On 27 September 1945, Bunker Hill sailed from Bremerton to report for duty with the Operation Magic Carpet fleet, returning veterans from the Pacific as a unit of TG 16.12.
The vessel made return trips to the west coast from Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and Guam and Saipan.
In January 1946 the ship was ordered to Bremerton for deactivation, and was decommissioned into reserve on 9 January 1947.

While in reserve Bunker Hill was reclassified three times, becoming CVA-17 in October 1951, CVS-17 in August 1953, and AVT-9 in May 1959, with the latter designation indicating that any future commissioned operations would be as an "Auxiliary Aircraft Landing Training Ship".
 As all Essex-class carriers survived the war, Bunker Hill was surplus to the needs of the navy.
She and Franklin, which also had sustained severe damage from an aerial attack, were the only aircraft carriers in the Essex-class that did not experience any active service after the end of World War II.
Although their wartime damage had been successfully repaired, it was their resultant like-new condition which kept them out of commission, as the Navy for many years envisioned an "ultimate reconfiguration" for Bunker Hill and Franklin which never took place.

Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in November 1966, Bunker Hill was used as a stationary electronics test platform at the Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, during the 1960s and early 1970s.
 On 2 July 1973 the vessel was sold for scrap to Zidell Explorations, Inc. of Oregon.

Some relics survive.
 Six hundred tons of steel armor plate, manufactured before the atomic age, are used by Fermilab to shield experiments from interference by ambient or background subatomic particles.
Dome-shaped protective shrouds from the carrier's mothballing were incorporated in a residence in West Linn, Oregon.
 The ship's bell was purchased from the scrapper, displayed for a while at the San Diego Air and Space Museum, and in 1986 was provided to the guided missile cruiser which bears the name USS Bunker Hill.
On 27 September 1945, Bunker Hill sailed from Bremerton to report for duty with the Operation Magic Carpet fleet, returning veterans from the Pacific as a unit of TG 16.12. The vessel made return trips to the west coast from Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and Guam and Saipan. In January 1946 the ship was ordered to Bremerton for deactivation, and was decommissioned into reserve on 9 January 1947.
While in reserve Bunker Hill was reclassified three times, becoming CVA-17 in October 1951, CVS-17 in August 1953, and AVT-9 in May 1959, with the latter designation indicating that any future commissioned operations would be as an "Auxiliary Aircraft Landing Training Ship".  As all Essex-class carriers survived the war, Bunker Hill was surplus to the needs of the navy. She and Franklin, which also had sustained severe damage from an aerial attack, were the only aircraft carriers in the Essex-class that did not experience any active service after the end of World War II. Although their wartime damage had been successfully repaired, it was their resultant like-new condition which kept them out of commission, as the Navy for many years envisioned an "ultimate reconfiguration" for Bunker Hill and Franklin which never took place.
Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in November 1966, Bunker Hill was used as a stationary electronics test platform at the Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, during the 1960s and early 1970s.  On 2 July 1973 the vessel was sold for scrap to Zidell Explorations, Inc. of Oregon.
Some relics survive.  Six hundred tons of steel armor plate, manufactured before the atomic age, are used by Fermilab to shield experiments from interference by ambient or background subatomic particles. Dome-shaped protective shrouds from the carrier's mothballing were incorporated in a residence in West Linn, Oregon.  The ship's bell was purchased from the scrapper, displayed for a while at the San Diego Air and Space Museum, and in 1986 was provided to the guided missile cruiser which bears the name USS Bunker Hill.
USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)