USS Coral Sea was laid down on 10 July 1944 as the third ship of the Midway-class aircraft carriers by New York Navy Yards. Like the her two sister ships, USS Midway (CV-41) and USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42), she was not completed in time to see service in World War II. Commissioned on 1 October 1947, she was the second longest serving aircraft carrier in the US Navy, operating until being decommissioned and cannibalized for parts for USS Midway in 1990. Her remnants were finally scrapped on 8 September 2000.