Rule 5 Warships – USS Ranger

Moving from last week’s “barely an actual ship” Rule 5 Warship post of KMS Peter Strasser, this week I’ll cover a very real carrier, America’s The Eagle Union’s first purpose-built aircraft carrier, USS Ranger (CV-4).

Launched in 1934 with a flat deck modeled after USS Langley, Ranger would undergo a major pre-war retrofit to bring her more in-line with the ships of the Lexington class. During World War II, she was considered too slow to be of use in the Pacific fleet, and was assigned duties in the Atlantic where the German navy, despite their U-boat threat, was lower threat.

Ranger would make several trips ferrying USAAF aircraft to North Africa and Europe in 1942 and 1943, and also participate with her own air wing in Operation Torch (the invasion of North Africa) and Operation Leader (patrolling the Norwegian coast in 1943).

During Operation Torch, her airwing would engage and help sink French battleship Jean Bart. We’ll probably see her featured here eventually.

In 1944, she became a training carrier. She would spend the rest of the war, and a brief post-war period, as the first actual carrier flight deck that many naval aviators would see.

In Azur Lane, Ranger is generally portrayed as a mature teacher figure. Usually calmer than her fellow Eagle Union friends, she can still be counted on to take action when needed, and makes it a point to look after her friends and her commander.

As one of the longtime characters, even though she doesn’t get a lot of focus, there’s a substantial amount of fan art out there for her. Not a lot of cosplayers, but plenty of fanart.

USS Ranger (CV-4) was the sixth ship to carry the name Ranger. She was followed by the Forrestal-class CV-61, and currently USV Ranger, an unmanned member of the USN’s experimental Ghost Fleet Overlord unmanned surface vessel unit.