USS Admiralty Islands (CVE-99) was the forty-fifth of fifty built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named after the Admiralty Islands campaign, a series of battles against isolated Japanese forces throughout the Admiralty Islands in the Bismarck Archipelago. The ship was launched in May 1944, commissioned in June, and served as a replenishment carrier, under the command of Capt. Edward Hastings Eldredge, in support of the invasion of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa. Postwar, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet. She was decommissioned in November 1946, when she was mothballed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Ultimately, she was sold for scrapping in January 1947.
Design and description
Admiralty Islands was a Casablanca-class escort carrier, the most numerous type of aircraft carriers ever built, and designed specifically to be mass-produced using prefabricated sections, in order to replace heavy early war losses. Standardized with her sister ships, she was long overall, she had a beam of , at her widest point, this was , and a draft of . She displaced standard, with a full load. She had a long hangar deck and a long flight deck. She was powered with two Skinner Unaflow reciprocating steam engines, which drove two shafts, providing , thus enabling her to make . The ship had a cruising range of at a speed of . Her compact size necessitated the installment of an aircraft catapult at her bow, and there were two aircraft elevators to facilitate movement of aircraft between the flight and hangar deck: one each fore and aft.
One /38 caliber dual-purpose gun was mounted on the stern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by eight Bofors anti-aircraft guns in single mounts, as well as 12 Oerlikon 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 to kamikaze attacks. Although Casablanca-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. Because Admiralty Islands only operated in a replenishment capability, she usually operated with about 60 aircraft on board, the maximum carrying capacity at which take-offs would still be possible.
Construction
Her construction was awarded to Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington under a Maritime Commission contract, on 18 June 1942, under the name Chaplin Bay, as part of a tradition which named escort carriers after bays or sounds in Alaska. She was renamed Admiralty Islands on 26 April 1944, as part of a new naval policy which named subsequent Casablanca-class carriers after naval or land engagements. As the ninety-ninth escort carrier, and the forty-fifth of the Casablanca class carriers, she received the hull symbol CVE-99. The escort carrier was laid down on 26 February 1944, MC hull 1136, the forty-fourth of a series of fifty Casablanca-class escort carriers. She was launched on 10 May 1944; sponsored by the wife of Vice Admiral Homer N. Wallin; transferred to the United States Navy and commissioned on 13 June 1944, with Captain James Duke Barner in temporary command. Later that day, command of the ship was passed to Captain Marcel Emil Alcan Gouin.
Service history
Upon being commissioned, Admiralty Islands got underway, on 2 July 1944, from Astoria, Oregon on a shakedown cruise down the West Coast to San Francisco. Upon arriving, she took on fuel oil and aviation gas. Proceeding southwards, she arrived at San Diego on 14 July, for additional training. There, she was assigned to join the Carrier Transport Squadron of the Pacific Fleet, ferrying aircraft, personnel, and supplies to the frontline in the West Pacific. She took on a load of cargo at San Diego, and departed westwards.