[1] Randolph was commissioned in October 1944, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning three battle stars.

In the early 1960s she served as the recovery ship for two Project Mercury space missions, including John Glenn's historic first orbital flight.

Riding at anchor at Ulithi on 11 March, a Yokosuka P1Y1 "Frances" kamikaze hit Randolph on the starboard side aft just below the flight deck, killing 27 men, including four reported missing and five transferred to the hospital ship Relief where they later died, and wounding 105, during Operation Tan No.

[3] The initial damage assessment by the ship's captain and later confirmed by task force commander, Admiral Raymond Spruance, was that Randolph's damage was beyond the repair capabilities at Pearl Harbor and the ship would have to return to Navy facilities on the US west coast, effectively taking Randolph out of action for some five months, including the upcoming invasion of Okinawa.

With Randolph able to launch and retrieve aircraft, and thus defend herself, repairs focused on the massive task, at the ship's stern, involving the replacement of structural steel components forming the hangar deck, aircraft elevator framework and flight deck support, all warped or destroyed by the fires ignited by the kamikaze hit.

Some 29 tons of structural steel, including I-beams salvaged from a Japanese sugar mill on newly liberated Saipan, were utilized.

Charles Minter, assistant air officer on board Randolph, "That decision to remain in the forward area [for repairs] allowed us to complete the war in an operational status.

[4] Working twenty four hours a day at sea off Ulithi, Randolph’s repairs, initiated after the fires from the 11 March kamikaze attack were extinguished, were completed by 1 April, the launch date of the Okinawa invasion.

[7] On her next war cruise, as a part of Admiral Halsey's 3rd Fleet, Randolph made a series of strikes up and down the Japanese home islands.

Transiting the Panama Canal in late September, she arrived at Naval Station Norfolk on 15 October, where she was rigged for "Magic Carpet" service.

[citation needed] Leaving the yard in January 1956, Randolph conducted air operations off the East Coast for the next six months, and was the first Atlantic Fleet carrier to launch a Regulus guided missile from her flight deck.

When Israel, Britain, and France invaded the United Arab Republic in October of that year, Randolph stood ready.

[2] Randolph was reclassified CVS-15 on 31 March 1959, and conducted anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations off the East Coast throughout that year and the next, receiving her fourth consecutive Battle Efficiency Award in September 1960.

[2] In July 1961, Randolph sailed for operations in the Caribbean and served as the recovery ship after splashdown for astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom on America's second manned space flight, a suborbital shot.

In February 1962, Randolph was the primary recovery ship for astronaut John Glenn on his flight, the first American orbital voyage in space.

[2][1] On 1 April 1964, in an unusual accident, the Number Three deck elevator of Randolph tore loose from the ship during a vicious storm at night and fell into the Atlantic off Cape Henry, Virginia, taking with it a Grumman S-2D Tracker, five crewmen, and a tractor.

Randolph was decommissioned on 13 February 1969 at Boston Navy Yard and laid up in the reserve fleet at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

With the blessing and approval of the Randolph Association, that anchor was kept in Kingsport and then relocated in 1990 to Sullivan North High School for representation of their newly commissioned NJROTC program.

[citation needed] This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.