The short, historic life of the US Navy's first aircraft carrier

• In 1922, US Navy collier USS Jupiter was converted into the aircraft carrier USS Langley
• Langley was the US Navy's first aircraft carrier, but it only spent 15 years in service in that role.

On the morning of February 27, 1942, US Navy seaplane tender USS Langley and two destroyers broke off from a large Allied supply convoy and headed for the island of Java.

The Japanese were well into their invasion of the Dutch East Indies and were poised to attack Java. Langley was carrying cargo that was badly needed to defend the island: 32 Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters of the 13th Pursuit Squadron.

Just before noon, however, Japanese aircraft pounced on Langley. The onslaught sunk what was, for a few years at least, the US Navy's first aircraft carrier.

The first carrier

USS Langley began life not as a seaplane tender or an aircraft carrier but as the Proteus-class collier USS Jupiter.

Jupiter was laid down in 1911, launched in 1912, and commissioned into service in 1913. It was the Navy's first turbo-electric-powered ship, making it high-tech for a vessel that was not meant for combat.

The ship was used exclusively to transport personnel and supplies, particularly coal. It conducted the first ever west-to-east Panama Canal transit in 1914, dutifully carried out supply missions along the US's East and West coasts, and even conducted two coaling operations in France during World War I.

After Jupiter brought troops back to the US from Europe in 1919, it was decided to convert it into an aircraft carrier. Britain's HMS Argus had shown the value of such a vessel, and with HMS Hermes under construction, the US did not want to fall behind.

The conversion process began in 1920 and finished in 1922. In March of that year, the ship was recommissioned as USS Langley and designated CV-1, the US Navy's first carrier designation.

The upper sections of its seven coal cranes were removed and their bases were used to support the new flight deck. Langley could carry 36 biplanes in a hanger below the flight deck, which was mostly open-air.

Its original complement of four 4-inch guns was replaced by four 5-inch guns, and a catapult was installed.

The carrier was nicknamed "Covered Wagon" by its crew because it resembled a pioneer wagon when viewed from below the flight deck.

Seven months after its recommissioning, Lt. Virgil C. Griffin flew the first plane — a Vought VE-7 — off its deck. Nine days later, Lt. Cmdr. G. DeC. Chevalier made the first landing on the carrier.

The following month, the ship's captain, Cmdr. Kenneth Whiting, became the first aviator to be catapulted from Langley's deck.

Another change and wartime service

Langley spent 12 years with the Navy's Pacific Fleet. It operated mostly in the waters off Hawaii and California as a training and testing platform for sailors and pilots to inform future carrier operations.

By 1936, the US Navy had commissioned larger, purpose-built carriers, and Langley's deck and hangars were too small for modern carrier planes. The ship was decommissioned yet again in order to undergo another conversion.

In 1937, Langley was recommissioned as a seaplane tender and given the designation AV-3. With the removal of the forward 40% of its flight deck, the ship's bridge was visible again.

It was assigned once more to the Pacific Fleet, serving mostly in a scouting and support role. It was sent to Manila in 1939 and was anchored nearby when the US's war with Japan began on December 7, 1941.

Unable to offer much resistance on its own, Langley withdrew to the Dutch East Indies and then arrived in Darwin, Australia, on January 1, 1942.

Now part of the hastily assembled American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, Langley operated out of Darwin and supported anti-submarine patrols until January 11, when it was tasked with transportation duties to support the defense of the Dutch East Indies.

Langley, with its cargo of P-40s, departed Freemantle, Australia, on February 22 as part of a larger convoy before meeting its escorts, USS Whipple and USS Edsall, on the morning of February 27. The three ships then headed for the port city of Tjilatjap in Java.

Unknown to Langley and its escorts, they had been spotted by a Japanese reconnaissance plane. Around 11:40 a.m., Japanese Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers arrived from Bali and attacked.

Langley took five hits, which destroyed many of the planes it carried, impaired its steering, and caused a 10-degree list to port. With water flooding the engines, the ship soon went dead in the water. The order to abandon ship was given at 1:32 p.m.

All but 16 of the crew managed to evacuate to Whipple and Edsall. The escorts then fired nine 4-inch shells and two torpedoes into Langley to ensure it wouldn't fall into Japanese hands. Langley's survivors were then transferred to the nearby oiler USS Pecos.

Two days after Langley was lost, Pecos was sunk by aircraft from the Japanese carrier Sōryū. Whipple managed to recover 232 survivors, but the destroyer left behind more than 400 other members of Langley's and Pecos' crews because it feared attacks by Japanese submarines.