The fourth USS Princeton (CVL-23) was a United States Navy Independence-class light aircraft carrier active in the Pacific Ocean during World War II.

[1] Completing that mission, Princeton rendezvoused with TF 15, conducted strikes against enemy installations on Makin and Tarawa, then headed back to Pearl Harbor.

With that force, she sent her planes against airfields at Buka and Bonis on Bougainville (1–2 November) to diminish Japanese aerial resistance during the landings at Empress Augusta Bay.

Princeton then steamed northeast, covered the garrison groups en route to Makin and Tarawa and, after exchanging operational aircraft for damaged planes from other carriers, got underway for Pearl Harbor and the west coast.

[1] Princeton returned to Eniwetok on 10–13 and 16–28 February, when her planes softened the beaches for the invasion force, then provided air cover during the assault and ensuing fight.

From 11 to 18 June, she sent her planes against targets on Guam, Rota, Tinian, Pagan, and Saipan, then steamed west to intercept a Japanese fleet reported to be en route from the Philippines to the Marianas.

In the ensuing Battle of the Philippine Sea, Princeton's planes contributed 30 kills and her guns another three, plus one assist, to the devastating toll inflicted on Japan's naval air arm.

On 14 July, she got underway again as the fast carriers returned their squadrons to the Marianas to furnish air cover for the assault and occupation of Guam and Tinian.

At mid-month the force moved back over the Pacific chessboard to support the Palau offensive, then returned to the Philippines to hit Luzon, concentrating on Clark and Nichols fields.

The force then retired to Ulithi, and in early October, bombed and strafed enemy airfields, installations and shipping in the Nansei Shoto and Formosa area in preparation for the invasion of the Philippines.

Princeton, in Task Group 38.3, cruised off Luzon and sent her planes against airfields there to prevent Japanese land-based aircraft attacks on Allied ships massed in Leyte Gulf.

The dive bomber dropped a single bomb, which struck the carrier between the elevators, punching through the wooden flight deck and hangar before exploding.

[2] Three minutes later, an even larger explosion occurred on Princeton, destroying the entire forward section and sending flames and debris up to 1,000–2,000 feet (300–610 m) into the air.

[3][2][5] Three other ships were more lightly damaged while assisting Princeton: Captain John M. Hoskins, who had been prospective commanding officer of CVL-23, was also rescued, but lost his right foot.