USS Tarawa, a 27,100-ton Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier, was built at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia. Commissioned in December 1945, she made a shakedown cruise to the Caribbean in early 1946 and joined the Pacific Fleet in July. From mid-1946 until April 1947, the new carrier operated in the central and western Pacific, then spent more than a year in the vicinity of the U.S. west coast. Tarawa began a voyage to the east coast "the long way round" beginning in late September 1948, calling on ports in China, Singapore, Ceylon, the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean before arriving at Norfolk, Virginia, in February 1949. She was placed out of commission at the end of the following June.

Tarawa was recalled to active duty after the outbreak of the Korean War, recommissioning in February 1951. She spent the war years in the Atlantic area and with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, and was redesignated CVA-40 in October 1952. From September 1953 until September 1954, Tarawa cruised around the World eastbound, conducting operations in the Mediterranean and the Far East along the way. Upon her return to the Atlantic coast, she began conversion to an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) support aircraft carrier. Redesignated CVS-40 in January 1955, she was employed for the next five years in ASW and helicopter amphibious exercises in the east coast and Caribbean areas.

Decommissioned again in May 1960, Tarawa entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was reclassified as an aircraft transport in May 1961, with the new hull number AVT-12, but saw no service in that role. In June 1967, USS Tarawa was stricken from the list of Naval vessels. She was sold for scrapping in October 1968.