Casablanca-class escort carrier

The Casablanca-class escort carrier was a series of escort carriers constructed for the United States Navy during World War II. They are the most numerous class of aircraft carriers ever built. Fifty were laid down, launched and commissioned within the space of less than two years – 3 November 1942 through to 8 July 1944. Despite their numbers, and the preservation of more famous and larger carriers as museums, none of these modest ships survive today. Five were lost to enemy action during World War II and the remainder were scrapped.

USS Guadalcanal, 1944
Class overview
Name	Casablanca class
Preceded by	Sangamon class
Succeeded by	Commencement Bay class
Subclasses	S4-S2-BB3
In commission	1943–1964
Planned	50
Completed	50
Lost	5
Retired	45
General characteristics
Type	Escort carrier
Displacement	8,188 long tons (8,319 t) (standard) 10,902 long tons (11,077 t) (full load)
Length	512 ft 3 in (156.13 m) (oa) 490 ft (150 m) (wl) 474 ft (144 m) (fd)
Beam	65 ft 2 in (19.86 m) 108 ft (33 m) (extreme width)
Draft	20 ft 9 in (6.32 m) (max)
Installed power	4 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers 9,000 shp (6,700 kW)
Propulsion	2 × Skinner Unaflow reciprocating steam engines 2 × screws
Speed	19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Range	10,240 nmi (18,960 km; 11,780 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	Total: 910–916 officers and men Embarked Squadron: 50–56 Ship's Crew: 860
Sensors and processing systems	SC radar
Armament	As designed: 1 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal dual-purpose gun 8 × 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns 12 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons Varied, ultimate armament: 1 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal gun 8 × twin 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns 30 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons
Aircraft carried	27 aircraft
Aviation facilities	1 × catapult 2 × elevators

Casablanca was the first class designed from keel up as an escort carrier. It had a larger and more useful hangar deck than previous conversions. It also had a larger flight deck than the Bogue class. Unlike larger carriers which had extensive armor, protection was limited to splinter plating. Their small size made them useful for transporting assembled aircraft of various sizes, including ferrying many aircraft types that were unable to operate from their decks. However, aircraft that were operational on the ships were limited to smaller and lighter aircraft such as the Grumman F4F Wildcat. The hull numbers were assigned consecutively, from CVE-55 Casablanca to CVE-104 Munda.

Casablanca-class carriers were built by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company's Vancouver Yard on the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington. The Vancouver yard was expressly built in 1942 to construct Liberty ships, but exigencies of war soon saw the yard building LST landing craft and then escort carriers all before the end of the yard's first year in operation. The yard had twelve building ways and a 3,000-foot (910 m) outfitting dock along with a unique additional building slip originally intended to add prefabricated superstructures to Liberty ships. Their relatively small size and mass-production origins led their crews to refer to them as "jeep carriers" or "Kaiser Jeeps" with varying degrees of affection.

Naming

The Casablanca class initially continued the US Navy's policy of naming escort carriers after bays and sounds, in this case the numerous inlets of the Alexander Archipelago that form the southeast coastline of Alaska, though several were subsequently renamed to carry on the US Navy's tradition of naming aircraft carriers after battles. Those ships that appear to be named after islands, seas, straits or cities actually commemorated battles fought at those locations. Several had their original "Bay" names changed to battle names while under construction, and two of them, Midway (CVE-63) and Coral Sea (CVE-57), lost their battle names mid-career to new Midway-class aircraft carriers, becoming USS St. Lo and USS Anzio respectively. Unlike the larger Essex and Independence-class aircraft carriers, none were named to commemorate historical naval vessels.

Production time and Navy refusal

Casablanca-class escort carriers fitting out, circa April 1944.

Although Essex-class aircraft carriers were completed in 20 months or less, 1941 projections on the basis of the 38-month average pre-war construction period estimated no new fleet carriers could be expected until 1944. Kaiser had reduced construction time of cargo ships (Liberty ships) from more than a year to less than 90 days, and proposed building a fleet of 50 small carriers in less than two years. The US naval authorities refused to approve construction of the Kaiser-built ships until Kaiser went directly to the President's advisers. The Allies were in desperate need of carriers to replace early war losses. Kaiser produced the small carriers as rapidly as planned and resistance to their value quickly disappeared as they proved their usefulness defending convoys, providing air support for amphibious operations, and allowing fleet carriers to focus on offensive air-strike missions. Unlike most other large warships since HMS Dreadnought, the Casablanca-class ships were equipped with uniflow reciprocating engines instead of steam turbines. This was done because of bottlenecks in the gear-cutting industry, but greatly limited their usefulness after the war.

Service

USS Lunga Point

USS Gambier Bay under fire at Samar, 1944

USS Thetis Bay ferrying aircraft, 1944

USS Sargent Bay underway, 1944

Although designated as convoy escort carriers, the Casablanca class was far more frequently used in large fleet amphibious operations, where speed was less important and their small airgroups could combine to provide the effectiveness of a much larger ship.

Their finest hour came in the Battle off Samar, when Taffy 3, a task unit composed of six of these ships and their screen of three destroyers and four destroyer escorts gave battle against the Japanese main battle force ("Center Force"). Their desperate defense not only preserved most of their own ships, but succeeded in turning back the massive force with only their aircraft joined by aircraft from Taffy 1 and 2 comprised additional Casablanca-class carriers, machine guns, torpedoes, depth charges, high-explosive bombs, and their own 5-inch/38-caliber guns. Tasked with ground support and antisubmarine patrols, they lacked the torpedoes and armor-piercing bombs to tackle a surface fleet alone. Taffy 3 was to be protected by Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet with carriers and battleships. But the Third Fleet had left the scene to pursue a decoy carrier fleet, inadvertently leaving Taffy 3 the only force between the massive Japanese fleet and undefended landing forces at Leyte Gulf. The lightly armed vessels each had only one 5-inch/38 cal gun mounted aft, yet two of their number, St. Lo and Kalinin Bay, became the only US aircraft carriers to ever record a hit on an enemy warship by its own guns. St. Lo hit a Japanese destroyer with a single round and Kalinin Bay damaged a Myōkō-class cruiser with two hits. In addition, the gun crew on USS White Plains may have struck the cruiser Chōkai, with up to six 5-inch shells. One of these rounds may even have caused a large secondary explosion – probably from one of Chōkai's own torpedoes – on the starboard side that proved fatal to the heavy cruiser. White Plains's gun crew claimed to have put all six 5-inch rounds into Chōkai from a range of 11,700 yards (10,700 m), near the maximum effective range for the 5-inch/38 gun. However, Japanese sources attributed the loss of Chōkai to bomb damage from an air attack.

Another noteworthy achievement of the Casablanca class was when USS Guadalcanal, under command of Captain Daniel V. Gallery, participated in the first capture-at-sea of a foreign warship by the US Navy since the War of 1812 when a crew of volunteers from USS Pillsbury boarded U-505 after Gallery's Guadalcanal-centered hunter-killer group forced it to the surface with depth charges. Guadalcanal also earned the distinction of being the only aircraft carrier in history to conduct flight operations with a captured enemy vessel in tow.

Notable incidents

Of the eleven United States aircraft carriers of all types lost during World War II, six were escort carriers, five of which were of the Kaiser-built Casablanca class:

• CVE-56 Liscome Bay

Sunk 24 November 1943. Submarine torpedo launched from IJN I-175 SW off Butaritari (Makin).

• CVE-73 Gambier Bay

Sunk 25 October 1944. Concentrated surface gunfire from IJN Center Force during Battle off Samar.

• CVE-63 St. Lo (ex-Midway ex-Chapin Bay)

Sunk 25 October 1944. Kamikaze aerial attack during Battle of Leyte Gulf.

• CVE-79 Ommaney Bay

Sunk 4 January 1945. Kamikaze aerial attack in the Sulu Sea en route to Lingayen Gulf.

• CVE-95 Bismarck Sea

Sunk 21 February 1945. Kamikaze aerial attack off Iwo Jima.

• CVE-96 Anguilla Bay renamed USS Salamaua

Damaged at Lingayen Gulf on 6 January 1945 after kamikaze with two 551-pound (250 kg) bombs hit her flight deck. She was repaired and put back in service.

Post war

USS Thetis Bay, 1950s

Some ships were retained postwar as aircraft transports, where their lack of speed was not a major drawback. Some units were reactivated as helicopter escort carriers (CVHE and T-CVHE) or utility carriers (CVU and T-CVU) after the war, but most were deactivated and placed in reserve once the war ended, stricken in 1958-9 and scrapped in 1959–61. One ship, USS Thetis Bay, was heavily modified into an amphibious assault ship (LPH-6), but was scrapped in 1966.

Originally, half of their number were to be transferred to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease, but instead they were retained in the US Navy and the Batch II Bogue-class escort carriers were transferred instead as the Ruler class (the RN's Batch I Bogues were the Attacker class).

Ships of the class

All ships of the Casablanca class were built in Vancouver, Washington, by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company. The following ships of the class were constructed.

List of Casablanca-class escort carriers

Ship name	Hull no.	Building Way	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Fate
Casablanca (ex-Ameer, ex- Alazon Bay)	CVE-55	7	3 November 1942	5 April 1943	8 July 1943	10 June 1946	Sold for scrapping, 23 April 1947
Liscome Bay	CVE-56	8	12 December 1942	19 April 1943	7 August 1943	24 November 1943	Torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-175, 24 November 1943
Anzio (ex-Alikula Bay, ex-Coral Sea)	CVE-57	9	12 December 1942	1 May 1943	27 August 1943	5 August 1946	Struck, 1 March 1959, sold for scrapping, 24 November 1959
Corregidor (ex-Auguilla Bay)	CVE-58	10	17 December 1942	12 May 1943	31 August 1943	30 July 1946	Sold for scrapping, 28 April 1959
					19 May 1951	4 September 1958
Mission Bay	CVE-59	11	28 December 1942	26 May 1943	13 September 1943	21 February 1947	Sold for scrapping, 30 April 1959
Guadalcanal (ex-Astrolabe Bay)	CVE-60	12	5 January 1943	5 June 1943	25 September 1943	15 July 1946	Struck, 27 May 1958, sold for scrapping, 2 September 1959
Manila Bay (ex-Bucareli Bay)	CVE-61	1	15 January 1943	10 July 1943	5 October 1943	31 July 1946	Struck, 27 May 1958, sold for scrapping, 2 September 1959
Natoma Bay	CVE-62	2	17 January 1943	20 July 1943	14 October 1943	20 May 1946	Struck, 1 September 1958, sold for scrapping, 30 July 1959
St. Lo (ex-Chapin Bay, ex-Midway)	CVE-63	3	23 January 1943	17 August 1943	23 October 1943	25 October 1944	Sunk by kamikaze aircraft, 25 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte
Tripoli (ex-Didrickson Bay)	CVE-64	4	1 February 1943	13 July 1943	31 October 1943	22 May 1946	Struck, 1 February 1959, sold for scrapping, January 1960
					5 January 1952	25 November 1958
Wake Island (ex-Dolomi Bay)	CVE-65	5	6 February 1943	15 September 1943	7 November 1943	5 April 1946	Struck, 17 April 1946, sold for scrapping, 19 April 1946
White Plains (ex-Elbour Bay)	CVE-66	6	11 February 1943	27 September 1943	15 November 1943	10 July 1946	Struck, 1 July 1958, sold for scrapping, 29 July 1958
Solomons (ex-Emperor, ex-Nassuk Bay)	CVE-67	7	19 March 1943	6 October 1943	21 November 1943	5 June 1946	Sold for scrapping, 22 December 1946
Kalinin Bay	CVE-68	8	26 April 1943	15 October 1943	27 November 1943	15 May 1946	Sold for scrapping, 8 December 1946
Kasaan Bay	CVE-69	9	11 May 1943	24 October 1943	4 December 1943	5 June 1946	Sold for scrapping, 2 February 1960
Fanshaw Bay	CVE-70	10	18 May 1943	1 November 1943	9 December 1943	14 August 1946	Struck, 1 March 1959, sold for scrapping, 2 February 1960
Kitkun Bay	CVE-71	11	18 June 1943	8 November 1943	15 December 1943	19 April 1946	Sold for scrapping, 18 November 1946
Tulagi (ex-Fortazela Bay)	CVE-72	12	7 June 1943	15 November 1943	21 December 1943	30 April 1946	Struck, 8 May 1946
Gambier Bay	CVE-73	1	10 July 1943	22 November 1943	28 December 1943	27 November 1944	Sunk, 25 October 1944, in the Battle off Samar
Nehenta Bay	CVE-74	2	20 July 1943	28 November 1943	3 January 1944	15 May 1946	Struck 1 April 1960, sold for scrapping, 29 June 1960
Hoggatt Bay	CVE-75	3	17 August 1943	4 December 1943	11 January 1944	20 July 1946	Struck 1 April 1960, sold for scrapping, 31 March 1960
Kadashan Bay	CVE-76	4	2 September 1943	11 December 1943	18 January 1944	14 June 1946	Struck 1 August 1959, sold for scrapping, February 1960
Marcus Island (ex-Kanalku Bay)	CVE-77	5	15 September 1943	16 November 1943	26 January 1944	12 December 1946	Sold for scrapping, 29 February 1960
Savo Island (ex-Kaita Bay)	CVE-78	6	27 September 1943	22 December 1943	3 February 1944	12 December 1946	Struck 1 September 1959, sold for scrapping, 29 February 1960
Ommaney Bay	CVE-79	7	6 October 1943	29 December 1943	11 February 1944	4 January 1945	Damaged by kamikaze aircraft and scuttled, 4 January 1945
Petrof Bay	CVE-80	8	15 October 1943	5 January 1944	18 February 1944	31 July 1955	Struck 27 June 1958, sold for scrapping, 30 July 1959
Rudyerd Bay	CVE-81	9	24 October 1943	12 January 1944	25 February 1944	11 June 1946	Struck 1 August 1959, sold for scrapping, January 1960
Saginaw Bay	CVE-82	10	1 November 1943	19 January 1944	2 March 1944	19 June 1946	Struck 1 March 1959, sold for scrapping, 27 November 1959
Sargent Bay	CVE-83	11	8 November 1943	31 January 1944	9 March 1944	23 June 1946	Struck 27 June 1958, sold for scrapping, July 1959
Shamrock Bay	CVE-84	12	15 November 1943	4 February 1944	15 March 1944	6 July 1946	Struck 27 June 1958, sold for scrapping, May 1958
Shipley Bay	CVE-85	1	22 November 1943	12 February 1944	21 March 1944	28 June 1946	Struck 1 March 1959, sold for scrapping, 2 October 1959
Sitkoh Bay	CVE-86	2	23 November 1943	19 February 1944	28 March 1944	30 November 1946	Struck 1 April 1960, sold for scrapping, 30 August 1960
					29 July 1950	27 July 1954
Steamer Bay	CVE-87	3	4 December 1943	26 February 1944	4 April 1944	4 February 1946	Struck 1 March 1959, sold for scrapping, 29 August 1959
Cape Esperance (ex-Tananek Bay)	CVE-88	4	11 December 1943	3 March 1944	9 April 1944	22 August 1946	Sold for scrapping, 14 May 1959
					5 August 1950	15 January 1959
Takanis Bay	CVE-89	5	16 December 1943	10 March 1944	15 April 1944	18 June 1946	Struck 1 March 1959, sold for scrapping, 29 June 1960
Thetis Bay	CVE-90	6	22 December 1943	16 March 1944	12 April 1944	7 August 1946	Struck 1 August 1959, sold for scrapping, December 1964
					20 July 1956	1 March 1964
Makassar Strait	CVE-91	7	29 December 1943	22 March 1944	27 April 1944	9 August 1946	Struck 1 September 1958, grounded and used as a target, April 1961
Windham Bay	CVE-92	8	5 January 1944	29 March 1944	3 May 1944	23 August 1946	Struck 1 February 1959, sold for scrapping, 31 December 1960
					28 October 1950	15 January 1959
Makin Island	CVE-93	9	12 January 1944	5 April 1944	9 May 1944	19 April 1946	Struck 11 July 1946, sold for scrapping, 1 January 1947
Lunga Point (ex-Alazon Bay)	CVE-94	10	19 January 1944	11 April 1944	14 May 1944	24 October 1946	Struck 1 April 1960, sold for scrapping, 3 August 1960
Bismarck Sea (ex-Alikula Bay)	CVE-95	11	31 January 1944	17 April 1944	20 May 1944	30 March 1945	Sunk during the Battle of Iwo Jima, 21 February 1945
Salamaua (ex-Anguilla Bay)	CVE-96	12	4 February 1944	22 April 1944	26 May 1944	9 May 1946	Struck 21 May 1946, sold for scrapping, 18 November 1946
Hollandia (ex-Astrolabe Bay)	CVE-97	1	12 February 1944	28 April 1944	1 June 1944	17 January 1947	Struck 1 April 1960, sold for scrapping, 31 December 1960
Kwajalein (ex-Bucareli Bay)	CVE-98	2	19 February 1944	4 May 1944	7 June 1944	16 August 1946	Struck 1 April 1960, sold for scrapping
Admiralty Islands (ex-Chaplin Bay)	CVE-99	3	26 February 1944	10 May 1944	13 June 1944	24 April 1946	Struck 8 May 1946, sold for scrapping, 2 January 1947
Bougainville	CVE-100	4	3 March 1944	16 May 1944	18 June 1944	3 November 1946	Struck 1 May 1960, sold for scrapping, 29 August 1960
Matanikau (ex-Dolomi Bay)	CVE-101	5	10 March 1944	22 May 1944	24 June 1944	11 October 1946	Struck 1 April 1960, sold for scrapping, 27 July 1960
Attu (ex-Elbour Bay)	CVE-102	6	16 March 1944	27 May 1944	30 June 1944	8 June 1946	Struck 3 July 1946, sold for scrapping, 3 January 1947
Roi (ex-Alava Bay)	CVE-103	7	22 March 1944	2 June 1944	6 July 1944	9 May 1946	Struck 21 May 1946, sold for scrapping, 31 December 1946
Munda (ex-Tonowek Bay)	CVE-104	8	29 March 1944	27 May 1944	8 July 1944	24 April 1946	Struck 1 September 1958, sold for scrapping, 17 June 1960

See also

• List of ship classes of World War II

References

pps. 1 & 2 – "Kaiser Company, Inc. – Vancouver", BuShips QQ files, NARA, College Park, MD.
- "The Ships We Build", Kaiser Company, Inc., n.d., c. immediate post-war, 1945.

• [1] Listing of ships at Hazegray.org

External links

• The Battle Off Samar – Taffy III at Leyte Gulf website by Robert Jon Cox