Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Valley Forge Won 17 Battle Stars Across Two Wars and Was Meant to Become a Museum. The Financing Fell Through and She Was Scrapped in 1971.

The USS Valley Forge, an Essex-class U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, earned 17 battle stars across two wars and was ultimately built for a museum fate—before financing collapsed and the ship was scrapped in 1971. Ordered in 1943, the carrier’s keel was laid on September 14, 1943, at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and it was launched in November 1945 and commissioned a year later. At 888 feet long and displacing 27,100 tons (standard), it could operate up to 100 aircraft and reached up to 33 knots. After entering active service, it fought in the Korean War, launching early strikes after North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, and completed four combat deployments.