USS Ranger (CV-4) was an interwar United States Navy aircraft carrier, the only ship of its class. As a Treaty ship, Ranger was the first U.S. vessel to be designed and built from the keel up as a carrier. She was relatively small, just 730 ft (222.5 m) long and under 15,000 long tons (15,000 t), closer in size and displacement to the first US carrier—Langley—than later ships. An island superstructure was not included in the original design, but was added after completion.
USS Ranger underway at sea, 1930s
Ranger launching, 25 February 1933
Ranger (bottom), Lexington (middle), and Saratoga off Honolulu, 8 April 1936
Aircraft on Ranger's deck during Operation Torch
Operation Torch was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while allowing American armed forces the opportunity to begin their fight against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy on a limited scale. It was the first mass involvement of US troops in the European–North African Theatre and saw the first large-scale airborne assault carried out by the United States.
Allied convoys heading from the British Isles to North Africa
American ships preparing to land off Safi, Morocco, during Operation Blackstone
A flyer in French and Arabic that was distributed by Allied forces in the streets of Casablanca, calling on citizens to cooperate with the Allied forces
American troops on board a Landing Craft Assault heading into Oran, Algeria, November 1942