"Bataan" displaced light and at full load. She had an overall length of and a waterline length of . Her extreme beam was and her beam at the waterline was . Her draft was maximum. For armament she was equipped with 24 Bofors 40 mm gun and 22 Oerlikon 20 mm cannon for anti-aircraft protection. She normally carried 30 aircraft. Her armor consisted of of belt armor, on the decks, and on the conning tower. She was powered by four Babcock & Wilcox steam boilers and General Electric geared turbines producing for her four screws. She had a design speed of and had a range of at . She normally carried a complement of 1569.