counterattack at
Inchon. On 15 September, she supported the landings by sending her aircraft in a
close air support role, blocking North Korean reinforcements and communication to prevent them from countering the attack. However, early in the operation, her propulsion system was damaged when a
reduction gear in the ship's engine broke, a casualty of her overdue maintenance. The ship's engineers worked around the problem to keep the carrier in operation, but she was limited to 26 knots. She continued this role as the UN troops
recaptured Seoul days later.
Boxer continued this support as UN troops advanced north and into North Korea, but departed for the United States on 11 November for refit and overhaul. Battlefield commanders requested
Boxer return to Korea as soon as possible, but she did not immediately return as commanders feared it might reduce the Navy's ability to respond if another conflict or emergency broke out elsewhere. s from Air Group 101 depart from
Boxer for a mission in Korea, 1951. One of these ("416") survived the war and is airworthy as of 2016.
Boxers propulsion problems required extensive repair, so she returned to San Diego to conduct them. Upon arrival, she offloaded Air Group 2, which then embarked for Korea again aboard
Valley Forge. After a repair and refit in California,
Boxer was prepared for a second tour in Korea. She embarked
Carrier Air Group 101. The group was composed of Navy Reserve squadrons from
Dallas, Texas,
Glenview, Illinois,
Memphis, Tennessee and
Olathe, Kansas, and most of its pilots were reservists who had been called to
active duty. She rejoined Task Force 77, and began operations in Korea on 29 March 1951, and her squadrons were the first Naval Reserve pilots to launch strikes in Korea. Most of these missions were
airstrikes against Chinese ground forces along the
38th parallel, and this duty lasted until 24 October 1951. A large destroyer screen protected the carriers, though
MiG-15 attacks against them did not occur. After another period of rest and refits,
Boxer departed California 8 February 1952 for her third tour in Korea, with Carrier Air Group 2 embarked, consisting of F9F in VF-24, F4U in VF 63 and VF-64, and AD in VF-65. Rejoining Task Force 77, her missions during this tour consisted primarily of
strategic bombing against targets in North Korea, as the front lines in the war had largely solidified along the 38th Parallel. On 23 and 24 June, her planes conducted
strikes against the Sui-ho hydro-electric complex in conjunction with , and
Philippine Sea. On 5 August 1952, a fire broke out on the hangar deck of
Boxer at 05:30 when a fuel tank of an aircraft caught fire while the ship was conducting combat operations in the
Sea of Japan. The fire raged on the carrier's hangar deck for 4–5 hours before being extinguished. The final total of casualties was 8 dead, 1 missing, 1 critically injured, 1 seriously burned and some 70 overcome by smoke. Of the 63 who had gone over the side, all were rescued and returned to the ship. Eighteen aircraft, mostly
Grumman F9F-2 Panthers, were damaged or destroyed. She steamed for Yokosuka for emergency repairs from 11 to 23 August. She returned to San Francisco for more extensive repairs on 25 September. In October 1952, she was re-designated CVA-21, denoting an "attack aircraft carrier." She also provided close air support for UN troops for the final weeks of the war before an armistice was reached at
Panmunjom in July 1953, ending major combat operations in Korea. During this time, the two sides often conducted costly attacks in order to strengthen their bargaining positions at the negotiating table.
Boxer remained in Korean waters until November 1953. She received eight
battle stars for her service in Korea. The tour of the Pacific was followed by a rest in the United States and another tour in the Pacific in late 1955 and early 1956, which was similarly uneventful. She was converted to an
anti-submarine warfare carrier in early 1956, re-designated CVS-21. She completed another tour of the western Pacific in late 1956 and early 1957, which was her tenth and final deployment to the area. In late 1957, the navy began experimenting with the concept of a carrier operating entirely with
attack helicopters, and
Boxer was used to test the concept. She was
decommissioned on 1 December 1969 after 25 years of service, and she was stricken from the
Naval Vessel Register. She was sold for scrap on 13 March 1971 by
Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service and later scrapped at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard. == Awards ==