USS Windham Bay

This article is about the escort aircraft carrier of 1944-1959. For the landing ship tank of 1954-1973, see USS Windham County (LST-1170).

USS Windham Bay passes under the Golden Gate Bridge, circa 1958. On her flight deck is a load of mainly North American F-86D Sabres.
History
United States
Name	Windham Bay
Namesake	Windham Bay, Tongass National Forest, Alaska
Ordered	as a Type S4-S2-BB3 hull, MCE hull 1129
Awarded	18 June 1942
Builder	Kaiser Shipyards
Laid down	5 January 1944
Launched	29 March 1944
Commissioned	3 May 1944
Decommissioned	23 August 1946
Recommissioned	28 October 1950
Decommissioned	15 January 1959
Stricken	1 February 1959
Identification	Hull symbol: CVE-92
Honors and awards	3 Battle stars
Fate	Sold for scrap, 31 December 1960
General characteristics
Class and type	Template:Sclass-
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
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
Aviation facilities	1 × catapult 2 × elevators
Service record
Part of:	United States Pacific Fleet (1944–1946) Pacific Reserve Fleet (1946–1950) United States Pacific Fleet (1950–1959) Pacific Reserve Fleet (1959)
Operations:	Invasion of Iwo Jima Battle of Okinawa Operation Magic Carpet Korean War

USS Windham Bay (CVE-92) was the thirty-eighth of fifty Template:Sclass-s built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named after Windham Bay, within Tongass National Forest, of the Territory of Alaska. The ship was launched in March 1944, commissioned in May, and served as a replenishment and transport carrier throughout the Invasion of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa. Postwar, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet, repatriating U.S. servicemen from throughout the Pacific. She was decommissioned in August 1946, when she was mothballed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. With the outbreak of the Korean War, however, she was called back to service, continuing to serve as a transport and utility carrier until 1959, when she was once again decommissioned. Ultimately, she was sold for scrapping in December 1960.

Design and description

A profile of the design of Takanis Bay, which was shared with all Casablanca-class escort carriers.

Main article: Casablanca-class escort carrier

Windham Bay 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 512 ft 3 in (156.13 m) long overall, at the waterline, she was 490 ft (150 m) long, she had a beam of 65 ft 2 in (19.86 m), at her widest point, this was 108 ft (33 m), and a draft of 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m). She displaced 8,188 long tons (8,319 t) standard, 10,902 long tons (11,077 t) with a full load. She had a 257 ft (78 m) long hangar deck and a 477 ft (145 m) long flight deck. She was powered with two Skinner Unaflow reciprocating steam engines, which drove two shafts, providing 9,000 shaft horsepower (6,700 kW), thus enabling her to make 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). The ship had a cruising range of 10,240 nautical miles (18,960 km; 11,780 mi) at a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). Power was provided by four Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers. Her compact size necessitated the installation 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 5-inch (127 mm)/38 caliber dual-purpose gun was mounted on the stern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by eight Bofors 40-millimeter (1.6 in) anti-aircraft guns in single mounts, as well as 12 Oerlikon 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 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, which was often necessary during transport or replenishment missions.

Construction

Her construction was awarded to Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington under a Maritime Commission contract, on 18 June 1942. The escort carrier was laid down on 5 January 1944 under the name Windham Bay, as part of a tradition which named escort carriers after bays or sounds in Alaska. She was laid down as MC hull 1129, the thirty-eighth of a series of fifty Casablanca-class escort carriers. She therefore received the classification symbol CVE-92. She was launched on 29 March 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Henry M. Cooper; transferred to the United States Navy and commissioned on 3 May 1944, with Captain Charles William Oexle in command.

Service history

World War II

Upon being commissioned, Windham Bay underwent a shakedown cruise down the West Coast to San Diego, arriving on 6 June. She then briefly conducted air qualifications and catapult trials off the southern California coast, before taking on a load of aircraft and passengers bound for Hawaii. On 12 June, she left port, arriving within Pearl Harbor on 19 June, trading her cargo for another load, this time bound for the Marshall Islands. She left Pearl Harbor on 25 June, arriving at Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands on 2 July. She then sailed westwards to Kwajalein Atoll, also within the Marshalls. There, she took on the aircraft and personnel of Marine Night Fighter Squadron 532 (VMF(N)-532), and steamed for the Mariana Islands. The squadron arrived on Saipan, which had recently been secured, by flying off of her flight deck, and she put into Garapan anchorage to unload the squadron's gear.

Whilst in anchorage, Windham Bay loaded up a squadron of captured Japanese aircraft, and proceeded back to Hawaii. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 10 July, and remained in port for fifteen days, before departing for the West Coast on 25 July. She returned to port in San Diego on 31 July, and she began overhaul at San Pedro, where additional anti-aircraft armaments were retrofitted.

This process took up the entire month of August, and Windham Bay returned to sea on 1 September, with a load of aircraft bound for Emirau and Manus, of the Admiralty Islands. She arrived at Emirau in mid-September, and at Manus on 18 September. After unloading her aircraft, she took on a load of passengers and steamed for Espiritu Santo, of the New Hebrides, and upon completing this task, she took on another load of aircraft, returning to Manus on 5 October. She then visited Guadalcanal, of the Solomon Islands, before heading back to the West Coast. Proceeding via Espiritu Santo, she arrived back in San Diego on 20 October. She then made another transport mission to the South Pacific in November, transporting aircraft to Manus and collecting about 350 casualties from the Palau campaign at Guadalcanal on 24 November for transport back to San Diego.

Upon returning to port in San Diego on 10 December, Windham Bay remained inactive until 27 December, when she resumed transporting aircraft. Proceeding westwards, she transported a load of aircraft to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 2 January 1945, before taking on another load of F4U Corsairs. Leaving port on 5 January, she headed to Midway Atoll in the Hawaiian Islands, arriving on 9 January, where she unloaded her cargo. The following day, she left Midway, returning back to Pearl Harbor on 13 January. She left port on 1 February, this time as a replenishment carrier, providing replacement aircraft, parts, and supplies for the frontline Fast Carrier Task Force of the Third Fleet, which at the time was preparing to provide support for the planned invasion of Iwo Jima. On her way out towards the Central Pacific, Windham Bay stopped at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, before steaming for Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands.

Upon taking onboard the cargo required to sustain her replenishment duties, Windham Bay took to sea, as a part of Task Unit 50.8.4, the CVE Plane Transport Unit, along with her sister ships Admiralty Islands, Bougainville, and Attu. As a part of Task Group 50.8, the Logistics Support Group, the replenishment carriers were under the command of Rear Admiral Donald B. Beary. En route, the carriers were screened by the destroyer escorts Greiner, Sanders, and Wyman. She arrived off Iwo Jima on 19 February, whereupon she began delivering replacement aircraft and crews to the fleet carriers conducting operations over the island, with the transferring aircraft being screened by the fighter contingents of Makassar Strait and Shamrock Bay. Task Unit 50.8.4 first conducted deliveries to Task Groups 58.1, 58.4, and 58.5 on 19 February, conducted deliveries to Task Groups 58.2 and 58.3 the following day, and then deliveries to all the Task Groups excepting 58.5 on 21 February. Her main duties finished, Windham Bay continued delivering a trickle of planes until 1 March, when her Task Group returned to replenish at Ulithi. In total, the four escort carriers had delivered 254 aircraft and 65 plane crews to the fleet carriers, the majority of which were transferred on the first three days.

USS Windham Bay (CVE-92) showing damage from June 1945 typhoon

Later, upon having replenished, Task Group 50.8.4. took to sea again, and beginning on 1 April, in addition to resupplying the Fast Carrier Task Force, the escort carriers also shouldered the burden of providing replacement aircraft and supplies for the CVEs providing air cover for the landings on Okinawa. Taking advantage of the Kerama Islands, which had been recently captured on 26 March, the escort carriers were able to quickly replenish on bombs and ammunition, minimizing the amount of time spent away from the frontline carriers.

By the early morning of 5 June, Windham Bay, along with the ships of Task Group 38.1 and Task Group 30.8, was trapped in the path of Typhoon Connie, which was proceeding northwards, and on a course to the east of Okinawa. Admiral William Halsey Jr., which had already led the Third Fleet into the deadly Typhoon Cobra in December 1944, now managed to lead the Third Fleet yet again into the eyewall of another deadly storm, ignoring reports by Rear Admiral Beary, who was convinced that Halsey's eastwardly course would put his carriers into the storm. By the time this had become evident, the replenishment carriers had already found themselves navigating independently of each other. As Windham Bay neared the center of the storm, at around 3:00, her crew began to witness the aircraft stored upon the flight deck work free of their restraints and slip into the sea.

A few minutes later, Windham Bay entered the eyewall. The carrier's wind-measuring system was quickly blown away by the gusts, but the crew estimated the winds to be gusting at around 127 kn (235 km/h; 146 mph). In addition, waves estimated as towering some 75 ft (23 m) high broke over the carrier. Despite the fact that her forward aircraft elevator was up, water seeped through the edges of the elevator, flooding the elevator well with 4 ft (1.2 m) of water and temporarily taking it out of commission. At 3:55, as the carrier crested over a particularly high swell, the two forwardmost 40 mm Bofors guns, along with the forward lookout platform, were ejected off the ship. Simultaneously, the forwardmost 20 ft (6.1 m) of her flight deck collapsed onto her forecastle, damaging both her hangar deck and aircraft elevator.

The damage sustained during the typhoon necessitated repairs, and Windham Bay was therefore relieved of her replenishment duties. Heading eastwards, she stopped at the Marianas on 16 June on her way to Oahu. Stopping at Pearl Harbor from 25 June to 27 June, she entered port at San Diego on 11 July for extensive repairs, which took until late August to finish, after the Japanese surrender had been announced.

On 26 August, with her repairs having concluded, Windham Bay left San Diego harbor, with Marine Fighter Squadron 312 (VMF-312) onboard, bound for Guam. Stopping briefly at Pearl Harbor, she arrived in Apra Harbor on 15 September. Having unloaded her passengers and cargo, she steamed for Samar and Leyte, within the Philippines, arriving on 19 September, taking on passengers, planes, and equipment for transport back to Hawaii. She departed Leyte on 24 September, stopped at Guam on 27 September, and arrived back at Oahu on 7 October. She left port on 8 October, and arrived back in San Diego harbor on 14 October.

Whilst in port, Windham Bay joined the Operation Magic Carpet fleet, which repatriated U.S. servicemen from around the Pacific. On 19 October, the carrier left on her first run, a voyage which ended at San Pedro. She left for another run on 13 November, arriving at Samar on 26 November, leaving on 28 November. Pausing at Pearl Harbor, she arrived in Port Hueneme, Califonia on 17 December. She then proceeded a short ways southward back to San Pedro port, where she remained until the New Year.

On 8 January 1946, Windham Bay departed San Pedro again, making a round trip to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 14 January. Leaving port on 15 January, she returned to California on 21 January. She then sailed north to Tacoma, Washington, arriving on 25 January, where she was to be mothballed as part of the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Inactivation work began as soon as she arrived, and she was decommissioned on 23 August.

Korean War

The escort carrier stayed with the Reserve Fleet until hostilities erupted in Korea during the summer of 1950. On 28 October 1950, she was recommissioned at Bremerton, Washington, Capt. Charles E. Brunton in command. On 20 November, she steamed south to California, visiting San Francisco on the way to San Diego where she arrived on 2 December. After 11 days, the escort carrier returned to San Francisco whence she embarked upon a voyage to Pearl Harbor on the 19th. Returning to the west coast at Alameda on 2 January 1951, the warship headed west again five days later. She arrived in Yokohama, Japan, on the 24th and unloaded a cargo of aircraft for use in the Korean War which the United States had entered under the auspices of the United Nations. Departing Japan two days later, she visited Saigon in French Indochina and Manila in the Philippines before shaping a course back to the United States. Windham Bay reentered San Francisco Bay on 24 February.

At this juncture, the escort carrier settled into a routine of transpacific resupply voyages between the United States and Japan. Over the next 20 months, she made nine round-trip voyages, beginning each at either San Francisco or San Diego, stopping always at Yokosuka, and returning always to San Francisco. She broke that nine-voyage routine in October and November 1952 when she visited Takao, Japan, and Bangkok, Thailand, before returning via Japan to the west coast at Alameda on 9 December.

Windham Bay continued her aircraft ferrying voyages between the United States and Japan during 1953. The war in Korea, however, began to subside in intensity at about the same time, and her passages began to take on more of a peacetime character. She began making more stops and side trips in addition to Yokosuka—notably to Hawaii, the Philippines, and at other Japanese ports. French Indochina also returned to her itinerary in May 1954 and again in February and March 1955 when she made visits to Saigon, capital of the newly constituted Republic of Vietnam. On 12 June 1955, she was redesignated CVU-92. In May 1957, she added Naha, Okinawa, to her list of ports of call; and, in December, she made one more stop at Saigon. Otherwise, the remainder of her career consisted of the normal west coast-to-Japan aircraft resupply voyages in support of the fast carriers assigned to the western Pacific.

Her career lasted until the end of 1958. In January 1959, she was decommissioned and was berthed with the San Francisco Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet. Her name was struck from the Navy List on 1 February 1959, and she was subsequently sold to the Hugo Neu Steel Products Corp., of New York City. The ship was scrapped in Japan in February 1961.

Sources

Online sources

• "Windham Bay (CVE-92)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History and Heritage Command. 27 April 2016. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• "Kaiser Vancouver, Vancouver WA". www.ShipbuildingHistory.com. 27 November 2010. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 16 June 2019 suggested (help)
• "World Aircraft Carriers List: US Escort Carriers, S4 Hulls". Hazegray.org. 14 December 1998. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
• Maksel, Rebecca (14 August 2012). "How Do You Name an Aircraft Carrier?". Air & Space/Smithsonian. Retrieved 23 December 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)

Bibliography

• Chesneau, Robert; Gardiner, Robert (1980), Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946, London, England: Naval Institute Press, ISBN 9780870219139
• Y'Blood, William (2014), The Little Giants: U.S. Escort Carriers Against Japan (E-book), Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, ISBN 9781612512471

External links

• Photo gallery of USS Windham Bay (CVE-92) at NavSource Naval History