 USSSitkoh Bay underway transporting aircraft, date unknown | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Sitkoh Bay |
| Namesake | Sitkoh Bay,Chichagof Island,Alaska |
| Ordered | as aType S4-S2-BB3 hull,MCE hull 1123[1] |
| Awarded | 18 June 1942 |
| Builder | Kaiser Shipyards |
| Laid down | 23 November 1943 |
| Launched | 19 February 1944 |
| Commissioned | 28 March 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 30 November 1946 |
| Recommissioned | 29 July 1950 |
| Decommissioned | 27 July 1954 |
| Stricken | 1 April 1960 |
| Identification | Hull symbol: CVE-86 |
| Honors & awards | 4Battle stars |
| Fate | Scrapped in January 1961 |
| General characteristics[2] | |
| Class & type | Casablanca-classescort carrier |
| Displacement |
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| Length | |
| Beam |
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| Draft | 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m) (max) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 19knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
| Range | 10,240 nmi (18,960 km; 11,780 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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| Aircraft carried | 27 |
| Aviation facilities | |
| Service record | |
| Part of: |
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| Operations: | |
USSSitkoh Bay (CVE-86) was the thirty-second of fiftyCasablanca-classescort carriers built for theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II. She was named after Sitkoh Bay, located withinChichagof Island, of theTerritory of Alaska. The ship waslaunched in February 1944,commissioned in March, and served as a replenishment and transport carrier throughout thePhilippines campaign, theInvasion of Iwo Jima and theBattle of Okinawa. She was decommissioned in November 1946, when she wasmothballed in theAtlantic Reserve Fleet. With the outbreak of theKorean War, however, she was called back to service, continuing to serve as a transport and utility carrier with theMilitary Sealift Command until 1954, when she was once again decommissioned, and mothballed in thePacific Reserve Fleet. Ultimately, she wasbroken up in January 1961.
Sitkoh Bay was aCasablanca-classescort carrier, the most numerous type ofaircraft carriers ever built,[2] and designed specifically to be mass-produced using prefabricated sections, in order to replace heavy early war losses. Standardized with hersister ships, she was 512 ft 3 in (156.13 m)long overall; at thewaterline, she was 490 ft (150 m) long. She had abeam of 65 ft 2 in (19.86 m), at her widest point, this was 108 ft (33 m). She also had adraft of 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m). Shedisplaced 8,188long tons (8,319 t)standard, 10,902 long tons (11,077 t) with afull load. She had a 257 ft (78 m) longhangar deck and a 477 ft (145 m) longflight deck. She was powered with twoSkinner Unaflow reciprocating steam engines, which drove two shafts, providing 9,000shaft horsepower (6,700 kW), thus enabling her to make 19knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). The ship had a cruising range of 10,240nautical miles (18,960 km; 11,780 mi) at a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). Power was provided by fourBabcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers. Her compact size necessitated the installation of anaircraft catapult at her bow, and there were twoaircraft elevators to facilitate movement of aircraft between the flight and hangar deck: one each fore and aft.[2][3][4]
One5-inch (127 mm)/38caliberdual-purpose gun was mounted on the stern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by eightBofors 40-millimeter (1.6 in) anti-aircraft guns in single mounts, as well as 12Oerlikon 20-millimeter (0.79 in) cannons, which were mounted around the perimeter of the deck. By the end of the war,Casablanca-class carriers had been modified to carry thirty 20 mm cannons, and the amount of 40 mm guns had been doubled to sixteen, by putting them into twin mounts. These modifications were in response to increasing casualties due tokamikaze attacks. AlthoughCasablanca-class escort carriers were designed to function with a crew of 860 and an embarked squadron of 50 to 56, the exigencies of wartime often necessitated the inflation of the crew count.Casablanca-class escort carriers were designed to carry 27 aircraft, but the hangar deck could accommodate more, which was often necessary during transport or replenishment missions.[4][5]
Her construction was awarded toKaiser Shipbuilding Company,Vancouver, Washington under aMaritime Commission contract, on 18 June 1942. The escort carrier waslaid down on 23 November 1943 under the nameSitkoh Bay, as part of a tradition which named escort carriers after bays or sounds in Alaska.[6] She was laid down as MC hull 1123, the thirty-second of a series of fiftyCasablanca-class escort carriers. She therefore received theclassification symbolCVE-86, indicating that she was the eighty-sixthescort carrier to becommissioned into theUnited States Navy. She waslaunched on 19 February 1944;sponsored by Mrs. Kathryn Mullinix, the widow ofRear admiralHenry M. Mullinnix, who had perished when hersisterLiscome Bay was sunk by theJapanese submarine I-175; transferred to the Navy and commissioned on 28 March 1944, withCaptain Robert Green Lockhart in command.[1][7]
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Upon being commissioned,Sitkoh Bay underwent ashakedown cruise down the West Coast toNaval Air StationAlameda, and upon arriving on 28 April, she took on a load of cargo and passengers. She left Alameda on 30 April, bound forPearl Harbor, and for the next half-year, she carried out routine transport missions betweenCalifornia and various bases scattered throughout the Central and South Pacific, as a part of Task Group 30.8, the Fleet Oiler and Transport Group, under the command of Captain Jasper T. Acuff.[8] For example, during the latter part of 1944, she touchedMajuro in theMarshall Islands,Manus in theAdmiralty Islands, transiting via Pearl Harbor. The aircraft and passengers delivered on these transport missions went to theUnited States Third Fleet and theUnited States Seventh Fleet, respectively, although the ship's action report did note that a significant portion of these replenishment aircraft were recycled from damaged carriers returning to the backline, and that they were often in rather poor condition.[9] The air personnel that were delivered could also be of questionable quality, with some sitting in the reserve pool rarely flying for up to eight months. For example, the flight surgeon ofSitkoh Bay reported visiting a pilot who suffered fromepilepsy, and another pilot who displayed a suicidal ideation regarding hurling himself into a spinning propeller.[10][7]
In January 1945,Sitkoh Bay became a replenishment carrier solely dedicated to resupplying the Third Fleet within the Central Pacific, as it participated in thePhilippines campaign, theInvasion of Iwo Jima, and prepared for theBattle of Okinawa. During this period, her ports of call includedGuam andRoi-Namur, both in theMarianas Islands,Enewetak Atoll in the Marshalls, andUlithi Atoll, located in theCaroline Islands. On one of these stops, Captain James Paul Walker raised his flag over the vessel on 1 February.[7]
Sitkoh Bay continued these replenishment duties until 1 April, when she joined up with the Special Escort Carrier Group, along with her sistersHollandia,White Plains, and theBogue-classescort carrierBreton. The escort carriers were screened by theWickes-classdestroyersKilty andManley, as well as theClemson-classdestroyersGeorge E. Badger andGreene. Together, the four escort carriers had the task of deliveringMarine Aircraft Group 31, of whichSitkoh Bay was assigned to transport, andMarine Aircraft Group 33, in total consisting of 192F4U Corsairs and 30F6F Hellcats toOkinawa. There, they would be the first land-based aircraft to participate in the battle, operating off of the capturedKadena Air Base.[11][7]
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The Special Escort Carrier Group departed from Ulithi on 2 April, andSitkoh Bay arrived off of Okinawa on 6 April without much incident, although the screening destroyers dropped depth charges on the way to deter a suspected submarine. Therefore, she began transferring her air contingent to land. On 7 April, however, the escort carriers came underkamikaze attack. At the time, she was 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Okinawa, and at around noon that day, she began launching some F4U-4C variant Corsairs toYomitan Auxiliary Airfield. By 15:28, she had already launched eight Corsairs, and the flight deck was being respotted when aYokosuka P1Y kamikaze aircraft made an appearance. The kamikaze was engaged by five fighters ofVMF-311 operating off ofBreton, and although they did heavily damage the aircraft and set it on fire, the kamikaze was able to get close enough to make a dive for the bridge ofSitkoh Bay. The kamikaze was met by heavy anti-aircraft fire, and it wobbled, ultimately crashing about 100 yards (91 m) off the carrier's port beam, with the kill being accredited toLieutenant John J. Doherty.[12] The following day, on 8 April, she left the area for Pearl Harbor, stopping at Guam. There, she returned to her previous replenishment routine.[7]
After the announcement of theSurrender of Japan on 15 August,Sitkoh Bay continued her replenishment duties with the Third Fleet, cruising with it along the southeastern coast ofHonshū from 25 August to 5 September. On 10 September, she entered Enewetak harbor, before departing on 11 September for Guam. She then made transport missions ferrying between Guam,Samar Island in thePhilippines, and Okinawa. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 18 October, and proceeded eastwards, arriving atSan Diego on 26 October for availability. After a series of further transport missions to the Central Pacific throughout the rest of 1945 and 1946, she steamed intoBremerton,Washington on 30 November 1946, where she was decommissioned andmothballed with thePacific Reserve Fleet, as part of its Bremerton group.[7]
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Sitkoh Bay continued to be mothballed with the Pacific Reserve Fleet until theKorean War broke out during the summer of 1950. With the United States intervening in the war, under the auspices of theUnited Nations,Sitkoh Bay was recommissioned and reclassified as an aircraft transport with the hull symbolT-CVE-86 on 29 July 1950 at Bremerton, with Captain Charles Williams Lord in command. As an aircraft transport, she was operated by theMilitary Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) with a civilian crew, but with a military command. For the next four years, she transported aircraft between the West Coast and Japan. Her major ports of call wereSan Francisco, San Diego, Pearl Harbor,Yokohama, andYokosuka.[7]
Sitkoh Bay only deviated from these ports of call three times during this time period. In March 1951, she delivered a load ofF8F Bearcats toFrench Indochina, where the French were fighting against theViet Minh in theFirst Indochina War. On her way back, she stopped atManila, the capital of thePhilippines. In September 1951, she visitedPusan,Republic of Korea. In May 1952, she sailed directly from Yokosuka back to San Francisco, without stopping at Pearl Harbor on the way back.[7]
With theend of the Korean War, the demand for aircraft in the Pacific theater decreased. Therefore,Sitkoh Bay was decommissioned again on 27 July 1954, when she rejoined the Pacific Reserve Fleet, this time as part of its San Francisco group. On 12 June 1955, she was redesignated as a utility aircraft carrier, receiving the hull symbolCVU-86. In mid-March 1958, she was moved south from San Francisco to San Diego. On 7 May 1959, she was redesignated as an aviation transport, receiving the hull symbolAKV-86. She was struck from theNavy list on 1 April 1960, and subsequently sold forscrapping to Eisenberg & Co. ofNew York City on 30 August. The ship was ultimately scrapped in Japan throughout January 1961.[4]Sitkoh Bay received threebattle stars for her World War II service, and one for her Korean War service.[7]
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