High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USS Philippine Sea (CV/CVA/CVS-47, AVT-11) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during and shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the first US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the 1944 Battle of the Philippine Sea. Philippine Sea was commissioned in May 1946, too late to serve in World War II. She spent her first few years operating mainly in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Mediterranean, but also was deployed on special missions to the Arctic and Antarctic. She joined the Pacific Fleet in 1950, and served extensively in the Korean War, earning nine battle stars. In the early 1950s she was redesignated an attack carrier (CVA) and then an antisubmarine warfare carrier (CVS). She served the rest of her career in the Pacific.